Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re in our final week here in the Assembly, and over the course of the previous five weeks I’ve asked a lot of questions in the House. More importantly, trying to get down to the details and find some information out, I’ve asked some written questions to get some details to allow the departments to come back and give me the information that I really needed. One of these written questions was given back to me yesterday, and it was in regard to the GNWT contracts that are awarded to southern contractors. It just confirmed some of the questions in Member’s statements that I’ve had in this House where we reward so many contracts to southern contractors, yet they come back with millions of dollars in change orders. What grabbed my attention was that I had only asked questions and written questions in the House here about change orders over the last two fiscal years. The number that was brought to my attention was very high and raised a red flag with me. That was near the amount of $40 million that this government paid in change orders to southern contractors over the last two fiscal years. That needs to be addressed and that’s why it was one of my very first questions, my very first Member’s statements in this House when we sat in this session. It’s a very important issue and it needs to be addressed.
We get southern contractors that come up to the North, that try to take business away from northern contractors, get those contracts awarded because they don’t know how to do the business up in the North, they don’t know what the costs are associated with doing certain types of contracts that we have in the NWT.
I’ve only been in the government for 16 months and I’ve only asked questions in terms of the time related to how long I’ve been here. Because I have a privilege in this job and that’s to get information, that’s to ask questions, that’s to bring things up in this House and let the public know what our government’s doing. I’ve got two and a half more years at this and we’re going to try to get as much information as we can, but this one here, these written questions that we found out 16 months in, close to about $40 million in change orders, that needs to be addressed, that needs to be fixed. We have to get northern jobs, northern businesses awarded those contracts so that we can develop the economic sustainability up here.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
