Thanks to the Minister for that commitment. I look forward to that. Further on in his remarks, Mr. Polakoff mentioned that NGOs can provide a good source of support in terms of administering things like transitional housing. I’d like to ask the Minister, and hopefully he has at least some of this information, but under what program could the Housing Corporation provide operational funds to NGOs who provide transitional housing, new programs, existing programs, programs from another department? Any information would be helpful. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there are some programs that we administer, on behalf of CMHC, that assist some of the folks that provide some of the houses with maintenance and upkeep on the units. Thank you.
I guess I’ll have to ask the Minister if he can commit to provide me with that information since he hasn’t mentioned what that is. One of the things that happened during the building of Bailey House was that the units were designed to a certain size and the Housing Corporation came along and said that they needed to be larger. By making those units larger, that increased the cost of running that facility. It led them to the situation where they are right now, where their revenues don’t meet their expenses. The tenants at Bailey House can’t afford any more than the $800 or $900 that they’re being charged at the moment. I’d like to know, in terms of that situation, where the Housing Corporation requires units to be larger and, therefore, more expensive than what the building is originally designed for, what will the Housing Corporation do to help the people operating the transitional housing to have their revenue meet their expenses. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Member has provided me with a lot of detail and she’s looking for some answers on some of the detail. If I had an opportunity to meet with the Member and listen to some of her concerns I’d be in a better position to supply the detail that’s she looking for, but I can assure the Member that we do what we can to assist those folks that are operating units. We have money that we sometimes do allocate to them, on behalf of CMHC, for some of the repairs on their unit. I would imagine if the Housing Corporation said the unit had to be larger, then we would have to look at maybe how we would be able to support that. Thank you.
Your final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister, I think. As Mrs. Groenewegen has said once or twice, it would be nice if you just sort of said, yeah, that’s a good idea, we’ll look into it. I heard the Minister say that he’d like to sit down and talk. Absolutely. I’m going to ask him if he would commit to meet with me to talk about this idea so that we can try and find some sort of a solution. I would also like to ask the Minister if he would commit to work with other departments within the government to find the right funding for NGOs so that the people within transitional housing don’t have to go on to income support.
Mr. Speaker, the fact that there are some good ideas over there, we don’t have to say it. Obviously, the fact that we’re willing to sit and meet with Members and try and address some of the concerns shows them that there are some good ideas and we’re willing to listen. I will commit to the Member that we’re willing to listen to any ideas, any suggestions. It helps us do our job, it obviously helps the Members do their jobs, and most importantly, it helps the folks out there that we’re representing. I will commit to the Member that I’d be more than happy to sit down and meet with her. I will meet with whoever I need to, to try and find a good resolution to some of the issues that they’re facing. Thank you.
Thank you. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement I talked about the Business Incentive Policy as it’s applied in the local preference adjustment. Mr. Speaker, I’d like to ask the Minister of ITI questions on this.
Will the Minister go back to the department to see if the current BIP is working in the small communities in the sense that the small communities are getting the majority of the contracts within the small communities? Thank you.
