Masi, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] When I made my Member's statement, I touched on the road to Whati and how contracts have been given out. I would like to ask the Infrastructure Minister a question. [End of translation]
Mr. Speaker, I spoke earlier about the construction of the all-season road to Whati. I am just wondering: what are the local, regional benefits provisions of the agreement that was signed between the GNWT, the Tlicho government, and North Star Infrastructure relating to this project?
Thank you, Member for Monfwi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The northern and local requirements in the project agreement are:
Local business construction requirement: pay at least 30 percent of total capital costs to Tlicho businesses and northern businesses, with at least 25 percent going to Tlicho businesses;
Tlicho construction labour requirement: pay at least 35 percent of total construction labour costs to Tlicho citizens and/or workers procured by a Tlicho business;
Local business operations requirement: pay at least 25 percent of annual OMR costs to Tlicho businesses and northern businesses, with at least 20 percent going to Tlicho businesses;
Tlicho operating labour requirement: pay at least 55 percent, increasing progressively to 75 percent, of annual OMR costs to Tlicho citizens and/or workers procured by a Tlicho business; and
Tlicho training requirements: meet the Tlicho training requirements, which were included in section 2.5 of schedule 20, including hiring and training for the list of jobs that are also included in the agreement.
I can commit to the Member that, if he would like a copy of the agreement, I can provide him with that. Thank you.
Obviously, I was hoping to share that the numbers were much higher instead 30 percent, 35 percent, because we have a southern firm, the main contractor at the site. It's unfortunate that it's around 30, 35 percent, during the construction phase. The Member alluded to other figures, but that's during the life of the road. I'm not talking about a particular area; I'm talking about the construction site. If the targets are not met, is there a penalty attached to that agreement between the parties?
Yes, there are penalties in the contract, if I'm reading correctly. Rather than maybe reading off a whack of numbers here, I could just provide that as a written response to the Member, and then he would have it for his records.
As I stated earlier in my Member's statement, I drive the road on a frequent basis and I see different vehicles that go to the site. One of them happens to be a water and sewer truck and the van, of course, I talked about, the cargo van. I understand the service contracts for water and sewage and for shuttling workers back and forth to Yellowknife were awarded to an outside firm. Can the Minister explain why the water and sewer contract was not awarded to the Behchoko community government?
I cannot speak to why negotiations happened prior to myself being involved with them. I'm not sure why those services would not have been included in the contract and made to go to local businesses. However, I can assure the Member that the Tlicho government is a partner in this project, one of the P3s, and we negotiated our quotas and our requirements for the contract with them in mind and that we are meeting those targets.
Thank you, Minister. Final supplementary, Member for Monfwi.
Masi, Mr. Speaker. This is a mega project, and it's right in the heart of the Tlicho, the Monfwi Gogha De Nihtl'e area. My citizens, my Tlicho citizens, have every right to know why the contract wasn't awarded to the community of Behchoko. We do provide those services, and instead of going all the way from Yellowknife, just imagine the cost of delivering that service. If I can ask the Minister to further look into this matter, because it is an important matter that has been addressed to me by my constituents, even the workers at the site. On this particular water and sewer contract, why it wasn't part of their agreement, I would like to know, Mr. Speaker. Masi.
Yes, I will commit to providing the Member with a synopsis or summary of why this contract was not included. It may just be a matter of it wasn't asked for, and therefore it didn't come up; I'm not quite sure. However, I would like to assure the Member that this contract, as well as every contract that we are going to be looking at going forward, will be looked at with the lens of the priorities of our mandate and of the 19th Assembly, which includes increasing contract opportunities for northern and Indigenous businesses and retaining our money in the north. I can assure the Member that all of his concerns are noted by me and that I will be using them going forward as I work on our procurement system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Minister. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
