Debates of May 16, 2007 (day 8)

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.

Further Return To Question 93-15(6): Legislation For The Locksmithing Profession

Mr. Speaker, I am able to do that. We can do that. We have a number of discussions, some of them formal with committee, some of them informal at a body like Caucus, where we discuss legislative priorities from time to time. There are many avenues that this could be raised to our attention, but I will take the Member’s suggestion on the floor of this House. We will pass this on to the next government. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation. Just getting back to what I stated earlier in my Member’s statement -- and I did raise it before in this House -- the issue of flooding when the Taltson River, the dam is opening or closing to allow for more power during peak periods and low periods. Mr. Speaker, the Minister came back to me. He did say earlier that he wanted some evidence. I do have some evidence right here, Mr. Speaker. This is evidence right here. It clearly shows that a cabin is flooded out. There are doghouses under water. Not only do hunters and trappers get flooded out, but also a lot of wildlife suffer because of the changes in the water levels during the winter season, Mr. Speaker. It clearly states in the NWT Power Corporation water licence that community consultations have to occur when there are going to be changes in water levels and people downstream have to be informed by the Power Corporation. To date, the people can’t even remember when the Power Corporation was last in the community to even tell them when any changes were going to occur to any kind of water levels that were going to be happening in the Taltson River. I just want to ask the Minister, can he commit to putting out a directive to the NWT Power Corporation that they have a legal obligation, under the water licence, to ensure that they go into these communities and inform the hunters and trappers that the water levels will be changing, especially around December when the peak period goes up? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Return To Question 94-15(6): Taltson River Water Levels

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can direct the department to notify communities when the water levels will be raised by way of raising the water in the dam. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 94-15(6): Taltson River Water Levels

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will take the Minister to task on that because, basically, he told me that before and nothing has happened to date. The people want to know that the Power Corporation really does care about what they are doing to the trapping grounds. They would like to see even the president of the Power Corporation go into the communities, have a community meeting there, and let them know when the dams are going to open the floodgates and when they are going to close them. The safety concerns that are raised at the community levels are always coming back to me and the issue of damage to the wildlife is really big with the people around there, Mr. Speaker. I am going to ask the Minister again, when is this directive going to go out? Can the communities get a copy of that directive? We can then set some dates for some consultation periods. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Krutko.

Further Return To Question 94-15(6): Taltson River Water Levels

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Suffice to the Member, I will do up a letter, cc it to all the communities, direct it to the president of the corporation to ensure that they have these consultations, inform the communities when they are going to release any water from the Taltson hydro facility which may affect the water levels downstream. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Short supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Supplementary To Question 94-15(6): Taltson River Water Levels

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will thank the Minister for that. I look forward to seeing the letter and seeing some kind of a formal directive to the Power Corporation that this just is not a one-time occurrence. This happens every year, Mr. Speaker, and it is going to continue as long as the dam is there. So this is not just a one-time thing; it has to go on every year. The consultations and the water levels are going to change at different times of the year with this new expansion possibly happening. There are going to be different peak periods happening. So I would like this as an ongoing initiative by the Power Corporation to ensure that they are practising or operating the dam in good faith for the people downstream. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member’s statement I spoke to the concerns of the Slow-pitch Association in Inuvik. I would like to direct my questions today to the Minister of Public Works and Services. I would like to ask him what his department is doing to consult with stakeholders in Inuvik just to ensure that all their issues are taken care of. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Krutko.

Return To Question 95-15(6): Replacement Of Inuvik Softball Field

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have been working through the Town of Inuvik with regards to the relocation of the new high school in Inuvik. We are working with the town in regards to the replacement of that ball field, again working with the Slow-pitch League in Inuvik. Again, we are basically working through the Town of Inuvik by way of a consultative process and allowing them to facilitate, organizing these meetings with the different interest groups so that we do try to minimize the effects on all interested parties in regards to this decision. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Supplementary To Question 95-15(6): Replacement Of Inuvik Softball Field

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Slow-pitch Association in the Town of Inuvik knows how important a new school is and the Slow-pitch Association had no problems giving up their ball field. Who would have the authority to enter into an agreement with the Slow-pitch Association to replace their existing ball field? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Krutko.

Further Return To Question 95-15(6): Replacement Of Inuvik Softball Field

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are going through the Town of Inuvik because they have the lease on the existing ball field. In order for us to acquire that field, we will have to replace it with another field somewhere else. That is the reason we are going through the Town of Inuvik and allowing them to facilitate. We are willing to enter into an agreement with them by way of a written agreement and have it clearly spelled out that any resources needed for a new ball field…We will be able to approve that by way of building it into the budget of the new high school. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Supplementary To Question 95-15(6): Replacement Of Inuvik Softball Field

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister -- he said they would be able to enter into a signed agreement with the Town and the Slow-pitch Association -- who would have the authority to sign this agreement on their behalf so that it is a binding agreement five years down the road when all the players change? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Krutko.

