Robert C. McLeod

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. These are normally produced at the end of each fiscal year and I believe these reports are also tabled. I will confirm that and share that information with the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure what the process is right now. If Canada has committed any money to the clean-up of these sites, if there is opportunities for, say the regional government to enter into some type of an arrangement with for the remediation of these sites, I would suggest that they would have to speak to Canada directly and through this, the committee here, the regional government in the Sahtu are represented on this committee, so they would have a general idea of where these sites are at and many of these sites are very old. Again, I will do what I can from my end to see if there has...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, through devolution, through the contaminated sites, Canada kept the responsibility for the remuneration of a lot of the old contaminated sites along Great Bear Lake and I think there were about seven sites. There is a Waste Site Management Committee, inter-governmental committee that monitors the implementation of the waste sites charters. The government… Short answer is: the Government of Canada still has the responsibility for the remediation of those sites. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to repeat the same answer I gave before that significant oversight goes into these contracts. It’s just not one that they woke up this morning and decided they’re going to award a sole-source contract today. There are requirements that need to be met. If they meet the criteria, then sole-source contract could possibly be awarded.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first of all, in the Members’ statement, she makes some very strong comments and used very strong language. I think it’s unfair to those within the government system that administer a lot of these contracts to hear such language. I can assure the Member and all Members that there is oversight and in this day and age, with all the checks and balances in place, that type of, if any of that type of activity went on, it would be detected quite early and it would be unacceptable. There is oversight. The sole-source negotiated contract was the change in the...

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Minister’s comment is absolutely correct. The $250,000 that the Member speaks of, the numbers in here, the overall budget for the department won’t change, and the Minister has made a commitment, and I think we made a written commitment to reinstate that $250,000, and they will find the money, as the Minister explained, in some other areas of the department. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. You know, there will be more interest in a lot of these procurement processes because the amounts are available, but again it was encouragement we got from the business community. BIP would still apply to these, and I can assure the Member and all Members that we take all steps necessary to ensure that our northern-based businesses have a fair opportunity and a good opportunity to secure these contracts.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my understanding is we produce those every year and I will make a commitment to the Member that we will share those. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure exactly what stage they’re at. Through the committee that I had spoken of earlier, they do provide some advice and recommendation to Canada on their clean-up activities. What I can commit to the Member is that I will have some discussion with this particular committee and see where they are with their discussions with Canada and see if there’s been any kind of a price tag attached to the potential clean-up of the sites around Great Bear Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a change that has just been made recently and I will commit to the Member and all Members that we’ll monitor the usage of these sole-source contracts. Again, as I answered to the Member previous, this was an initiative that was fully supported by a lot of the small business community and a lot of business and we were actually encouraged to consider because there hasn’t been a change, I believe, since 1993. I will make the commitment to monitor and we do have to file a contract report $5,000 and under. I think the Minister of ITI tables that, so we...