Wendy Bisaro

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are addressed to the Minister of Transportation. I listened, with interest, as he gave us an update today on the Deh Cho Bridge. I have to admit there was a bit of a smile on my face when he indicated he’s spoken about this issue many times before, not necessarily from the chair that he’s in at the moment. Towards the middle of his statement the Minister mentioned that it’s now estimated we will require additional funding to complete construction. Again I had to say to myself, I went, yeah, that’s not much of a big surprise. He goes on to cite some of the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will do what I can to shorten my comments. I understand the protocol that he’s referencing. This was hardly an emerging issue or an emerging program. This is something we’ve been doing for a while. I would like to ask the Minister, in retrospect, in knowing that it was five months to go from call for applications to awarding, what will the Minister do to make sure that the process is reviewed so we don’t have this happen again. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on my statement and ask some questions of the Minister responsible for the Executive, also the Premier, with regard to the NGO Stabilization Fund. I mentioned in my statement that it is gratifying at this point that the funds have been awarded. The various organizations have received their funding, finally. Thank you very much. But I’d like to know if the Minister could advise me and the House why it took five months for the NGOs to receive a response and to receive notification of their awards. Thank you.

Only four months to spend their money. This hardly seems fair to me and I believe the delay is inexcusable. There’s never a shortage of Ministers acknowledging the valuable work done by NGOs on behalf of the GNWT, but when will we start respecting our NGOs in actions and not just words?

I will have questions for the Premier at a later date. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. Yes, I think we’re all looking forward to the completion of the bridge. I can accept that this may be a minimal cost. Unfortunately to some of our constituents they may think that $10 million or $20 million or these numbers that we talk about here, they’re definitely not minimal, but I thank the Minister for his statement; roughly 5 percent of the total project cost. That gives people a reasonably good idea about what we’re talking about.

I do want to say to the Minister that I appreciate his commitment to providing Members with information and I would hope that that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question has to do with the reference in the Minister’s statement to collection of tolls. I’m really pleased to see that we’re going to doing it electronically and that it’s not going to require paper and killing of trees and so on. I’d like to know from the Minister, in the development of regulations for the collections of tolls, has he, has the department consulted with the public. Thank you.

I thank the Minister for his elaborate comment. I’d like to also ask the Minister, later on in his statement he talked about undertaking a retrospective analysis of the project after it’s completed. I know we’re aiming for completion somewhere around November 2012 but that retrospective analysis presumably is in the works to a certain extent at this point, looking at the staff time that’s required and so on. I’d like to ask the Minister when he thinks that we might be able to get a full retrospective analysis of this total bridge project. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. My last question has to do with this anomaly, which is going to happen every four years. I’d like to know from the Minister, is there any opportunity to start the process earlier. This call went out in June. Why can’t we have a call going out in early May or mid-May? The funds were approved the 1st of April. Can the Minister look at putting the call for applications out at least a month or two months earlier? Can we not get the awards done within a month or a two-month time period? Thank you.

I’m not sure if I should thank the Minister for that response or not. I have a really hard time believing that the government does not work while an election is in progress. Ministers are in place until the new Ministers are elected, so I really have a hard time believing that between June of 2011 and even the beginning of the election period, September of 2011, that some work could not have taken place for these applications.

The Minister also mentioned that these had to be approved by all parties. I would like to ask the Minister, before people were advised of the grants and the awards from...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure to recognize an almost-constituent. It’s not a reincarnation, an incarnation of myself with the granddaughter of a constituent, Ms. Dylan Harker. Welcome to the House, Dylan.

I’d also like to recognize Mr. Byrne Richards, co-chair of the Yellowknife Homelessness Coalition.