Robert Hawkins

I think my last question, assuming it’s a favourable answer obviously, is, can I get a copy of this detail?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Under asset management we have done some consolidating on the payment of the energy bills in coordination, and at one time the philosophy used to be that departments should be farmed out and be responsible for their own things like, for example, their power bill or their fuel bill and they best would know how to manage these things and coordinate these things. Since the last couple of years, Public Works and Services has taken this back. I’m curious as to how the monitoring and management of this program now has been working out. Has there been cost savings? Better...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today, I was raising the issue of some of these ghost Northerners, or sometimes even commonly called paper Northerners, who get these northern jobs, and as soon as they get them, they move south, but the mining industry will put them on their socio-economic agreements and tick them off in the “have you hired or do you have a Northerner working for you” and they tick off yes.

The issue is, simply, this: How do the mines account and, furthermore, validate that these are a true northern workforce, and how do they officially report this to the GNWT...

How does the department determine the markup rate for local vendors to supply that? What is it based on? Is it based on a percentage of usage? Is it a flat rate? Could they explain it and perhaps provide some ranges? I don’t know if it’s proprietary information or if it’s negotiated. Maybe he could answer and explain how they get to these rates and where is it publicly disclosed.

Would it not be in our interests to flex our muscles in that regard? Because if we’re paying the general contractor their money and they’re withholding payment to the subcontractors, who could be northern contractors, would it not be in our interest to suggest that we put that type of downward pressure by good policy to demonstrate our northern subcontractors are just as much of value as whoever the general contractor is?

What type of public reporting do you do when you monitor the compliance of the commitments that some of these contractors make? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hearken back the House’s attention to Committee of the Whole on Tuesday, May 29, last year. I had asked the Minister clearly, on the record, about possibly delivering support to school districts so they can teach their students, grades 9, 10, 11, 12, First Aid, by giving them the resources and empowering them to do this. There is an interest at the school level.

The response from the Minister on the record is that that’s something that they need to explore. It’s getting close to a year. What has the Minister found out on this particular question? Of course, these are...

How do you validate those types of things when they create those formulas? Do you do a follow-up or an audit throughout the process to ensure that they’re complying with their BIP document? I mean, quite often we hear that someone lowballs a bid but then they turn around and, you know, right after they get the bid and they sign their contract for that particular project, they then submit a claim for an adjustment. How do we make sure that they’re delivering on what they promise?

The other question at the same time, I guess, is what does Public Works do specifically to try to foster an...

That was the missing component there. Can I be sent a copy of the report once it’s been done?

I think that’s enough of a cursory intro to know exactly what that is. Just one other last question. Under drug treatment funding program, Nats’ejee K’eh Centre Youth Treatment Program, are there any deliverables under this particular section? We have a section worth commitment, requiring $345,000. I’m just wondering if there’s any reporting or deliverables that we see sent to the Legislature.