Joe Handley

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Self-Reliant People, Communities and Northwest Territories -- A Shared Responsibility, Government of the Northwest Territories Strategic Plan, June 2004. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

But, Mr. Speaker, the Bridge Corporation are using the time that is available to them now to do more testing on the design of the bridge. They have made some changes to the design as a result of testing. They will be issuing a tender for the project, and we will take every step possible to ensure that there are no cost overruns. Mr. Speaker, on this size of project, that is a substantial challenge for the designers to be able to ever come up with a project that is going to be right on with no change orders. Mr. Speaker, the latest information that we have from the Bridge Corporation is...

Mr. Speaker, if you look at the agreement you will find that the GNWT’s contribution to the bridge when it is built is going to be the cost of operating the ferry, the cost of building and maintaining that ice bridge. Beyond that the costs for the bridge will be recouped through a toll. So whatever the price is, the GNWT is not assuming additional risk. The only risk we would assume would be if for some reason the bridge was never built. Then we have been guaranteeing loans to enable the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation to continue on with their planning and environmental assessment for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to recognize a constituent: Major Karen Hoeft. Thank you.

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Mr. Speaker, I’m not familiar with any specific case. I trust that every one of the 17 or so northern companies that have picked up the tender documents are picking it up because they feel that it’s to their advantage to put in a bid or at least consider a bid. It could be to make a profit, it could be to keep things moving in their shop. I’m not sure what their reasons would be. I’m certainly encouraged by the number of northern companies who have picked up the documents and, I assume, intend to submit a tender. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, at the beginning of the term of the 15th Legislative Assembly, the 19 Members of the Legislative Assembly agreed that a new approach is needed to develop our agenda and statement of priorities. Members rejected the old method of developing an agenda based solely on our views, and in isolation of other governments in the Northwest Territories. Members felt that it was critical that we embark on a new way of doing business that emphasized partnership and collaboration.

We have started off with informal meetings to explore ideas about the setting of priorities. Discussion focused...

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, we’re discussing it tomorrow at Cabinet. I think the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation has already been asked and said he would consider extending it for two weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation has earlier this week offered that he will bring this to Cabinet on Thursday. We intend to have a full discussion on it as it relates to housing, but no doubt we’ll have a good discussion on the BIP itself generally. Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, RWED is doing some work on a registry. There are some other things being done this year. I can assure the Member that if it seems that we have to make exceptions to any policy on any sort of frequent basis, however you define that, then we would want to rewrite or revise that policy...

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned before, there are times when it is necessary to make an exception to a policy. Those times we like to keep to a minimum. We very seldom make exceptions. In fact, if we take the business incentive policy, for example, to my recollection there have only been three exceptions made to it. On tendering, we do that much more frequently. The business community is very aware that we have the BIP. They’re very aware that we tender a lot of things, but also very aware that we negotiate some contracts, we do some as sole source, we do some as standing offers. They know there...

Mr. Speaker, a policy outlines an intention and a direction that the government is going to take. It basically describes a purpose, it describes some basic principles that we’re going to work through, it describes the scope of what we will do and what’s covered by the policy and what it’s impact will be. It also includes some background on how the policy will be implemented, what the authority and accountability is.

As well, Mr. Speaker, it also includes a section which says that the prerogative of the Executive Council, which if I may read says, “…nothing in this policy shall in any way be...