Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will attest that this will not be the last time that I will be discussing this topic during my term in office. This topic is how this government has and is dealing with its procurement guidelines, negotiated contracts and sole-sourcing arrangements. What makes this so bitterly sweet is that my questions later today are for the very Minister whom not that long ago was the MLA champion of such nonsense, but we’ll come back to that in a couple of minutes.
It’s come to my attention via some very concerned businesses in my riding and the riding of Kam Lake that the Department of Transportation has entered into some preliminary negotiations with a group of proponents for the contract of the Giant Mine Bypass Road Project. What’s interesting is that this project was being fast-tracked and only recently, due to some pressure by some of the businesses not invited to the dance, has now gone back to the department and Minister for option consideration. I find that interesting.
Is it wrong for a business to be considered for a project? Is it wrong for a business to ask for an opportunity to do business for the public with the use of public funds and a transparent environment? We think not. I think the proper phrase people use here is opportunity, not exclusivity, as it pertains to one being faced against a negotiated or sole-sourced situation; a situation that happens all too often in the history of past Assemblies.
In the end I can stand here and quote the various passages in the GNWT procurement guidelines and procedures manual or I can use fancy terminology like negotiated contract, which really means sole-sourcing, or terms like building competitive capacity, which I think should be called government market disruption program. I won’t stand here and regurgitate such a leading and misunderstood contracting process. Instead I wish to leave the Members here today with a statement, one of many statements that repeated itself countless times in Hansard and one that one could really not tally up, and a statement that might seem very familiar to a certain Minister here today as these are his words as a Regular Member: “When you do go to a sole-sourced way of acquiring goods and services, the transparency and accountability take a back seat. The people of the Northwest Territories deserve a better way of doing things. We are stewards of public funds and we can’t forget that fact.” I couldn’t agree more.
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
