Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to start with this: The Access to Information and Protection Policy that governs the Northwest Territories has a particular section, called Section 5, that a person who makes a request for information pursuant to the act has a right to access any record in custody under the control of a public body.
There are some provisos, and of course, the proviso is that we cannot reveal trade secrets to third parties without prejudice of their competitive position of the third party. However, I would like to further say there is Section 5(2) of the act that states that exemptions are reasonably provided when you can sever that particular information requested without, of course, offending the person of the request. You are probably asking what am I talking about, as many other people are wondering as well.
Recently, I had asked for information regarding the Deh Cho Bridge electrical works contract, and that particular contract was issued and, of course, has been closed. The person that won the particular contract demonstrated that they had no northern content. A constituent of mine came forward with a particular concern, and they sent information that showed and further demonstrated that they had northern content but they also showed that the winning bidder had no northern content. If you look closely at the tender documents, you will note the fact that it required northern content.
What is an MLA to do? I e-mailed the department and asked for information, and my request was simply, in summary, asking for, can I have proof that they had met the requirements under what is called section B which would have shown northern content. Of course, I stressed that if there was confidential information that cannot be shared I did not ask for that, but what I asked for was information that would be kept confined in a manner for the public trust. Of course, if it was sent to me, I assured them that I would keep it under that context.
The issue is, was there northern content in this particular project. The winner of the bid is from down south, so are we letting our contract go, perhaps in this case, to the lowest bid but to someone who did not comply with the actual tendering document requirements?
The response from the Minister’s office is basically saying no, we are not sharing this information. It is confidential the way they see it under their disclosure issues. I am going to end with this: There is no way to prove that they complied because the department won’t share it. There is no reason for me to say they didn’t comply. The fact is I am only asking for transparency, which every single Northerner deserves in this particular regard. I will be asking questions. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
