Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will ask questions to the Minister of Transportation regarding the Deh Cho Bridge on decisions made by this current government under their watch today.
Mr. Speaker, in reading the Auditor General’s report, it would appear that an external audit of the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation’s financial statements had not been done while the Auditor General was looking at this project. That means that trying to put a figure on the cost to date on that project just leaves a lot to be questioned. Does the Minister have a cost to date on the Deh Cho Bridge Project? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we have the figures. The Auditor General reviews and audits the bridge project on an annual basis. They have been since the project started. They also have the information. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, that would be true for the Department of Transportation’s role in the Deh Cho Bridge Project, but I am talking about the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation and their financial records. Has an external audit of the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation’s financial records been audited? If so, can we see it? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I believe the audit is a comprehensive audit that includes the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation’s financial statements. I think that is all available for this year very shortly. I understand an audit has been completed just in the recent weeks. I can certainly try to get my hands on it for the Member. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I also wanted to ask a question today about concerns over the design. Also in the Auditor General’s report it talks about concerns over the design being brought forward by the Department of Transportation and somebody somewhere overriding a recommendation of the department to continue to waive the requirement for the design being done and to proceed with construction. It is paragraph 27, if the Minister wants to have a look at that. I would like to ask how that could happen. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we do have a design sign-off on all components of the bridge project. As I indicated yesterday, we have also had our own independent design engineers, our experts, review the design. They all approve it. What the Auditor General is looking for is one signature to approve all components. Right now we have a designer that approved the piers and we have a designer that approved the superstructure. Although the superstructure is 85 percent of the overall design, her desire is to have us have one designer approve all the different components and that would bring comfort. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. It wasn’t really what I was looking for, though. It is paragraph 27 of the Auditor General’s report which states quite clearly that the risk to the project was significantly increased when the Government of the Northwest Territories waived the approval of the design in order to allow construction to start. Was the recommendation from the Department of Transportation not to proceed with construction? Who made the decision to waive the requirement to have that design completed? Thank you.
Thank you. My job is to get the bridge built, to steer it to a final product. It’s very difficult if I have to try to steer it while looking in the rear-view mirror all the time. Mr. Speaker, I’d have to respond to the Member by stating that the design and the amendment to the concession agreement was made on the advice of the department, it was signed off by the Minister of the day with authorization from Cabinet of the day. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
