Mr. Chairman, one of the examples that I could perhaps give you is that extraordinary maintenance costs involving the Rankin Inlet runway were undertaken because people from the Boeing aircraft company had advised us that they would remove all product liability for the two jet carriers going into Rankin Inlet if the improvements were not made to the runway. Because there is virtually daily service into Rankin Inlet, I am assuming they went ahead and made the improvements and then got into a dispute with the federal government about it after. Whether or not anyone's head rolled in 1990 because they had gone out and done this work without prior authorization, I am not aware, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
Debates of March 30th, 1993
Topics
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1292
John Pollard Hay River
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1292
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Schedule. Mr. Dent.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1292
Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake
Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Just following up on item 5 in the schedule. Who conducted the negotiations on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories in this deal with the federal government?
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1292
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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John Pollard Hay River
Mr. Chairman, I believe it was the deputy minister of the Department of Transportation, GNWT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1292
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Dent.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1292
Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake
Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Could we find out who authorized the deputy minister to enter into those negotiations?
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1292
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1292
John Pollard Hay River
Mr. Chairman, on that one I would have to defer to the Minister of Transportation.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Minister Todd.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
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John Todd Keewatin Central
I am sorry, Mr. Chairman, I had a difficult time understanding Mr. Dent's question.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Dent, would you repeat the question please, for the Minister?
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake
Certainly, Mr. Chairman. The question is, who authorized the Minister of Transportation to enter into negotiations with the federal government, which resulted in the agreement to write-off 50 per cent of this debt?
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Minister for Transportation.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
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John Todd Keewatin Central
Mr. Chairman, as the Minister of Finance has stated, the deputy minister of Transportation along with the deputy minister of Transport Canada came to agreement to split the dispute 50/50. I would have to assume, if I may do that because I know there is a danger in using that word, that it had ministerial approval at the GNWT level. If I may, it seemed like an appropriate trade off at the time. The overexpenditures, as the Minister of Finance has said, were ones which were in most cases of an emergency nature, were not predicted under the original agreement and agreement was reached to avoid any unnecessary lengthy legal fees to split the difference by 50 per cent. It was the department's position that neither the memorandum of understanding or the program managers were at fault, in fact the overruns were related to emergency aspects of our responsibilities at that time.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1293
The Chair John Ningark
Mr. Dent, schedule.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Charles Dent Yellowknife Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It seems from the answers we have received from the Minister of Finance that this was something that was done entirely by the Department of Transportation. So, I would like to ask the Minister of Finance, is it standard operating procedure for a department to negotiate a settlement of this kind where in excess of $200,000 is proposed to be written-off? Or, is this normally done through the Department of Finance, and perhaps even getting as high as FMB level before the deal is made.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1293
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
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John Pollard Hay River
Mr. Chairman, it is not normal for a department to deal with another department of the federal government in making arrangements of this nature. Thank you.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
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Richard Nerysoo Mackenzie Delta
Thank you. Schedule. Mr. Whitford, you had your hand up earlier?
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair John Ningark
All right. Mr. Koe.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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Fred Koe Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I understand that our lawyer or whoever was negotiating on our behalf, I assume it was a lawyer, said we did not have to pay. We expended the money in good faith based on emergency, we cleared the snow, yet someone took it upon themselves to negotiate a saw off. I wonder what happened here and why we are in this debt write-off situation when our lawyers recommended we do not owe anything.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1293
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Bill 23: Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, 1992-93
Item 18: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 1293
John Todd Keewatin Central
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Our department had one legal opinion, and obviously the other side had another legal opinion. The Department of Justice supported our department's position, and Transport Canada received a legal opinion supporting their position. It seemed to me like a logical trade-off that someone had to make a deal because it would end up into a long, lengthy litigation that would have probably cost us more money. So, there was an agreement reached to split the dispute, as the Minister of Finance has said, by 50 per cent. I want to emphasize again, if I may, that most of the overexpenditures were of an emergency nature and were not predicted in the planning process. Clearly there was a need for some resolve to be found to avoid any, what I would assume, lengthy legal costs. Two deputies met and agreed to it. I do not know whether it went to Cabinet, but I would assume it did. I think under the circumstances a reasonable satisfactory arrangement was made.