Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The purpose of the delay was we listened to what committee had to say, their desire to have those out there that have paid zero for so many years adjust to have them start paying rent now. So we listened to what committee had to say and some Members had to say. We listened to some of the comments from the NWT Seniors’ Society. Thank you.
Thank you and thanks to the Minister for that clarification. So I have to then ask the Minister if he has been listening to the concerns of the NWT Seniors’ Society and been listening to the concerns of Members, it should be no surprise to him that the Seniors’ Society in particular and Members have supported this.
The Seniors’ Society feels that they have not been adequately consulted. I see nothing in the statement and I heard nothing in the Minister’s answer that suggests that there’s going to be any consultation with seniors in this two-month period. So I’d like to ask the Minister what the Housing Corporation is going to use the two months between now and September 1st for. Are they going to use it for consultation or are they going to use it for any specific purpose? Thank you.
Thank you. We’re going to use that two months to give them an opportunity to prepare for a change in their rent come September 1st. We’re also going to use it as an opportunity, as I responded before, to work with a lot of seniors that are in public housing and give them an indication of what their rent will be and what they can expect to pay in the future.
Thanks to the Minister. Those goals are laudable. I appreciate what the Housing Corporation is planning on doing. There has been a specific request from the NWT Seniors’ Society for consultation with them and with other seniors, and I believe that I know at least some Members have suggested to the Minister that these two months from now to the implementation on September 1st, should be used to do some consultation and also to do some analysis of the impact on seniors. Why will the Minister not use these next two months or two and a half months to do that?
We know what the impact is going to be on the seniors. I have no problem in the next couple of months of sitting down with the NWT Seniors’ Society and getting some input from them. We know what the impact is going to be on the seniors. The seniors know what the impact is going to be on themselves. It’s going to be $35 a month, half of what we had originally intended to charge, come July 1st and next year it’s going to be $70 a month. If there’s an opportunity to meet with the seniors, I have no issue in sitting down and having a discussion with them. As far as an official consultation where we go out across the land, we’ve already done that. It’s going to cost us close to $60,000. That’s money that we can best use putting back into our units.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I hear that the Minister is willing to meet with the seniors. I would hope that he will live up to that commitment. I’d like to, I guess, ask the Minister: Will he take some initiative to contact the NWT Seniors’ Society?
If there are folks from the NWT Seniors’ Society who are listening to this broadcast, I would like the opportunity to come and meet with you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll be speaking again, like some of my colleagues have on the Deh Cho Bridge. Earlier today we heard from the Minister himself who said it’s not going to cost us more money. I guess I’m really questioning why we’re really here. It is costing us more money. We’ve heard that there’s going to be a supplemental coming and I think the people of the Northwest Territories are feeling this new ask feels more like a ransom than the completion of a project, and I think the people are sick of it. Really what we have here is a new negotiated deal with a negotiated price with an agreement-in-principle icing coating. I’m going to ask the Minister right here: I’m a little bit confused in the legality of what is really binding moving forward, so can the Minister indicate to me which deal this government is bound to at this moment in time?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re bound to getting this project completed by November. We’re bound to protecting the public purse. We’ve negotiated a settlement to all the outstanding claims. That’s what we’re bound to. We’re trying to move forward. There’s no sense in fighting with the contractor. We need to move forward and put our differences behind us and get the project complete by November. That’s what we’re bound to.
I’m not sure if the word is legally binding or legally bound. It’s a bit confusing. The reason I’m asking that first question is that legally binding, when we first negotiated this price with Ruskin, there was obviously holdbacks involved. These are legal parts of large-scale projects. Anyone who builds houses or any type of infrastructure knows that. What’s happening now with these holdbacks? Are these being leveraged, and if not, why not?
When the contract was originally done with Ruskin – that again predates my time here as Minister of Transportation – there are holdbacks on the construction in that contract and I believe that is industry standard at about 5 percent. That is the current practice and that will continue to be the practice.
I think we’re going down the rabbit hole somewhere but really, quite frankly, we don’t know whether something is legally bound or binding, we don’t know whether these holdbacks are going to be applied to the so-called debt, so I’m going to ask my third question to this which is: What does it take to terminate a contract or contractor if they’re not fulfilling their negotiated price that they signed with ink with the GNWT?
I’m not a lawyer and that’s a hypothetical question.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I sense some written questions coming down the pipeline. I appreciate my last opportunity to ask some questions. You heard from this side of the House, you heard will the bleeding stop? Can you assure us, we heard responses, expectation it will be open, we can complete it, and always there could be circumstances. I’m going to make this a very simple question to the Minister. Can the Minister guarantee to the people of the Northwest Territories that this will be the final supplement asked by this government to complete the Deh Cho Bridge?
