Michael McLeod

Thank you. I suppose we could calculate that. That’s not something we normally do on our project is divide a person’s time up into how many projects he’s got and assign a cost to those specific projects. This is a normal course of duty. We can certainly try to get some calculations together. It would entail some effort. We have a lot of people that may have worked on one portion or another on this project, but we can certainly have a discussion to see if we can get that together in a fairly short order, if that’s what’s being requested. Thank you.

Thank you. During the discussion of Committee of the Whole we had made a number of commitments. We certainly committed that we would continue to demonstrate that there is competent management on this project. We would provide clarity and timely information on where the project is at and we will also provide clarity and information on our role as a government and all our trades and people that are involved so that the public knows exactly where this project is at in terms of the timelines and so they will be fully informed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the consideration for providing a toll for all people that travel across the bridge is not something that we have looked at as an option. It would have to be a decision of this House. Right now the consideration for recovery on the extra $15 million would be through the revenue that’s raised from tolling the commercial vehicles. We have not had any discussion with any of my Cabinet colleagues or anyone else, for that matter, and that’s something we’ve considered. We’ve tried very hard to keep the commercial toll from increasing and we certainly did not want to burden the...

We don’t have any projects that we charge back government services. The people that are working on these projects are hired to do those jobs and, no, they’re not included in the toll recovery. The $15 million does not include the two positions or the position and a half and things of that nature that are right now part of regular duties. So I guess the short answer to the Member is no, it’s not included in the $15 million. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The costs that were incurred by our government that were not directly charged back to the project I’m assuming is what the Member is referring to. Those are one full-time position and another part-time position and, of course, there are other people within our government that have worked on this project. Those costs are not included, as the Member stated, as part of this budget. Those costs are outside of the project costs. These are all calculations that would be charged back to the project and we don’t charge back our staff positions to the project at this point. So...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess there are three considerations that would be utilized for a sole-source contract to be awarded. First of all, the goods, the service or the construction have to be urgently required and the delay would be not in the public’s interest. We would also consider if there was only one party available that is able and capable of performing the contract. If it’s a contract with a consulting service or a company, that it will not exceed $25,000 in value, and if there are other types of contracts, of course, but that’s the basic criteria we use for sole...

Mr. Chairman, the planning study is estimated to take around four months to complete, and we are going to be looking at incorporating this project in the capital acquisition plan for this year, 2010. The planning study needs to be done by the end of June. There is some sense of urgency. Many of our leases, up to 70 percent of our leases are coming up for renewal. Present market rates and the conditions indicate that the rising lease prices are likely to stay very high and, therefore, we’re going to see significant increased costs associated with renewals. The study that was done, the lease...

Yes, we could commit to that. That’s always our intention, is whenever the ability and the time allows for public tendering of any types of contracts, that we use that method and that’s something we’ll certainly commit to doing.

Mr. Speaker, we can certainly commit to having our own Public Works staff to notify the different levels of local government in the community. Any public notification and how the salvation program itself would be operated I’m assuming would come from the contractor that has the contract and would determine what the safest way to distribute materials and salvage and dismantle this building would take place. So we can provide notice to the Member as we notify the community governments. The rest would have to be up to the responsibility of the contractor. Thank you.

Once again, yes, we want to have a program in place that will allow the community to have some benefit from the materials that are available through salvage and recycling. We certainly need to ensure that there is a safety component incorporated in this process. Direct access is probably not something we want to see. We’ll have a controlled area where salvage material will be dropped off so that people can come and pick through it or take what they’d like. The scope of work is already being determined. We’ll have all the different components required prior to going out to tender this summer...