Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to speak today about the Deh Cho Bridge Project. I appreciate the Minister’s statement here earlier today.
I was happy to see the Finance Minister mention that Regular Members will be getting an update from Minister Michael McLeod later in this session. I look forward to seeing that. I’m also looking forward to Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s report on the bridge project, which should be tabled in this House in four weeks’ time. I want to thank the Minister of Transportation and his department for all the work that they’re putting into ensuring that the project remains on time and on budget.
In anything we do in life, we should take lessons, grow, and learn from mistakes that we’ve made. I am still very troubled about how the former Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, probably with our blessing, allowed ATCON to take on a $165 million contract 3,000 miles away from its home base and not be bonded to do the work. I wonder how that’s even possible.
What we found out is that, yes, we had a $13 million guarantee from the Bank of Nova Scotia which, after ATCON entered into receivership, was made good by the Government of New Brunswick on the back of the taxpayer in New Brunswick. A construction audit was conducted by Levelton and it speaks to deficiencies in the work performed by ATCON. The question is whether the $13 million will cover the cost of the needed repairs.
I must also state, for the record, that even though Members had asked to see the report, it was posted on the department’s website and technical briefings were conducted with the media in the absence of any real briefing or update for Regular Members. I should not have to find out the report is available on-line from the local media; it should have been given to Regular Members before being posted on the department’s website.
I just want to make sure that we have guarantees in place with the current contractor, Ruskin, to ensure they are adequately bonded to do the remainder of the work. Also given the fact that there have been recent delays and the Minister states quite clearly in his statement earlier today that the contractor is looking at bringing forward a revised schedule sometime by the end of February, well, when I read between the lines, it means more time. In a mega-infrastructure project like the Deh Cho Bridge, time is obviously money. I want some assurances from the Minister that delays and cost overruns will not fall on the taxpayer here in the Northwest Territories.
I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
I want some assurances what cost overruns will fall on the taxpayer here in the NWT, and I also want to understand why Regular Members haven’t seen a copy of the contract between Ruskin and whoever it’s with -- the Government of the Northwest Territories or maybe the former Deh Cho Bridge Corporation -- how that works, what our liabilities are in that contract, what are eligible cost overruns. I’ll be asking the Minister for that later today.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