Thank you. The Minister responsible for ITI, Minister McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We see a priority for this government to try to get as much of our expenditures into the smaller communities. We have a number of tools that we use to try to do that. Obviously, we use the Business Incentive Policy. Of course, we have a Negotiated Contract Policy to allow us to do that, but I would be very pleased to go back to the department and find out whether contracts are making it to local businesses in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, will the Minister look at the total impacts of changing the Business Incentive Policy from what it is currently to my recommendation? Just a paper exercise. I am looking for my recommendations of applying a flat 15 percent across the board for local adjustments only. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we are quite prepared to do that analysis. I should mention that the Business Incentive Policy was set up to provide a level playing field for northern businesses that invest in the North and have their offices and their workforce and buildings in the North, to give them a level playing field with southern contractors. That is the primary purpose of the Business Incentive Policy. With regards to providing incentives to small communities versus other northern communities, that is not the primary purpose, but we are prepared to do the analysis and provide the Member with our preliminary findings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I thought the main objective or primary purpose would be to keep the GNWT dollars in the NWT. I thought the level playing field was a result of trying to do that. Will the Minister go back to the small communities, maybe not every small community, not a full consultation process, but to some of the small communities to hear first hand from the small community contractors what the issues are with the BIP? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, if there is an indication from the Members here that it’s something that we should do, we would be prepared to do that. Right now we haven’t had any indication that this is something that the majority of Members want us to do. I would be prepared to put that forward as part of the transitional arrangements with the next Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister if he could do more analysis on BIP. I would like to ask the Minister if they can do adjustments to contracts that were already let in the small communities, a new set of adjustments based on 15 percent local preference only and maybe discuss the results with me so that I am able to also determine what the issues are when I am talking to local contractors in Fort Res and Lutselk’e. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we would be prepared to provide the Member with some information as to what the issues would be with proceeding with what the Member is proposing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Next I have Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is probably to the Minister with Intergovernmental Affairs to deal with the Food Mail Program when they are meeting with... Sorry, maybe to the Minister of Health, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Health, then, for the Food Mail Program. When a constituent of mine phoned Yellowknife and got the order, the order was then delivered to Buffalo Airways. When it was shipped to Deline, the food was pretty well all frozen and it was pretty well spoiled. In terms of this Food Mail Program, if there is a monitoring as to where can people go to register a complaint or to get reimbursed for the food that is spoiled due to the Food Mail Program system.
The honourable Minister of Health, Ms. Lee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, this is a federal program administered by the federal government, but I would be happy to just sit down with him and get the details and inquire on his behalf. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, when the Minister sits down with the federal Minister on this program here, can the federal Minister and the Minister talk about this type of situation that can be blamed here and simply for residents in my region when situations like this happens, that they can pick up the phone, either in their own language in Denewa or in English, to register a complaint or can say the food that they have received is spoiled and they need to do something different right away?
Mr. Speaker, as I stated, I would be happy to get detailed information and get back to the Member, as well as finding out perhaps a process in place that people could inquire to. I will get back to the Member. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am hoping this cold weather would be cleared up as soon as possible, because one of the situations that the Food Mail Program runs into in this 40 below, it is very hard to keep the products warm and fresh. It is no fault of anybody. That is the situation that we run into with the Food Mail Program. When the Minister has the opportunity to talk to the federal Minister, when she gets the details from me that she could again relay this to the federal Minister, when will the Minister have the first opportunity to discuss this with the federal government?
Mr. Speaker, I need to first get the information. I am not sure if I will be talking to the Minister on a specific situation like that, but I would be happy to inquire on the basis of facts to get the answer for that specific situation and, in terms of a process, where could a person go to inquire when something like that happens.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope it doesn’t take a week or three weeks. I hope the Minister and I could talk right away after this session here, get the facts and she can come back saying I can get a hold of the Minister tomorrow or next week and we will have this discussion. It is not too complicated. It is very simple. That is what I am asking the Minister so I can go back to Deline and my constituents and say we are acting on the issue right away. I hope it doesn’t take a long time. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I know some things take longer than we would like, but the Member knows that we have been able to have pretty quick turnaround on things, understanding, though, in this situation, that I need to talk to a federal body. I need to have my officials talk to the federal body about the specific situation he is asking. I will undertake to look into it as soon as possible. I will get together with him as soon as possible as well. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lee. Next I have the honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation some questions with regard to Jean Marie River. The chief had called me today and they’re really having issues with a lot of power outages in that community with the generators. I’d just like to ask the Minister if he’s aware of it and what exactly is going on with these generators. Thank you very much.
Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve been kept up to date on the outages that have occurred and some of the concerns around there. I know, for example, in February there were a number of outages, some from a 10-minute outage to about a 40-minute outage. Some of it is equipment related and we’re investigating what’s a growing concern.
I do know that in our past in our discussions about alternative energies, the Jean Marie facility was looked at I’ll have to get information of where that sits. I’m looking at replacement of our engines there to a newer model, but we are investigating if that was feasible, because we do know that we’re coming up to retrofit time. But I’ll get additional information back to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Does the Minister know if it’s still in the capital plan then, and if so, is it slated for replacement this year? Thank you.
