Robert Hawkins

It’s interesting how the Minister paints the light as if it’s been fair and open. To say it went on the web page, she is correct, but the fact is that the Inuvik Health and Social Services was chasing down this… Obviously it’s clear that they were chasing down this business to participate in a public tender. But if you read the public tender, it says a specific company; we’re using their catalogue and references and numbers. How does the Department of Health and Social Services expect them to compete fairly and openly with what clearly looks like a sole-source contract dedicated to one...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) and move Committee Report 2-16(5) into Committee of the Whole for today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Monday morning I was contacted by a constituent who was very concerned about a recent Department of Health public tender. Their business received a fax Friday afternoon from Inuvik Health to which they only noticed Monday morning and, by the way, Mr. Speaker, it closes this Thursday. To understand this situation and appreciate the complexity, I will describe it this way.

The tender was faxed to this office Friday, May 14th. The fax was examined on Monday morning, May 17th, and the tender closes on May 20th. Simply put, this business is only allowed four business days to...

I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) and move Committee Report 1-16(5) into Committee of the Whole for today.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. May I remind the Premier that the Minister is ultimately responsible? That’s what I’m asking for, is the Minister step in, stop protecting a bad decision, stop justifying a bad decision, and stop managing by the rear view mirror by saying we’ll look into it after it’s done. Because you know, by that time it’s long past. Mr. Speaker, it sets up a reputation of bad governance, bad contracting.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t really want to hear about board reform. I think it’s a red herring and a waste of this Assembly’s time. The question really comes down to, and I ask the Premier...

I’m glad the Premier is rolling in on this issue, because I’m glad to see someone’s taking it serious. The fact is, when the Minister says we’ve been contacting -- yes, as of yesterday, the first time they’ve made any effort to get back to this company. They placed repeated calls to the contact on the tender of request to no answer, only until it’s brought to the Minister of Health and Social Services’ attention, when the clock is ticking.

Mr. Speaker, the only honourable thing to do is to pull this contract back, pause it and tender it in a fair way that doesn’t show the competitor’s inventory...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am just curious. By what policy or what ministerial authority can this Housing Minister guarantee every single process was followed? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, just by chance, the woman who has been evicted, her mother happens to be sitting in the gallery here today. The Minister clearly says the Housing Corporation will only get involved if they feel the need to. Mr. Speaker, I want to hear from the Housing Corporation Minister, does his department support illegal evictions, which is exactly what is going on here today? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment and they are in relation to the Growing Forward Program administered by his Department.

Would the Minister provide the following information for the previous two fiscal years as well as the current fiscal year 2010-2011:

How much funding has been made available and how much was accessed from this program?

What amounts of funding have been distributed under the Growing Forward Program and who were the recipients whether it was a business, individual or non-government organization? Could this information...

I think this is where the Minister clearly misunderstands the situation. This looks like nothing other than a sole-source. Clearly it says one supplier’s name. Anybody who wants to compete has to call the local competitor and say, well, I need to understand what these local product numbers are. Are these catalogue numbers out of your book? Because they’re certainly not out of any of the national suppliers’ books, they’re out of a very specific company’s book. They also used the spreadsheet off this specific company where they have to go to to get pricing in order to compete. To pull this back...