I could never guarantee that. What I can guarantee is we’re doing our utmost to ensure that that bridge is completed in November, that we’re protecting the public purse and we’re moving this forward and we’re not looking back.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Transportation’s reply to one of my questions was that it wasn’t going to cost any more money. I think my colleague Mr. Dolynny tried to bring up that issue a little more clearly, but we didn’t get any clear answer. My next question for the Minister of Transportation is: What’s the point of having a negotiated contract when we’re asking for somewhere between $7.2 million and $9.5 million more, and explain to maybe the House why that isn’t actually costing more money, because it sure sounds like real money and new money to the taxpayer?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In negotiating a way forward, and negotiating with Ruskin on the completion of the Deh Cho Bridge, I mentioned this earlier in response to another question, if we don’t open the bridge in November, it’s an immediate $9 million hit to the Government of the Northwest Territories. What we’ve done is negotiated our way out of a number of construction claims on the project that run in the millions of dollars, somewhere probably around $10 million. This way we’re going to move forward. Yes, it is going to cost us some more money, but we’re getting budget certainty and schedule certainty, and we know what we need to get the project done. That’s the most important thing, is that we’re protecting the public purse. This is the best decision, best course of action the government can take on the project at this date.
I’m trying to get a sense of who is actually in the driver’s seat of this particular problem. The Minister has just said if we don’t meet the fall deadline, it’s going to cost us $9 million. He says we have to pay potentially up to $10 million to make sure we comply. I’m confused that the negotiated contract isn’t being implemented. Did Ruskin agree, if we paid more money, they would comply with the original direction provided by Associated Engineers to comply with the fall deadline, again, if we paid more money?
It became clear in March that Ruskin would not be able to complete the bridge in November. We entered into a series of negotiations between the contractor and the Government of the Northwest Territories that would see the negotiated and outstanding construction claims and would ensure that the project was complete in November. I’m not sure if I can make that any more clear than that.
Maybe I can’t make it any more clear from this side of the House, which is what’s wrong with our contract in this particular regard? We keep asking why doesn’t the department, and use our legal division in the justice system to implement and force this contractor to comply with the contract. The simple ask is this: What’s the problem with our contract that we’re being held hostage by paying more?
This contract dates back a number of years. I wouldn’t be able to comment on the decision of the previous government.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. These words will sound familiar to the Minister, but what’s the point of having a contract if the Minister isn’t going to be responsible? Therefore, the question simply is: Who is responsible for the failure of the implementation of this contract? We need a name and someone to take responsibility. I’m sure that sounds familiar.
I’m responsible for decisions made during my tenure as Minister of Transportation. This is a decision that I have made, with the support of my Cabinet colleagues, to move this project forward to ensure that the bridge is complete in November. This was the best course of action that the government could take at this time. It’s not easy coming back and asking for more money, but this is the best that we can do. I assure Members that we are doing all we can to ensure that the project is complete this November and that we get the budget surety and certainty that we’re after.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask questions of the Minister of Health and Social Services on the drug purchasing policies, bulk purchasing policies. I understand that the western provinces announced last year that they had an agreement and arrangement for bulk purchases of drugs to cut down the costs. I’m wondering – we heard yesterday that we are at the table with the provinces – have we signed on with that deal. Are we able to take advantage of that deal as several Members of the House recommended some time before that deal was made?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we are part of the rest of the provinces in any sort of bulk purchase of pharmaceuticals that is negotiated.
Is that now in place? What are the provinces that are part of that deal and associated with that? Maybe I’ll leave it at that for now.
Yes, that is in place now. All provinces and territories are part of the deal and I believe at this time there is only one drug where they are able to buy in bulk at this time. Just one.
My original question was: Are we part of the western provinces bulk purchasing deal? I assume they have a bulk purchasing deal that deals with more than one drug, but I would also be interested in what our savings are with the one drug the Minister mentioned.
I don’t know what the savings are on the bulk purchase of that particular drug to the Northwest Territories. I know there is a plan to add more drugs onto this bulk purchase across the province. I think it’s being led by maybe, I believe, British Columbia that has the lead role, but I wasn’t aware that it was only the western p provinces. I can get that information on that specific project and let the Member know.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister for those comments. I have to say that it’s very upsetting, that despite this opportunity being brought up repeatedly by this side of the House, that we are not taking advantage of these opportunities. I would like to get full information provided by the Minister on what exactly we are doing, what agreements we’re part of now, what our plan is in the future, and why we are not part of the western Ministers bulk purchasing plan that would yield significant savings. Would the Minister commit to providing that in lieu of the lack of action on this?
I know that the department is developing a Pharmaceutical Strategy for the NWT health system, so I’m sure that I would be able to get the information. Because I don’t have the information here specific to the western provinces bulk purchase of drugs doesn’t mean that we’re not engaged in it. What I do know is that we’re engaged with the federal one, and from what I heard was that at this time it’s some process to add drugs to this and at this time there is only one that they’re able to achieve across the territory. But if the western provinces are moving through quicker and they’re having better success, then I’m sure we’re a part of that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions as well today for the Minister of Transportation. I have to say, when I heard his Minister’s statement yesterday, I was dismayed at the news that it contained, and I also, like many Members over here, feel that this project has been, somebody used the term boondoggle awhile ago. It’s been a boondoggle from the start.
The Minister.
Yes, it could have been the Minister. I feel that we’ve been in this position a number of times before and we’re now over a barrel again. I think some Members may know the term BOHICA – bend over here it comes again. I feel that’s where we are.
I’d like to ask the Minister if he can explain to the public how we got to this place where we are. How we got to a situation where we are again having to pay more money. A year ago or so we were asked for money, we gave up more money. As a government and as Members we approved it, and things were rosy then, everything was going to be wonderful. We are now in this situation. How did we get here?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