Thank you. I’ll have to get back to the Member on that, because the Power Corp has its capital replacement process as part of its rate structures as to when it can replace equipment. I do know that overall, from our side looking at the old Energy Coordinating Committee process, that Jean Marie River was looked at as a possibility of looking at biomass operations and I’ll have to get the latest on that. I don’t believe replacement is for this coming year, but they are looking at when that actual replacement comes up to look at what we can do. But I’ll get the latest from the NWTPC and then get that back to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Also, just given the importance of the power outages for the residents of Jean Marie, I’d like to ask the Minister if he could come up with a plan and have his staff get over there and come up with at least an interim solution to all those power outages and monitor their generators. Thank you.
Thank you. The issues of the outages is one that I’ve asked to get some additional information on from the Power Corporation and I’ll get that back to the Member, as well as I’ll have them communicate with the community. Thank you.
Next I have Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve got some more questions today for the Minister of Transportation, getting back to my Member’s statement where I talked about delays in construction. Going back to some of the things the Minister has said in the past, he had mentioned to the House and to Members that construction would take place from both sides of the river on the project to ensure the completion date of November 2011. It would appear that that’s not happening, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister why construction hasn’t taken place on both sides of that river so that it could meet in the middle as the Minister had told this House previously. Thank you.
Minister of Transportation, Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan is to still meet in the middle, but the approach has changed somewhat, as the Member has indicated. The delay in steel has caused the approach to change. The plan is now to work on the north side and things are going very well. The contractor has been doing some very good work in launching the steel. We should be hitting the fourth pier or the final pier on the north side relatively soon and construction will continue with the tower as we deal with the breakup of the ice. The plan is to have all the trusses be worked on and put together during the breakup time and be ready for launching as soon as the river is clear.
Mr. Speaker, we still are working towards our goal of having the bridge opened in the fall and there’s no denying there are challenges out there. The delay of steel is one. The breakup of the river is another one, and as I indicated the other day in questions during question period, the ability for us or for our contractor to do work that was planned for warmer weather that has to be done in the cold season or the latter part of the fall is something that we have to work out.
There are many things that are out there that challenge us almost every day. If the weather is colder than minus 35, then we for sure have to take into consideration the safety of the workers and I think there’s a policy that restricts them from working in that temperature. If there are strong winds, they can’t be up on the towers. Those towers are way up in the air on top of the ice and that’s an issue. Also, we were challenged this year when we were caught off guard with the ferry shutting down. That was also cause for delay.
So there are many things. We are in continual contact with the contractor and I’m very confident we have a good team and things are continuing to move forward.
I thank the Minister for that. Part of the initial budget on the $92 million contract between the Deh Cho Bridge and Ruskin would not have included the need to take out that temporary bridge and put it back in again a few weeks after breakup to allow construction on the south side. I’d like to ask the Minister how much is taking the temporary bridge out and putting it back in going to cost and who’s going to pay for that. Thank you.
Thank you. It’s a difficult situation we’re in. We have our contractors that are listening to this discussion, we’ve already been contacted by the contractors raising concerns over some of the Member’s comments that are in the contract. There’s a proprietary issue that we’re dealing with here. These issues are dealt with in the contract. I’m not in a position to disclose it at this time, Mr. Speaker. I’ll have to reassure the Member that these issues were things that were taken into consideration. Thank you.
I appreciate the work the contractor is doing there. My apologies for trying to get some answers on the $200 million that the taxpayers of the Northwest Territories have hanging out there on this project. So, again, I’m going to ask questions and continue to ask questions about this project in an effort to protect the taxpayers here in the Northwest Territories and find out what our real risks are with this project.
I’d like to ask the Minister again, yesterday I asked him a pretty straightforward question: who would be responsible for cost overruns and construction delays on this project? Would it be the Government of the Northwest Territories or would it be the contractor? The Minister mentioned something about potential loss of revenue due to the contract going past the completion date. It wasn’t what I was looking for. I just want to know whose responsibility it is. Thank you.
It would depend on who the responsibility of the delay or the cost overrun, who it would apply to. If it was the contractor’s issue, then they would have to eat those costs. If it was the responsibility of our government, if it was an issue that could be attributed to something we did or we were responsible for, then we’d have to pay for it.
Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
