Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Another question to this specific contract, I am not sure, but maybe I will ask. I understand that there is a certain process for these types of contracts, IT contracts, and there is a certain channel they typically go through. Typically they are handled, my understanding is, by the purchasing manager of IT equipment in Public Works and Services and I understand that that wasn't the case in this instance. Can the Minister confirm that this was a different course of events than would be perceived to be the norm?
Debates of March 10th, 2003
This is page numbers 611 - 644 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 6th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was communities.
Topics
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 635
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 635
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 635
Rattray
Mr. Chairman, I am not entirely sure what the Member is referring to. A lot of the preliminary work on the Health and Social Services system was done, as I understand it, within Health and Social Services itself and in consultation with their consultants. It was fairly late on in the exercise that discussions took place between Public Works and Services and Health and Social Services on the integration of that equipment into the data centre. During the course of those discussions, Health and Social Services requested that Public Works and Services put the order together and go through the procurement process. That's essentially how it developed and how we handled it. We went and began discussions with Hewlett Packard and eventually put the order in and awarded a contract.
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 635
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 635
Brendan Bell Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am just speaking to the inner workings of Public Works and Services, not so much to Health. In this case, I know that some of the contactors in town, after learning about the sole-source, went to the person who's typically responsible for the letting of these types of contracts in Public Works, and that's the purchasing manager of IT equipment - and I may not have the title correct - and this gentlemen told them he wasn't involved in this specific process and wasn't the person to talk to. So it seemed to them that this had not gone by the normal course. Can the deputy confirm that?
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 635
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 635
Rattray
Mr. Chairman, the Member may be referring to the purchase orders or the procurement that we do on behalf of departments for the smaller desktop systems. We have been purchasing on behalf of other departments and last year, I believe, we purchased probably $1.25 million worth of equipment from local companies. Normally that is processed through our North Slave district office and there is a manager of procurement and warehousing that handles those transactions.
This equipment did not go through there because it was for the data centre and it was such highly specialized equipment for the data centre that we don't very often purchase that type of equipment and it doesn't go through the district office. Because of the specialty nature of it, our data centre staff are directly involved in those purchases and that's what took place in this situation.
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister if he can continue on with my picture painting of the economy of the NWT by telling us where he's got his departmental staff located in each of the NWT, by numbers, not by positions.
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Rattray
Mr. Chairman, is the Member asking for actual numbers of individuals in communities?
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am just trying to get the Minister to paint us a picture of where his staff is located by numbers by community. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Rattray
Mr. Chairman, we have headquarters staff located in Yellowknife; we have a North Slave office that's located in Yellowknife; we have area and regional offices in Fort Smith, Hay River, Fort Simpson and a small area office in Norman Wells; a large regional office in Inuvik. We have a number of small communities that have individuals, one or two staff members, but since much of the hands-on operation of the department was privatized, we have much fewer of those than we did about 10 years ago.
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe
Mr. Chairman, can the Minister tell me how many employees he has on staff at this point in time in those offices? Thank you.
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Rattray
Mr. Chairman, we currently have 190 positions, as indicated on page 5-18.
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe
Mr. Chairman, I move we report progress.
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Paul Delorey
There's a motion on the floor. The motion is not debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is defeated.
---Defeated
Mr. Bell.
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
Brendan Bell Yellowknife South
Thank you. I have more questions on the same topic. I was trying to get recognized again.
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
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The Chair Paul Delorey
Okay, Mr. Bell. I have some other names on the list and then we will get back to you. The Chair will recognize Mr. Krutko.
Bill 3: Appropriation Act, 2003-2004
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 636
David Krutko Mackenzie Delta
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in the report of the committee, there are a couple of areas of concern, such as the administration fee that's been imposed on communities by this department of 16 percent, which is supposed to take effect April 1st. Mr. Chairman, my concern is that the communities already have an existing agreement with the department for water operation agreements, which is 6.5 percent. Those agreements, as far as I am concerned, still stand unless the parties agree to a new agreement. As we heard in the report that was read out by the chair of the committee, Mr. Roland, to date none of those agreements have been signed. Mr. Chairman, my concern is that as the department responsible for assisting communities to build capacity and working with communities to get qualified people trained and in place to eventually offer the communities the ability to take over these requirements... such as having several infractions with regard to the water regulations and also with regard to the notice that's been given to communities regarding the boil water orders which have been issues in some communities. As a government, we are responsible for helping communities to build capacity and also being able to take over programs and services.
We always hear the government or department saying go ahead, take it over, no problem, you can have it. It's easy to say that but unless you have capacity and you have people in the community that are trained and knowledgeable about the operation, you will not be able to automatically unilaterally take over a program. What is the Minister doing as a department, and also the Minister of Public Works and Services, to work with communities to build that capacity and also offer the training that's going to be needed, so that you have trained, qualified individuals to take over the project, take over the water operational programs and sewage delivery programs, so that you have knowledgeable people, trained people, qualified people that know what they are doing so that we don't have the problem of no capacity in our communities. What are you doing to work with communities to build that capacity by way of training and also working for the qualifications for people who are going to take this over, so they are qualified, trained and knowledgeable about what they are taking over?