Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier this afternoon. The GNWT went out to RFP for a liquor retail contract in Hay River. The contract was awarded. The liquor store would move from the downtown to the industrial area, as per the contract. The development permit for the new location that was granted by the town was appealed. Opponents to the change of location, for various reasons that I won’t go into, appealed to the courts. This matter has been in limbo for more than a year. I’d like to ask the Premier, as the grantor of the contract for the liquor retail services in the Northwest Territories, if he is aware of this situation in Hay River.
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. I’m not sure if that issue is still before the courts. I’ll allow the Premier to answer. Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That case has had some controversy in the community of Hay River when it comes to the community development permit process. An RFP was issued. The decision was made by the Government of the Northwest Territories. Since then, because of the issues that have arisen there, it’s been extended. The existing operation contract has been extended, but we are coming to a point where we’re going to have to review other options that are available to us if there’s no settlement in that community.
It is an issue: a big issue. It can become a big issue in a small town. It seems that most of the angst is around the whole issue of the location of the liquor store. Again, as the grantor of the contract does the Premier feel that there is any influence he could bring to bear to resolve this too long outstanding issue?
Until I get a recent update as to what the state of the situation is in the community of Hay River, we’re being careful as to our involvement. The fact is that the Government of the Northwest Territories’ process has been on existing facilities and, as old contracts ended, on looking at new contracts for efficiencies. We have to look at a combined services retail storage facility, thereby saving some of the cost of having separate facilities. That’s the process we look at to continue. Our preference would be to continue with that path. The RFP proved a result, and we’re hoping that things will get concluded to finalize the deal.
Mr. Speaker, without going into the merits of the concerns that have been raised, I’d like to know: at what point does the Premier think it would be appropriate to step in, to at least discuss some way the government might be able to be involved to resolve this issue?
Again, having to be careful with all the interested parties out there, we have to first see where the situation sits within the community. At that point, the department would look at reviewing its next options. We are considering what options are available now and would be prepared to sit down with the Members for the community and look at what the next processes or steps may be.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Again, I realize that those looking on from the outside might not consider this to be a big issue, but it has dragged on for a long time. It has caused division in the community. Again, not wanting to hold the contractor up but not wanting to discredit the concerns of those folks — just general townspeople who think it’s good to have a liquor retail store located in the downtown, where there are sidewalks and adequate parking and so on — could the Premier commit to attending a meeting, perhaps, with all the stakeholders and parties involved to see if there is a solution that the government could bring forward?
First of all, I will sit down with the department to get the latest update as to what’s happening and sit down with the Members as to where things are and what options may be available to us. Then we’ll decide at that point what next steps we may be taking. If it’s a meeting of that nature, then we will take that into consideration. The first step is to get the latest update and sit down with the Members.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
