Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, I would like to continue questions directed to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I am very disappointed with his answers, because they were very lacking, to say the least.

Although I can’t quote from a letter that hasn’t been tabled in the House — as of yet, I stress — when you write a letter and say, “I regret to inform you your proposal wasn’t the highest, and by the way, the other proponent was the highest,” that then leads one to realize that the project is going to the other group.

Could the Minister explain to me the involvement that this Abbotsford, B.C...

My choice today will be to support this motion, to let my colleagues know that though sometimes I don’t agree with all of their initiatives, I do support their aspirations. So, Mr. Speaker, I won’t be walking over to hug that Member, but on the record, he should know that he has my support on this issue.

I do have some concerns. I am worried about the rollout of it. But certainly we will have to deal with the details when they come forward. I have always supported the initiative of trying to find ways to decrease the cost of community living. What that means, as Mrs. Groenewegen has mentioned...

Mr. Speaker, let’s put it this way. The Minister may be technically right, but when you tell one group, “You didn't get it,” that means the other group did get it. If you're still in negotiations with them….

What involvement did this group have, going back to the original work they had done — this southern company from Abbotsford — with the communities and MACA in preparing for this water treatment process bundled contract? In what process did they have involvement?

Mr. Speaker, a number of us — although, obviously the Premier knows very well, not all of us — are in favour of the bridge on this side. I am certainly in favour of it, and that hasn’t changed since I came back to this House.

The constituent that I am raising this point for is definitely in favour of the bridge as well, but they are concerned about the bread-and-butter issues of this bridge.

As I have always understood it, the tolls are set in such a way that according to local industry, it is going to cost about $250 for a truck to cross this bridge. How will that affect your milk and your eggs...

Mr. Speaker, I raise concerns today about the transparency and fairness of the recent awarding of a bundled contract for five water treatment plants to a consortium led by a southern contractor, the Abbotsford, B.C., group that I talked about. It has brought concern and attention to this process that need to be dealt with.

Can the Minister of MACA outline for this Assembly the involvement of this southern contractor’s services in supplying and developing the design of the water treatment plant process, and potentially even in the awarding of the contract?

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to further question the Minister of Transportation on some of the items he raised in his comments to me.

I think he said the Deh Cho Bridge organization at Fort Providence was chasing $50 million as one of the potential sources of revenue. I’d first like to get some clarification on that. When shall we get some feedback if this is going to be a reality, and when was this applied for?

Mr. Speaker, did anyone from MACA phone the unsuccessful proponent to clarify these areas of concern, that we had a southern-based contractor working with these communities on individual contracts? And by the way, they may even be involved in the contract RFP call. Who knows? Probably the answer is no.

The concerns are related to this process, Mr. Speaker, and they indeed deserve an explanation.

The fact is that this Northern company, this Northern consortium, wouldn’t reconsider even bothering to respond to this request for proposal, knowing very well the fact that this southern company from...

The Minister of Transportation.

Mr. Speaker, I’ll respect that, because his letter, that I’m not allowed to quote and which will be tabled later, will help clarify that question officially.

So my last question for the Minister is around the context of what if this Northern firm isn’t hypothetically the one we’re negotiating with, although everyone knows it’s not the group we’re negotiating with. What’s to assure us that some undue process wasn’t happening here, and is the Minister prepared to reimburse that Northern company that spent all that time trying to build a proposal that was actually unofficially awarded already?

Well, Mr. Speaker, that was the best answer I’ve heard all day from this Minister on this project. I’m really glad to hear that maybe he’s coming around to wanting to actually discuss this.

So, Mr. Speaker, the fact is that I want to make absolutely clear, even to the Member on this side of the House for Mackenzie Delta, that I’m not against the project in any way; it’s the process, Mr. Speaker.

I still have concerns that the process is not fair, because I would be surprised that anyone applying through this RFP process was made aware that “By the way, one of your competitors actually wrote all...