Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today will be for the Minister of Transportation. There’s no doubt that there’s been a lot of flurry of activity in the media lately regarding the Highway No. 4 bypass here in Yellowknife, and for good reason. There’s obviously a lot of concern out there. Contrary to what was reported by the media spokespeople by the Department of Transportation on this highway project and the Negotiated Contracts Policy, there has been more than just one company that’s come forward. There have been many companies that have come forward to seek an interest and, more importantly, an opportunity to bid on this contract.
Can the Minister of Transportation indicate to this House and to the Members here what was said and what was done with these hardworking Yellowknife taxpaying companies who did not get an opportunity to do an RFP?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were two other companies that had expressed interest and the Department of Transportation had written to both of those companies. I believe the Member was copied on both of those letters.
Yes, we did receive those letters and, again, obviously there will be probably some more future questions on that.
Moving on to my next question to the Minister, I need to know, and I think a lot of people need to know here, what is the government’s position on future road construction projects in the greater Yellowknife area with respect to this Negotiated Contracts Policy. What is this government’s message moving forward and to the business community here in Yellowknife?
The message moving forward is future highway contracts in the Yellowknife area are intended to be tendered.
That’s good news to hear. I guess my next question has to do with, as I think was mentioned in my Member’s statement, this government’s position when this Yellowknife region reaches full market capacity, which we see today, especially in highway construction, how will this government deal with overcapacity. In essence, how are they going to deal with the cannibalization of businesses competing desperately to stay alive and what is this government going to do when businesses start to close down when there’s lack of work?
I see it much differently than the Member, obviously. I don’t see cannibalism. I see capacity building for an Aboriginal development corporation that is going to supply opportunities for jobs, training and development of the workforce there.
I believe that going forward, as I mentioned in response to the previous question, we will be tendering future roadwork in the Yellowknife area. Because this money is coming from the Giant Mine Remediation Funds, this is at the very doorstep of Chief Drygeese territory and nobody asked the Yellowknives Dene for 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide to be stored at the very foot of the Chief Drygeese territory.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Member and the Minister here. Obviously this is money for remediation, but this is also public money from public tax dollars. So again, there’s no real earmarking here.
My last question has to deal with if this policy is being done in the way that has been indicated to the House and Members here, and if the proponent was meeting the needs of this policy, and obviously construction of this road is in dire need, and there’s a timeline sensitivity to this road. My question is, and also of the proponent, I’m sure, who’s waiting in the wings: Why hasn’t this government signed this contract already? I think a lot of us really want to know that ultimate question.
The details are still being worked out. We hope to have the negotiation concluded by the end of this month and construction would start shortly thereafter.
Again, and I will reiterate this, we are looking at Det’on Cho and the number of companies that they will be bringing in partnership on the construction of this realignment project. Those companies are northern and they will be northern. We have yet to see a finalized negotiated agreement. We will be getting that shortly and make an announcement after that.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
