Robert Hawkins

Over the last six years I’ve heard the Minister say there’s planning, discussions, planning and discussions, and more planning and discussions on the Aurora College. So what type of planning money has been committed that I’ve heard over the last six years? I’m trying to get a sense here, I asked for the last two fiscal years as well. So we hear the same answer over and over again, but now I’m hearing zero money. So I’m left to conclude that there’s some anomaly in his answers as he keeps giving them to the House about how much money he’s talked about planning for all these years. So the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2010 Ruskin picked up the defunct contract on the Deh Cho Bridge and took the price from $167 million to $182 million. In less than a year we needed an additional $10 million that pushed the contract to $192 million. In the spring of 2012, the McLeod government went even further by demanding $10 million that brought the project up to $202 million.

The question is to the Minister of Transportation. What value and services did the taxpayer of the Northwest Territories receive over and above the original 2010 signed contract with the GNWT and Ruskin? In essence, did we...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. How much money is being dedicated under this fiscal year and the last two fiscal years towards a needs assessment for the Aurora College to be expanded into an independent campus? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That was very helpful. If the college was to come forward in this particular budget cycle under capital planning, how much money would be allocated to that particular initiative if they wanted to plan for a college, an independent college in Yellowknife? Thank you.

I go back to my last question: Is this the first time they’ve received some type of expression of interest on this particular topic about expanding the college? Find whatever wording that makes someone feel comfortable, whether it’s independent campus or stand-alone or whatever the phrase may be, but is this the first time or, as I said, has there been other expressions of interest in the last few years since this Minister has been Minister of the department?

I’m not referring to private sectors who’ve expressed interest. I’m talking about the campus itself or the college itself. Has there been...

Mr. Chair, I appreciate your guidance, but this is not hypothetical, because we need to know the process as to what the request would be. It is not hypothetical and the Minister is unable to answer this. If the college was to carry out requests, how can I get to a capital request program in question if we don’t know where the question is going to in the department? That’s part of the question that seems to continually be avoided. I am hearing he is in charge. He gets the say yes or no, then he says the deputy minister, then he says the assistant deputy minister. We need to find out where that...

Okay, so that we’re clear on the record, the Minister has a letter of correspondence from the college expressing an interest on developing an independent campus in Yellowknife. Is that correct?

Mr. Chair, we still haven’t had clarity on the role of capital planning. Capital planning falls under…(inaudible)... Who does the college, whether it’s the chair, the Board of Governors or the president, whoever is sent with cap in hand to say that the college itself would like to proceed on a particular mechanism, who do they actually report to at the department? Who has the say yea or nay on a particular project? If the college wants to proceed on a particular project, they must be held accountable at the department level to that question.

It still is not clear who they actually report to. I...

Speaking in general to capital planning, that is, what type of correspondence has the Minister received? If you could speak to the general nature thereof as to the intent of what the request was or move forward to the initiative. The nature of the general request needs to be built into the capital planning process, so if the Minister can speak to the nature and how often this request has come forward.

Mr. Chair, I would say this: If Aurora College said they would like to build a new college, does someone within the Department of ECE have that authority to say no, or does someone have the authority to say yes, and who is that authority? Thank you.