Robert Hawkins

Yes. Sorry. I ran out of time the last time and I think the deputy minister had offered some holdback information on contracts and I didn’t get a clear commitment that they would forward that to committee.

Would the Minister be willing to get me some information on how the application and some examples of both the bond and deposits are put on our capital works projects, as well as specifically break out northern versus southern contractors?

I’m hopeful this is the last question, probably as hopeful as you guys are. Does this also apply to, say, fuel, so our heating fuel? And the same question as the last one applies. If it does, maybe they could provide some clearer details if fuel is covered by this department. In other words, you pay all the bills and explain if there have been shortfalls over the last three years, and if there have been, how much money and where it has come from.

What is the typical deposit range asked for when someone cannot get a bonding, that is a southern contractor? Also, the same question, if they are a northern contractor what is the range?

…(inaudible)…

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Not much more. I think the Minister is seeing where I’ve been building the issue. When Public Works picked up responsibility and I couldn’t remember, so I’m glad he said it was three years ago. I do remember it was a few years ago. Was full financial responsibility transferred over, and so by way of means, was full resources transferred over or was there an expectation when FMB came up with this great reorg, or who’s now the money and who’s going to be responsible for it, did they transfer, what I’ll call, in a parallel manner? So our budgets were this much, so let’s move...

Thank you. Do we have any policy that focuses in on northern versus southern type of contractor, whereas by way of an example we have an expectation that a Northerner can use either a deposit or a bond, but southern contractors with zero investment here in the North must go by bond?

Thank you, Madam Chair. Where I’ll start today is maybe on the topic of bullying. It seems like a timely subject to bring up today and, of course, now that we have the Minister and the officials before us.

I would say, I, too, would like to give compliments to the Minister, and certainly the staff that brought forward the initiative of the corsages. It was kind of a neat little touch and that went well for us to help support the youth, so I want to thank the Minister and the department for that. I think that was a nice thing. And, you know, those little things go a long way, you know, oddly...

By way of example, if a school uses more than – I know they use more than 1,000 kilowatts, by the way, if a school used 1,000 kilowatts a month and all of a sudden they’re using 1,200 kilowatts a month, and we all know this is a ridiculous example in the sense of scale, but the point is, what is considered the stewardship and relationship built on consumption? If I said their power bill went up to $1,000 and it’s now $1,200, well, that could be because the power rate has changed, but the consumption may have stayed the same. It’s not fair to tackle the dollar amount but it’s consistent to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the application of these issuance of bonds or deposits, is there a difference between the percentage or value we would hold back in these circumstances, and maybe if they can provide some examples why you would use what percentage where or what low percentage or high percentage depending on the case. Thank you.