Debates of November 27, 2007 (day 3)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a matter has arisen so soon that will test our Premier’s leadership and his commitment to transparency and accountability. On October 19th, I stood in this House and asked questions about the extent of our government’s liability with respect to the Deh Cho Bridge project. During the life of the 15th Assembly, many questions and concerns were raised by Members on this side of the House regarding the bridge acquisition process. Our concerns, for the most part, were unanswered. On August 31st, the 15th Assembly was dissolved, leaving Ministers in place to maintain the status quo of government operations.

At the first available opportunity, I sought an update on the status of the Deh Cho Bridge project and the level of commitment by the GNWT to this project. I am not a difficult person to understand, so imagine my surprise yesterday when I learned that a concession agreement with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation had been signed on September 28th, three days before a territorial election when the Members of the 16th Assembly were elected.

When repeatedly and specifically questioned about the commitment and liability to our new Premier on October 19th, he did not take the opportunity to share with Members of this House that a very significant milestone on the Deh Cho Bridge process had been passed. So what is the significance of this concession agreement in relation to the liability? If the outstanding conditions of permits, financing and equity are met, the GNWT’s liability changes very significantly. I am not asking Premier Roland to be accountable for the actions of the previous government; however, I will ask him to account to this House and to the public for not making any reference to the concession agreement signing when questioned in this House.

The concept of a Deh Cho Bridge project is good, but the process has been flawed and failure of this information coming forward has added insult to injury for me as a Regular Member. I will have questions for the Premier later today so that he can tell us why he didn’t mention the signing of the concession agreement when questioned about our government’s commitment and liability on October 19th.

Leadership, to me, today, would be to say from him that he should have said this when questioned on October 19th. Thank you.