This is page numbers 811 - 842 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.

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Further Return To Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 825

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with this memorandum of understanding we have to do a lot more work before we get there and we have had a number of meetings with the Gwich'in as well as with the other interest groups up there. With the Inuvialuit we had a number of meetings. There are other meetings also slated for the Inuvialuit between myself and their chairman. The business people in Inuvik, we had a series of meetings with them and we intend to have more meetings.

The process now would be to have a meeting, a government-to-government meeting with the Gwich'in tribal council. As a result, the list that we had submitted with the price tag in there and so that we have to do a number of other serious meetings to determine exactly what type of contracts we are talking about. So there are a lot of other issues we have to deal with before we start determining whether it is going to be the contracts on, let us say the capital contract, let us say the highway contracts or some of the building contracts that are going on there, as well as the different operations and maintenance that is there. We still have to do quite a bit of work to really narrow down exactly how we are going to do it.

At the present time the agreement is that, let us look at the complete list, the dollar figures and let us have a series of meetings to try to come to a better understanding of what it is exactly that we are talking about. At the present time the price tag is, I believe it is $29 million and we said that we will be negotiating 50 percent of the value of that. So the maximum will be about 50 percent of the $29 million that is available. Exactly what the mix is, I do not know at this point in time. Thank you.

Further Return To Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 825

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Supplementary To Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 825

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister's response gives me more cause for concern as there is no real detail to this, but we are putting a price tag on this which includes some of these big ones, because who is going to bill the Northwest Territories Power Corporation to supply power in the regions? Nobody is going to remove the natural gas supply, there is only one company.

So, as you break it down and pull off some of these big chunks, what is left for all the companies in the region, more specifically to my community? When you break that down one of the things listed is unspecified facility repairs. Mr. Speaker, the government signed a memorandum of understanding, the Minister stated it is not clear what it means. When are we going to get that detail and what does it mean for this summer's capital projects? Thank you.

Supplementary To Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 825

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Minister Antoine.

Further Return To Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 825

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

The next step, Mr. Speaker, is to meet with the Gwich'in as government-to-government. We have exchanged this information in the preliminary list that we put forward and the idea here is to determine what is going to be available. It is a new thing, we have not done this before so we have to make sure we do it right. Take in all the concerns that are raised and we want to make sure that we follow the existing government policies and guidelines that are there and this is the approach that we are taking. Thank you.

Further Return To Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Supplementary To Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

Floyd Roland

Floyd Roland Inuvik Boot Lake

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Has Cabinet approved this list? It has already gone out, so has Cabinet approved this list that has been made available? Thank you.

Supplementary To Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Minister Antoine.

Further Return To Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the different departments that provided input into this have come out with a different capital and operations and maintenance out there. This is what they have out there. We will have to sit down with the Gwich'in to determine what it is exactly that they might be eligible to try to pursue. I do not think that they will go after projects other than what they could handle at this point in time. My understanding at this point is that once we have this government-to-government meeting we will have a better idea of what it is that will be included in the memorandum of understanding and once a contract or a project is identified, depending on which department it goes through, the department will then take it through the normal negotiated contract process. In the instance when there is more than one Gwich'in company, there is a list of Gwich'in companies that have come forward as well and if there is one or more Gwich'in company to pursue this particular project then there will have to be a competitive process. So, we will be using our existing policies in terms of a negotiated contract, as well as the bidding process once we determine which project is going to be made available through the memorandum of understanding. The department that is responsible for those projects will then go through the normal process of recommending it for negotiated contracts. So, like I said, we still have a lot of work to do and that is generally the process that we are looking at at this point in time. Thank you.

