Robert Hawkins

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the owners of Arslanian Diamonds were in town last week and they had a chance to meet with the Ministers of ITI and Finance. My question for the Minister of Finance is now that they have seen the number and the proof that this company can buy diamonds from Antwerp cheaper than they can buy them 300 kilometres north of Yellowknife, what is the Minister planning to specifically do with this challenge? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I won’t have a question, but I do have a clarification. I’m speaking about when we lend public money and I think public money follows a different rule than private money. I appreciate that the Minister distinguishes that we use some of the public money to leverage private money, but I still think that because it’s the government’s money, it’s the people’s money. We can still play by our rule, which is the disclosure rule. We may not see eye to eye and then again we may never see eye to eye on that point, but it’s how I feel and I feel that it’s very important in...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister mentioned or alluded to the fact that it’s an historical problem. I would like to hear that the Minister is working to put this in writing, so we can make sure at least a fair premium is charged in recognition of where we are in comparison to where Antwerp is. The diamond mines are on our doorstep, Mr. Speaker, yet they cost more. I would like to hear what the options are that the Minister is going to look at if the diamond mine that we are talking about doesn’t step up to the plate and supply diamonds at a fair and reasonable price to our...

Mr. Speaker, I asked my question to the Minister of ITI. I said Arslanian Cutting Works spoke to the Ministers of ITI and Finance, but my question was directed to the Minister of ITI. They can do whatever they want with it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about the diamond cutting and polishing industry which provides 155 jobs here in the NWT. By the government’s estimates, the current cutting and polishing facilities contribute $9 million to the GNWT’s GDP. When they are in full production, it will be $20 million some day.

In order to attract and support value added industry, this government, in the past, created an MOU with the diamond mines to supply rough. However, the system is not working, Mr. Speaker, as it was originally envisioned. I have been told by one Yellowknife company that runs...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I really appreciate the Minister pointing that out because that lead well into my next question. The Minister said that there are significant contracts. I will bow to his expertise. Yes, there are very significant contracts that probably do need to go to sole source. But, Mr. Speaker, out of the 75 contracts awarded that are over $5,000 on this tabled document, 58 of those are sole sourced. That means 17 went out to any type of competitive bid. That is telling you that 77 percent of these contracts of over $5,000 went to sole source. Mr. Speaker, how can we...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in October of last year, I rose in this House with questions to the lucky Health Minister we have over here about sole sourcing purchases that are going directly south and the concern that several Yellowknife businesses had brought to me with the fact that they felt left out of the picture of bidding opportunities. They felt slighted by the process. Mr. Speaker, I wrote to the Minister about the policy. Two days ago in this House, I tabled a letter to me from the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding medical supply businesses. He says they...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To further emphasize my point, and I do appreciate how the Minister was very forthcoming on this information, because I believe it was a lot of work to put it together, but under Stanton Territorial Hospital authority, northern suppliers supplied $156,000. In comparison, southern suppliers supplied $1.75 million. That means northern suppliers supplied eight percent at the Stanton Territorial Hospital.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Health and Social Services, under the sole source contracting ledger here, made up 43.6 percent as a government as a whole for sole source...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I emphasize Yellowknife businesses were missing out on opportunities that they felt that they didn’t even get to see the bid on. These are the same businesses that are filing taxes here, so that should make our Finance Minister happy, but they are also being asked to donate to the community. If I can point out sole sourcing on a tabled document here on May 31, 2005, for Health and Social Services, it is a sole source directly that was $18.5 million out of their total contracting budget area which was $20 million, so that represents 92 percent of contracts went sole...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Fundamental to the interest of democracy is the people's access to see our debates on TV. So it is essential that the people have the ability to see what the representative MLAs are doing on their behalf. The media, which we can only rely so much upon, that delivers one of the pillars of democracy -- the stories and the truth that we tell here today -- but we can't put the burden strictly on the media themselves. So it is crucial that a public broadcasting system is available so our proceedings can be maintained at the highest level possible for access to all...