Masi, Mr. Speaker. I made a statement last week about the Tlicho Whati all-season road, and the amount of contracts, the hiring. I would like to touch on the percentage and ask questions pertaining to that. According to the numbers I shared in my previous statements, out of 137 workers onsite up to date, Tlicho were 36 percent of labour, 13 percent were northern hires, and a whopping 51 percent non-NWT hires; 49 percent of the labour force contracted to work on the Tlicho All-Season Road were NWT hires, and 51 percent outsiders.
Mr. Speaker, this should be totally opposite. We should be having more of a percentage than a southern firm, so I would just like to know, since this business is operating on the Monfwi Gogha De Nihtl'e boundary and outsiders are being given preference in hiring, what is the Minister doing to prevent this from happening? Masi.
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's my understanding that the Tlicho Government was involved with the negotiation of the numbers and the quota for the Tlicho All-Season Road, so I cannot speak specifically to why those numbers were not as the Member would like to see. However, I believe, as the Cabinet and all of us together, all 19 of us together, have made retaining our government dollars in the North and maximizing them for the benefits of all residents of the Northwest Territories a priority that we are committed to, one that I am personally committed to, I think that the Member will see that, under a different direction of this Cabinet, we will be seeing more of those contract dollars staying in the North and looking at more of the indirect benefits of retaining northern businesses and Indigenous businesses. I cannot speak to why this one ended up the way it did. I was not part of that negotiation. However, I would be more than willing to discuss that with the Member going forward on future contracts, if he would like.
I understand where the Minister is coming from. She was not part of the process, but she is the Minister today who can deal with this matter. There is an American firm operating at site. The money is going south. We are not benefitting from that in the Northwest Territories, the tax implications and so forth. Mr. Speaker, this is a very crucial issue that we need to deal with. We have experienced Stanton hospital. We have experienced major projects, Deh Cho Bridge and other places. We are still dealing with that in this House in 2020, Mr. Speaker. When is that going to stop?
Since the Minister alluded to the contract that was negotiated, the 19th Assembly government talked about being transparent and accountable. The names of the contract negotiated for the Tlicho All-Season Road project are blacked out on the document provided by the Minister's office to me. The Tlicho constituents would like to know who negotiated these contracts. When will the Minister demonstrate the required openness and transparency and provide a copy of the contract with the actual signatories' names on it so that I can share it with my constituents?
It's my understanding that that specific contract has gone through the ATIPP process. I do recognize that I need to get more information on why those specific signatories were blacked out. I do believe there are issues around privacy, of actually having the signature of people in documents that were provided so that they cannot be electronically copied. However, if it's an issue of that, then I would look into why the actual name itself is not provided. I will get that information and send it back to the Member.
When is this going to change? I can tell you it's going to change right now. I am a new Minister. I am changing the way my department is going to do things. It's going to take me some time. It would be very irresponsible for me to come in and start making changes before I have a better understanding of what's going on in my department, so, at this moment, I'm collecting my data, I'm gathering my facts, and I can guarantee you that the Member and all of the Members are going to see changes in the contracting system.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.
