Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise again today to speak on the continuing problems of Samuel Hearne Secondary School. I have spoken to the situation before. I have spoken to it from the community and the students' perspective, but, today, Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak to it from the contractors' perspective.
I received many calls from contractors, wanting to know why there was not a public or an invitational process for the work on the piles in the school, even though it was stated publicly that this would be the process followed. The contractors were upset that this wasn't followed.
Mr. Speaker, with this being an emergency, and a lot of local contractors qualified to do this type of work, they could have all been under there. They could all have been given a block to do, and they could get it done quicker, and the students would be back in the school. They would be able to finish out their year, hopefully with no more disruptions.
Mr. Speaker, Public Works has lost a tremendous amount of credibility with their handling of the situation with the school, and the way they administered the contracts. We should do what we can to make sure that this doesn't happen again.
Mr. Speaker, even one of the premier pile repair specialists in Inuvik wasn't given the opportunity to bid on the work, and yet he has a tremendous amount of experience. We should not allow this oversight to happen. We should hold those people responsible and accountable for this. I will have questions for the Minister of Public Works and Services later. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause