Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General looked at a certain area. The Levelton Report looked at a certain area, but it never looked at investigating on who worked to derail the project, who released information, who harassed the lender, of that type. Those are the things the taxpayers deserve answers to. We have 200 million reasons to ask ourselves, did someone try to scuttle this project from day one. That’s the question I am after, not one of those things. The Department of Transportation looking at themselves I highly doubt that they will look at themselves under that type of scrutiny.

My question...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today, I talked about the need for what one could call an independent audit on the Deh Cho Bridge and certainly the process. We definitely need an independent audit that has teeth. Of course, as many of us will remember, there seemed to be always questions about internal information being released at a weird time, and certainly rumours about people calling the lender and harassing them about the incompetence of both government and the bridge management. That didn’t play well on to the government when we were saddled with the $200 million end...

As part of developing the Northwest Territories’ policy approach to hydraulic fracturing, representatives of the Standing Committee on Economic Development and Infrastructure joined a delegation led by the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment on a tour of the Bakken shale formation in Saskatchewan and North Dakota, between September 29th and October 4, 2013.

The delegation, made up of the Minister; Members of the Legislative Assembly; staff from the departments of Environment and Natural Resources, and Industry Tourism and Investment; the Northwest Territories Geoscience Office; the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Undoubtedly, I have no issue whatsoever in supporting this particular motion.

We must seize upon every single opportunity to help solve this problem. This is not the panacea for this issue, but yet it is moving the file forward. Enforcement of liquor laws is a necessity. We cannot miss any opportunity to do this. We must not get distracted by the fact that, yes, this is a new adventure that we must be heading into, but we must see it as truly an opportunity to do something for this particular problem.

Abuse of alcohol certainly has been well stated, well written and will...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. How much is left in the reserve to address all these deficiencies and would the Minister table publicly a list of all the deficiencies so we know what we’re dealing with? Thank you.

Thank you. There are a lot of deficiencies and I understand are still outstanding on this particular bridge. As such, that’s why I was asking for it publicly. I don’t have a copy, but I can certainly start with one of the deficiencies to enlighten him.

As I understand, right now the scour rock issue at the Deh Cho Bridge is still outstanding and I thought it was being addressed through a negotiated contract. Would the Minister be able to confirm if there was a negotiated contract to solve the scour rock problem and, as such, is it still in place? Because I certainly have seen not one but two...

Mr. Speaker, I think I’ve highlighted some of the reasons and I’m happy to repeat them again. I said that because the lender pulled the loan and the GNWT became saddled with it, I think we should be investigating exactly why that happened, what led up to that and what information caused such destruction and angst for them to do that.

What more information is the Minister looking at or need to look at in order to say, wait a minute, something happened here, we almost paralyzed the government with this situation. As such, once again I ask the Minister, would he be willing to launch an audit to...

It was my understanding that the former Minister promised this and other people have been promising that we will have an independent audit. Quite frankly, if the Department of Transportation is monitoring themselves, we might as well just surrender to the results already because it does seem somewhat biased. I’m not trying to be mean here today, but self-evaluation really only works well when you’re, I guess, meditating.

I ask once again for the taxpayer, for the people in the Northwest Territories, would the Minister look at launching an independent audit that had teeth so we could truly...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The North Dakota Association of Oil and Gas Producing Counties noted its generally positive experiences with its industry partners. A representative of the Three Affiliated Tribes Tribal Economic Development Office, or TERO, shared his experience that oil companies’ priority is to make a profit, but they are generally willing to work with communities and governments. Statoil emphasized its commitment to collaboration and open communication with stakeholders. North Dakota officials recommended that governments work closely with industry to...

One would be better than none. So, frankly, five is better than none, absolutely. I agree with the Minister on that. When we look at the landslide and the fact that way more people enter than ever graduate, it’s almost a disappointment. That’s why I bring my last question to the House.

The Minister says we need to re-valuate. Fantastic news. I want to know what that looks like and will he address the lack of the Bachelor of Social Work Program here in the Northwest Territories. As I began my Member’s statement today, now is our opportunity to develop a Social Work Program just like we did for...