Further Return To Question 95-15(6): Replacement Of Inuvik Softball Field

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, we are willing to enter into an agreement with the Town of Inuvik, the recreation department, whoever that may be in regards to facilitating this issue and have a signed agreement to spell out exactly what the costs associated with the replacement, where the new field is going to be located, make sure it is in black and white because I think the Member made it clear. We learned from the mistake we made in Aklavik. We don’t want to repeat that and make the same decision. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for Mr. Dent, the Minister responsible for Human Resources. It concerns the awarding of the employee and family assistance contract earlier this year. Mr. Speaker, given the high quality of service demonstrated by Northstar over the seven years that it had this contract, and given the tremendous increase in the size of the civil service and the growth in the number of requests over these years, and given the intrinsic value of nurturing, protecting and enabling northern grown businesses to stay in business here to keep resident professionals in the NWT, what were the reasons that the government awarded the employee assistance contract to the outside company Shepell-fgi, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Dent.

Return To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were three respondents to the public call for request for proposals and all were evaluated on four criteria: the capability of the proponents, the methodology or approach proposed by the proponents, the level of service, and cost. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Mr. Speaker, does the successful bidder, Shepell-fgi, have an office here in the NWT and resident full-time staff? Is it fully compliant with the conditions of the business incentive policy that is in place to, in fact, enable northern businesses to be sustained here?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Shepell-fgi does not, to the best of my knowledge, have a resident or an office in the Northwest Territories. They did, however, list a number of subcontractors who are registered with the BIP. So BIP would have been allocated for those subcontractors in their proposal.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Mr. Speaker, to what extent is cost a factor in evaluating this kind of service? Do we have any sense of just how much of the value of this contract is going to be staying here in the North as opposed to being in the hands of a southern firm, Mr. Speaker? We know, for instance, from the Northstar folks, because virtually all of their services are supplied by resident contractors, but 92 per cent of the value of the contract stayed in the North. How much are Shepell-fgi's going to, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the first question, the costs of the proposal was one of the four important aspects that was evaluated, one of the four areas. The proposal was put out with a fixed cost in it. The proposal was advertised as having a budget set at a certain amount, and proponents were asked to respond to tell us what could be provided within that budget.

The issue of how much of the expenditures will be remaining in the North, again, there will be some variety, I guess. We will have to watch and see how much stays in the North. We have a responsibility, now that the contract has been awarded, to monitor that the expenditures are as they were set out in the proposal and ensure that subcontractors who are resident northerners are used to the extent that were proposed in the proposal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Supplementary To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Mr. Speaker, given the irregularities in the way the contract was administered and awarded, the principals of Northstar have requested that the RFP be re-bid, re-assessed and a new award considered under an objective and impartial process. I support that request. Will the Minister take this and indeed reopen this RFP, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 96-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When Northstar came to me and identified their concerns, I asked the BIP monitoring office in ITI to review the process. I have subsequently asked the Department of Justice to review the process, as well as the Department of Public Works and Services to review the process. All three have come back to me and advised that there is not enough that was wrong with the process to warrant overturning it. As Public Works has said, there were a number of procedural issues with the RFP, but while they may lend themselves to an error of public uncertainty about the process, they did not constitute any error in the issuance of the final RFP or in the resultant contract. So that is the advice that I have been given. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to ask questions to the Minister of Human Resources with regards to the tendering of the contract on the EAP program to a southern company. Mr. Speaker, in answering questions to the Member of Great Slave, the Minister just told that his staff has advised that the fact that the winning bid used the principal operator of the competing contract which now has been replaced by this new contract, the fact that that name was used as one of the subcontractors and that the new contractor has apologized for including that name into that proposal, the Minister is saying that is not a problem. To me, that is a real big problem. There is something very wrong with somebody outbidding an existing contract by using that same person. It is like McDonald’s bidding for a fast food contract saying Wendy’s is going to do the burgers. Mr. Speaker, could I ask the Minister to answer how it is that he doesn’t see a problem with that? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Return To Question 97-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue is not one of whether or not an individual had more merit to provide the services or not, because the individuals whose names were submitted as subcontractors were not assessed by the department as to their qualifications as long as they met the standards that were required. So whether one individual was removed from consideration in one of the RFPs, it didn’t affect the outcome in any material way. Even after removal of that person from one RFP, the BIP office confirmed that it would not have changed the outcome in the application. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 97-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Mr. Speaker, there are lots of problems with this contract, but let me just focus on this name that was added. Mr. Speaker, just to put it simply, because it is quite complicated, this could be akin to McDonald’s bidding for a contract to supply Winter Games 2010 and they use a competitor as a subcontractor that they will replace wrongly in a real intentional fraudulent manner, I may add. Mr. Speaker, if the subcontractor is not important, then why did the contract ask for names of subcontractors? What was the reason for asking for that subcontractor’s name? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 97-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am advised that there is a difference between a tender document and an RFP. The expectation of the tender is that the proponents who are bidding on the tender will have contracts in place with the subcontractors. An RFP is an identification of those who will be used. There isn’t the requirement to have those contracts in place. In this case, as long as the successful proponent meets the set level of northern contractors to make sure that they were appropriately awarded the contract, the advice I am given is that we don’t have grounds to redo the competition. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 97-15(6): Contract For GNWT Employee Assistance Plan

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister can correct me if I am wrong, but I am assuming that the reason why there was a requirement for northern contractors was so that there is northern content in this contract. The fact is we have no way of knowing, other than this very clear case, that there were not any other names added to put weight behind this contract. How could the Minister assure us that there were no other names included in there to give weight to this northern contract in a not transparent way? It puts a doubt to the entire process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.