Debates of August 21, 2007 (day 14)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to speak again today about the Deh Cho Bridge and how it is that the government is marching full speed ahead on a project that continues to have more questions than answers.

Yesterday, I questioned the Premier on why the government has not provided proof to Members of the House, stakeholders and to the public, on how the proposed Deh Cho Bridge would impact the cost of living in Yellowknife and the North Slave region. Mr. Speaker, all I want is proof. Why can’t anyone show me evidence or proof that for $150 million and $6.75 a tonne, this project would not adversely affect the cost of living here.

During my tenure here in this House, the cost of living has remained one of the biggest issues in all of our constituencies. Why would the government put in a piece of public infrastructure that would add to the cost of living for over half of our residents? There remains no proof or no evidence to the contrary, Mr. Speaker. That is why I am standing here again today questioning why this bridge is such a priority. If the Premier is so confident that the bridge would not increase costs, why hasn’t he shown us? Is that too much to ask? The bridge project would have seemed a good fit, Mr. Speaker, for a thorough analysis by our new macroeconomic policy shop. I wonder what they would have said. I guess we will never know; or perhaps someday we will go down the road when every government for the next 35 years will be putting $2 million extra into this bridge. Perhaps somebody, Mr. Speaker, will figure it out.

The cost of the bridge has gone from 60 to 70 million dollars to what will be well over $150 million, yet the Premier and government have not come back to Regular Members to see if, based on supporting evidence, we could support it. The fact of the matter is, Mr. Speaker, based on what many of us have seen or not seen on this side of the House and with no federal funding, a free vote by Members of this House would clearly show the majority of Members would not support this project as it has been rolled out.

There is currently a statement of claim in the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories against the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation. Of course, Mr. Speaker, I can’t talk about specifics of that claim, but what I want to get a handle on is the potential liability to the GNWT through this action. Mr. Speaker, it makes me wonder what other liabilities exist in our future negotiations.

Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Premier at the appropriate time. I do thank him for my invitation to the ceremony in Fort Providence on Friday. Mahsi.

---Laughter