Robert Hawkins

As politicians we know that the power of perception, when something is seen or heard or certainly told, Mr. Speaker. My point being is that the power of perception here does not meet the “perceived to be fair” when it comes to the contract and tendering process, because we have no clear guidelines and appeal mechanisms. The Minister says they could appeal to the system, but that’s back to the finance director or, of course, go to the comptroller general, which shows no independence of our process. That was even highlighted by our Auditor General in her recent report regarding contracting, Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the past I’ve brought this issue forward to the House. It’s an issue of contracting where our Public Works and Government Services has allowed someone to help them develop a tender, but at the same time they subsequently allow them to bid on the tender, and on a few occasions they have won the tender. The first one I’m going to note is when the water treatment program up in the North here had issued five contracts for water treatment. I had felt at the time that that was an unfair process that wasn’t open and honest. I’m concerned that another issue has come before...

Mr. Speaker, my frustration is not directed at the Finance Minister, but the fact is this does not represent a unified voice of this Assembly. We hear how hard that this government wants to work together on a devolution agreement, bring everybody together, work together on the same page. Well, this bill seems to derail that. Again, I know it’s the Member of Parliament’s business to do what he feels fit, but you would think that the communications works… If you know something so important, why didn’t you tell this side of the House, because it makes everyone over here look bad that we don’t...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In a similar vein as my colleague Mr. Ramsay who was raising concerns about what’s been decided or discussed about this bill presented by our Member of Parliament, which is C-530. I’m not concerned about the autonomy of the Member of Parliament’s issue of being able to advocate things he thinks are important. That’s not the issue at hand. My concern is, although I agree with his spirit and intent, what has he done to communicate this particular issue with this particular government, which is accountable to the Members of this House and to the members of the public. Mr...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise in the House to discuss in a similar form the House of Commons Bill C-530, which is a bill to discuss the borrowing limit of the Northwest Territories. Slightly different approach than my colleague Mr. Ramsay has. I respect the spirit and intent that our Member of Parliament has on this particular issue. I believe that the internalistic approach that Ottawa has continued to enforce on the Government of the Northwest Territories and its people needs to end.

I do not necessarily fear the approach the Member of Parliament has been taking, however, I do think...

So we have enough access points in this system that exist today that anybody who wants to increase their education can access them without any sort of denial.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister didn’t answer the question, probably because he’s not aware of the answer. The fact is that I’ve had another business come to me and complain about government process and they’re concerned about if they raise it to the next level, that they’ll be treated in a biased way coming forward. I can give the Minister the example, but what process exists in today’s context that shows that there will be some independent evaluation that there is no nepotism when someone works to develop a tender and then subsequently wins it? We have nothing to show that we have clear...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to hear from the Minister, because Public Works is simply seen as the safeguard for...(inaudible)...policy in the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Minister would be correct that individual departments do have their own individual policies, but Public Works is seen as the centre of excellence when it comes to the area of recruitment and the rules to be followed by.

Mr. Speaker, the issue comes down to unfair advantage. You can’t tell the right side of the brain don’t talk to the left side of the brain when you go bid on a tender even though you tried to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The fact is we have a lot of infrastructure issues and we could go on at length about highway needs, hydro needs. We could go on about a lot of things that are very important to the future of the Northwest Territories. Yes, the spirit and the intent may work to accomplish this, which I’m not against. The fact is it seems like there’s a huge gap in the communication, Mr. Speaker. Clearly, to the Minister of Finance, I think this should be a Finance Ministers’ discussion or Premier to Prime Minister discussion in Ottawa, but not an MP forcing this issue to be discussed.

Mr...

Mr. Speaker, again, clearly I want to say I’m not against the spirit and the intent, but it seems to be a real communication problem here. Mr. Speaker, I can’t imagine such a significant change in the way the government can operate its business to the people of the Northwest Territories. I can’t imagine such a significant change in the way we can borrow money and put risk at hand here, that this government wouldn’t communicate some of these intentions, either the Premier’s position, interest or whatnot, to the Member of Parliament, and he wouldn’t reach out to Members of this House and express...