Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about the market disruption caused by the Minister of Transportation and this McLeod government by sole sourcing the Highway No. 4 realignment, which frankly, Mr. Speaker, wouldn’t pass the smell test of ITI’s Market Disruption Policy.
As we all know, Minister Ramsay has been consistently critical of sole-sourced contracts as a Member in this Assembly, but now he’s in Cabinet, he’s reversed his position; because if you listen to the concerns in the community, you would hear people referring to him as Reverse Ramsay now, the new champion of sole source.
Because only Reverse Ramsay, they say, can now justify the meddling in a healthy, well-established environment, local industry. People are asking where is the old Ramsay, as they hang their head low, but now the Minister of Transportation will justify his new founded love for sole-sourced contracts with dismal comments such as they approached us, it’s better for the taxpayer, we are building capacity. So accordingly, as the people see it, and as well as they say it, this McLeod government is finally shedding light on what little respect they have for the taxpayers and the local industry. The Minister will try to use the guise of a negotiated contract with sleight of hand, but really he just means sole sourced by another name, and he will talk about community benefits. Sadly, none of these would even matter to Member Ramsay if he was sitting on this side of the House, because I could hear him now screaming as he drives up to the rafters yelling for an RFP.
So just like the children’s story book is called, “Where’s Waldo,” the public is asking where is Ramsay.
The actions of the McLeod government show that they stand behind market disruption as their new policy in our capital area, which is a competitive area; a very vibrant one, I may add. So people ask why are they trying to attract business if they do what they’ve just done. What about the BIP policy? Does it not matter? Why are we encouraging northern business to invest here if we’re just going to do what they’re doing?
I’d like to quote Member Ramsay, as he’s clearly put on the record a number of times: “My difficulty is when contracts are handed over.” Another one: “The public asks us as political leaders to govern in a fashion that is fair, open and transparent. We are the protectors of the public purse.” Here’s another one: “Why is this happening when the work should rightfully go to an RFP?” My personal favourite is: “I’m not suggesting that the people who have received these contracts are not competent, I’m not suggesting that they are not offering a fair price. What I’m saying is that there’s no way to be sure of either of these things and if we do not use a competitive process like a tender or an RFP...”
So all I’m asking for is do the right thing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
