Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Finance. My first question is: since the Stanton P3 and the legacy, 100-bed, long-term unit for Yellowknife have crippled our government for moving forward, could the Minister tell me who makes up the Boreal Health partnerships?
Thank you, Member for Thebacha. Minister of Finance.
Thank you, Madam Speaker. As to the first part of the Member's comment, about being crippled, I would reply to simply say that this actually did come in on budget and that the project costs for construction were as expected, and that the contract costs are as expected. To the second half of the Member's question, Madam Speaker, the Boreal Partnership is made up of HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions, Bird Capital Limited, and BBGI Corporation. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Can the Minister tell us who owns the majority of shares of Dexterra, as well as where is the company based out of, and what the emergency number that is used by Stanton hospital staff after 5:00 p.m.?
Dexterra, I believe, is owned by a company named Fairfax Financial Holdings. They are based out of Ontario, for their corporate office. With respect to emergency numbers, those numbers are available to Stanton Territorial Hospital staff and, if there is some concern that the Member is raising on that, rather than having those numbers put here in the House, I will ensure that those numbers are, in fact, posted appropriately and communicated to staff in the hospital.
I want the Minister of Finance to justify and explain to the people of Thebacha and the NWT how all the shortfalls in this territorial hospital are going to be dealt with and who is going to be paying for those shortfalls?
A number of initiatives have been begun in the last few months as a response to the fact that there were some challenges with this building when it initially came online. It's always expected that there is going to be some difficulty with a building that is the size and complexity of Stanton Territorial Hospital. Indeed, this hospital is arguably one of if not the most complex building ever undertaken by the Northwest Territories government, certainly one of the most technical in terms of the kinds of equipment, so while we are cognizant that there have been challenges, there is work under way. There are committees that have been formed now between BHP and the GNWT, to ensure that partners are adequately addressing issues in a prompt manner. There is currently a senior executive committee that meets now to oversee the fixing of any difficulties or problems that arise. Assistance is being delivered by the Department of Infrastructure to the partners over at the hospital so that, again, there are adequate hands on deck, essentially, to make sure that things are being looked at. As for the payment, there is a very detailed schedule in the contract where, if there are issues that should have been delivered by the partner, then the partner has to pay for that. There is contract monitoring to ensure, indeed, that, if there are performance issues that fall within the contract, then the payments that are being made regularly to the provider of services deducts that from their monthly payment.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Final supplementary, Member for Thebacha.
Madam Speaker, finally, I would like to address the mayor of Yellowknife's media statement of February 19, 2020. The new Stanton hospital tax bill for the amount of $4.5 million is the highest taxed building in the NWT. The mayor of Yellowknife made a statement that she did not have to raise taxes because of a new assessed property value of the new Stanton hospital. My question is: as all monies out of public funds belong to the people of the NWT, are you comfortable as the Minister of Finance with this statement?
We have a good partnership with the City of Yellowknife and with the mayor of Yellowknife, and I am confident that she was making every effort to explain to people who she represents how grants in lieu work and how taxes are paid by the Government of the Northwest Territories. We do not pay taxes. We pay a grant in lieu, and the grant in lieu supports the city when the Government of the Northwest Territories is using what would be municipal land that the municipality could otherwise garner tax-based revenue from. Instead, there is a grant in lieu that is paid for the use of that land and, obviously, for all of the various city-based services that the GNWT uses on the footprint of the hospital. I am confident that the grant-in-lieu policy has been applied appropriately and fairly for the City of Yellowknife, for Stanton, as it is to all of the tax-base communities across the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Thank you, Minister of Finance. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