Further Return To Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Question 254-14(6): Gwich'in Contracting Memorandum Of Understanding
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Mr. Speaker, I also want to ask some questions of the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development regarding awarding of contracts, specifically campground contracts. In the last month or so we had a contract awarded in my riding for operation and maintenance of Twin Falls Gorge, which includes Escarpment Creek, Louise Falls and Alexandra Falls. We had three companies from the community of Enterprise bid on it, and I should mention that this whole park falls within the community boundaries of Enterprise, and none of the companies from my riding were successful. There are different methodologies, as we are finding out, to awarding contracts and the tendering process which is based on street price, negotiated contracts and requests for proposals. They are all tools used to decide how to award the contracts. But I am curious about a campground contract that is only providing firewood, cleaning facilities and it is pretty straight forward, so why does the department use a request for proposals when awarding campground contracts? To me it is pretty cut and dried and there is no need for a request for proposals. Thank you.

Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Minister Antoine.

Return To Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when a department uses a request for proposal it is to try to look at the different approaches that a contractor may take to provide the service that is required in a campground. I do not know the details or the reasons why they did it in this way in this particular case, but generally speaking there are different companies out there that may want to take different approaches on how they would take care of a campground in terms of providing the wood and cleaning up the place, cleaning up the garbage, making sure all the sites are in good order. There are probably a number of different approaches that a company would take. So, we look at the best approach with the best price and it is based on that. Thank you.

Return To Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Supplementary To Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

Michael McLeod

Michael McLeod Deh Cho

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am still not clear why a request for proposal would be used when awarding a campground contract. Creative approaches to do what? Is it to supply firewood? To change rolls of toilet paper? It does not make sense. The breakdown of how the criteria are measured is 40 percent price, 30 percent personnel and 30 percent innovative services. Can the Minister explain to me what that means? Thirty percent of the criteria is measured on innovative services. In the case of a campground, what is included in that?

Supplementary To Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Minister Antoine.

Supplementary To Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not know at this point in time. I would just be assuming if I answer this. I have to get back to the Member, so I have to take it as notice. Thank you.

Supplementary To Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Question 255-14(6): Awarding Of Campground Contracts In The Deh Cho
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. That question has been taken as notice. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Question 256-14(6): Clarification Of The Fiscal Update
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 826

Paul Delorey

Paul Delorey Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Finance and have to do with his fiscal update he gave us this morning. Mr. Speaker, in his update the Minister says that he recently learned that there is more uncertainty about the census coverage numbers and on May 29th we were informed that the preliminary coverage numbers released in March contained an error. Could the Minister clarify that a little bit more and what that error was and what kind of an impact that is going to have on us? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Question 256-14(6): Clarification Of The Fiscal Update
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 827

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister of Finance, Minister Handley.

Return To Question 256-14(6): Clarification Of The Fiscal Update
Question 256-14(6): Clarification Of The Fiscal Update
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 827

Joe Handley

Joe Handley Weledeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have information on it. It is an error that was made in Statistics Canada in their calculations, I assume. The error caused them to withdraw their under coverage numbers essentially right across Canada. Thank you.

Return To Question 256-14(6): Clarification Of The Fiscal Update
Question 256-14(6): Clarification Of The Fiscal Update
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 827

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Supplementary To Question 256-14(6): Clarification Of The Fiscal Update
Question 256-14(6): Clarification Of The Fiscal Update
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 827

Paul Delorey

Paul Delorey Hay River North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the next paragraph he also says that last month he identified an area of revenue uncertainty and that that issue would have a positive impact on our fiscal situation. Again, could I get a little bit of clarification on what that revenue uncertainty was and how big an impact could that have on our fiscal situation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary To Question 256-14(6): Clarification Of The Fiscal Update
Question 256-14(6): Clarification Of The Fiscal Update
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 827

The Speaker

The Speaker Tony Whitford

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister of Finance, Minister Handley.

Further Return To Question 256-14(6): Clarification Of The Fiscal Update
Question 256-14(6): Clarification Of The Fiscal Update
Item 7: Oral Questions

Page 827

Joe Handley

Joe Handley Weledeh

Mr. Speaker, as we discuss this issue here today our officials are continuing to work on this. This is a catch-up factor, as we refer to it. It has to do with our tax effort compared to the rest of Canada. The magnitude of the impact is something that has to be determined yet, but certainly it will be, I expect, fairly large. Thank you.