Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I, too, will be supporting this motion. When it first came forward and we were first made aware of this building, we got together in the spring. We had just got elected about that time. We were just getting back up to speed and getting our briefings. Being a former Member from the 15th Assembly, that’s what I saw too. Here’s a huge project plopped ahead of everybody else. We’d never seen it before in the previous Assembly.
There’s something to be said about our capital planning process, and that’s exactly it. There’s a plan and there’s a process. If we just show up and there’s a building there and nobody knows what it’s there for or how it got to be there…. I know from experience; for instance, the Nahanni Butte gymnasium. I fought long and hard trying to get it on the capital plan. It was a two or three year fight to get it on the capital plan. That’s hard work. I had to get Members engaged and support from outside the House to get this implemented. There are several other projects that I’m probably failing to mention that took the same kind of lobbying effort to get them on the capital plan, vetted through committee systems, vetted in government, statements in the House, oral question period — just the whole gamut of effort that it takes to get something on the capital plan. Yet we show up and here’s this huge project that nobody even heard of that gets on the capital plan effortlessly. That’s my biggest disappointment with that project. We’ve got a process in place, and it wasn’t used.
The government announced their intention to establish an office building. It’s up to them to provide a detailed proposal and the best way to implement the new 37,000 square foot building. I think it was Mrs. Groenewegen who said that to her it failed the test — and to me. The process fails the scrutiny that Members on this side of the House deserve and should get. I’ve failed to be convinced as well. We want to improve our communities and we want to improve our region, but at the same time, it is due process that must be followed. I’m a staunch believer in process, and that’s why we got them in place. It’s to prevent instances like that.
Typically, something that just shows up on the books is because it is an emergency as well. You know, I spoke about that earlier in the day. There is an emergency; here is the case; we must do this today. That’s not even the case. That hasn’t even been presented, not one iota of that, probably because there’s no emergency for office space.
At the same time, you know, governments have got to do their homework. They’ve got to provide us as much detail as committee demands and wants. It’s frustrating maybe for government, but it’s frustrating
for us as well, because we are overseers of the public purse, and we want to make sure that we get the best value for the money
This government is halfway there. They’re saying we should own it. The government’s own building makes the best sense, and I agree, but should we go with it today? I’m not convinced, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much.