Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my colleague for Hay River South, in her attempt to recognize the young lady working for her formally from Tulita, I do not know if she forgot to mention it, but her constituency assistant, Wendy Morgan, is also here in the gallery.

-- Applause

Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize a constituent, a TV cameraman for CBC, Dave Kellett, and Lee Selleck, no fixed address. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Mr. Lee Selleck, a CBC television personality and a constituent of Great Slave.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone to your Legislative Assembly, and an extra congratulations to Ms. Meredith. To all the grandfathers that are out there today, in recognition of their presence, as they have spent so much time raising grandchildren.

-- Applause

Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Public Works and Services. I know there has been some discussion in the media about a meeting that was held yesterday among Cabinet Members and the Construction Association, and some suggestion that the issue of whether or not the tenders that were currently out for the second phase of the correctional centre might be withdrawn and the process redone. Could the Minister advise whether or not this is something Cabinet is now prepared to consider doing?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Public Works and Services, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we did have a meeting with the Construction Association yesterday. There were a number of us there as Ministers. At this point in time, we have not decided anything any different than what we have been proceeding with, and that is the tenders stay as they are. I plan to have another meeting next week to review where we are going with this and what possible options are left, if any. However, at this present time, there are no changes to the process Public Works and Services is using. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in spite of the advice that the Minister and the other Cabinet Ministers received yesterday, they have chosen not to react. The meeting that Minister Steen just referred to, will that meeting also be with the members of the Construction Association to further discuss this? What is the meeting he mentioned for the next week? What is the purpose of that meeting and who is it with?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Public Works and Services, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the meeting with the Construction Association took place yesterday. It was chaired by the Deputy Premier. It consisted of four Ministers. The meeting next week is a follow-up to the meeting that we had yesterday but it does not include anyone from the Construction Association. It is just an internal meeting between the departments that are involved in this project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, why has the government chosen to ignore the advice they have received from Members of this House and members of the Construction Association and not stop the tender?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Public Works and Services, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the decision to suspend BIP on this particular project of Public Works and Services is a decision of Cabinet. It might be more appropriate to direct the question to the Premier on this matter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Final supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it seems like a bit of a sideways shuffle. Somebody had to prepare a paper and bring it to Cabinet for this to take place. Can the Minister tell me, was it Public Works and Services who first proposed waiving the BIP on the second phase of the North Slave Correctional Centre?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Public Works and Services, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe it was about three or four days ago when the question first came up on this particular subject. At that time, I responded that Public Works reviewed all of the options. We had our meetings with the client department. We had meetings with the manager and the contractor. We do not have any options left as to how we can possibly reduce costs of this project and stay within budget.

Public Works has recommended to Cabinet that we suspend BIP in an effort to try and meet the budget. We believe that by opening or broadening the field for bidders, we may get better bids than we had been receiving in the past. That would help us to meet the budget.

Public Works recommended to Cabinet that we consider suspending the BIP for this particular project only. We did not expect it to be applied to any other project. We did it with the thought that in the past, Public Works has always been directed to try all options to stay within budget before we come forward with any suggestions for supplementary appropriations on projects. We were responding to directions from the committees and from the Assembly in that we have to try all options in reducing costs before we can be expected to come forward with supplementary appropriations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.