I won’t argue with the Minister on this. I know what the H. pylori is all about, and I think there is that connection. So I think it’s important, as a government, to deal with health versus infrastructure.

Again, it’s crucial that this government does not fall back on the commitments they made to the community and to MLAs when it comes to capital projects for our ridings because of someone else’s concern from some other riding.

I’d just like to get some assurance from this government that they’re not going to backtrack on the commitment that’s been given to the people of my riding — especially the people of Aklavik — and that this project will proceed.

Mr. Speaker, we made a commitment to the Members, we made a commitment to the community leaders, and we made a commitment to the Members of this House.

Our process, we’re very confident, is fair. Our process has the equivalent of a fairness commissioner. We have a review team and an independent evaluator. I think we’ve taken all the precautions we need to take and even gone further because of so many concerns raised. We include the Department of Justice; we include the Department of Health; we include the people from FMB, MACA, Public Works. So I’m very confident that there is a very fair process and everybody will agree, once we provide most of the details, should they wish to see that.

I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement regarding transition times on the Deh Cho Hall in Fort Simpson.

I’d like to ask the Minister of EC&E: what work has been done to date with the non-government organizations that are using the Deh Cho Hall to help them with the transition planning, assisting them in finding new spaces in Fort Simpson. Mahsi.

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to thank the Member for asking that question,

because I did commit in the House that my department will follow up working with the community to remedy the issue of office space in the community for three different organizations. Since then, our department has been working with the organizations that have been highlighted here, with the Open Door Society and also the community library and heritage society.

We are making some progress in that area, Mr. Speaker, and there has been contact in the community. That’s what we’ve been doing since our last session. We will continue to make that effort.

Mr. Speaker, I’d just like to advise the Minister that I’ve been getting contrary information from the people that run those organizations. There hasn’t been a meeting set up, to date. As well, in some of the back-and-forth correspondence we’ve received…. I thought the intent here, too, was to appoint a contact person, a point of entry within the government that these NGOs can work with. To date, there’s been no such person established or identified. I’d like to ask the Minister: will the Minister identify a contact person these NGOs can work with?

Mahsi, Mr.

Speaker.

I made a commitment that my department will be working with the community of Fort Simpson, specifically with those three organizations. I will make a commitment here again today that my department, my deputy and also the Director of Education Operations and Development, as a person, will be going to the community of Fort Simpson sometime next March — probably early March — to deal with that particular issue.

So we are making progress, Mr. Speaker. Like I said, we will continue to work hard with the community to identify a solution with their help and with their input.

I’d just like to ask the Minister that I be kept in the loop as they progress forward with this issue. Let me know the times and dates they’ll be in the community — proposed meeting dates. I’d like to have that information to share with those I deal with. Hopefully, they’ll be dealing with the same people at that time. Mahsi.

Mr.

Speaker, it is

important to keep our Members informed of our progress, so I certainly will provide what information I have to date to the Member. Certainly, we’ll keep the Member posted on our upcoming meeting with the community next month.

Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Once again, I’d like to state the urgency of this situation, because the Deh Cho Hall will be shutting down this fall, and all non-governmental organizations will be asked to vacate

the premises. So once again: will the Minister convey to his department and his officials the urgency of addressing the non-governmental organizations’ needs in Fort Simpson?

Mr. Speaker, we realize the urgency. The Deh Cho Hall will be coming down, and these three organizations are desperately seeking office space. Certainly that’s part of the plan, to have our staff visit the community and work with the Member and also work with the organizations that I’ve highlighted earlier, and also work with the community. So we’re anxious to move forward on this with potential solutions to these issues that we’re faced with. Mahsi.

My questions today are for the Premier. In order for the voluntary sector and government to work more effectively together, the responsibility of maintaining a relationship should rest with the Executive. Will the Premier commit to dedicating a Minister at an Executive or cross-government level to be the primary contact for relationship-building and strategic planning with the voluntary sector as a whole?

Mr. Speaker, the fact is that right now there is a Minister who has that responsibility and does report back to cabinet as a whole. We do have a ministerial level — that level of contact — working with the organizations.

If the Member’s asking about changing it, that’s something that in we do our planning around how we work in government. That’s something that can be taken into consideration.

Having a Minister responsible for an individual department such as MACA, even though…. I mean, they have the lead role in sports and recreation. That’s not necessarily the most effective way of reaching out across the sector as a whole. There’s art; there’s health; there’s lots of different organizations, including sports — yes, granted — and justice in this sector. We need to have a coordinated approach on dealing and working with this sector. Once again, having a Minister responsible at an Executive level, at the top, would be more effective.

Coming back at you again: would the Premier reconsider his decision and identify a Minister at the Executive level to support and work with the voluntary sector to enhance it as a whole?

Mr. Speaker, one thing we need to clarify, as a number of organizations were included, as I understand it from the Members, in the volunteer sector and NGOs. We do have a

Minister responsible for the volunteer area who works with them through the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, as the Member has pointed out.

NGOs are those that, yes, may have a voluntary board but in fact receive contracts from the Government of the Northwest Territories or the federal government or other organizations. We do have to deal with that in a couple of different ways. Although we continue to work with them through departments, if it’s a health issue, our Health Minister would deal with that organization.

Again, on the voluntary side, if the Member and this Assembly agree that we should look at repositioning that — and the Member referred to the Executive in a number of places — it would fall under the Premiership’s bailiwick, I guess is the way to put it. We would look at that, but we’d have to look at the balance of the workload as well.

The policy that we follow and abide by is the Business Incentive Policy. In this case it was applied.

Mr.

Speaker, thank you to the

Minister.

Another question along those lines: before such a call for a proposal goes out and is decided, would the Minister’s department officials, when discussing such potential work with the communities that might be interested in it, typically refrain from identifying any one company as having the solution for the work to be done?

Mr. Speaker, it’s difficult to understand what the Member is asking.

This process that was undertaken was approved by cabinet. It was also presented to the Association of Municipalities, and we got a letter of support from every community involved. I think there has been a

lot of awareness and a lot of support for the process that we've embarked on to try to get these water plants in the communities.

Thank you, again, to the Minister.

Just a last question here. If the department has recently worked with a company on other contracts, even — and perhaps especially — if it’s a southern contractor, would that contractor be given preference in bidding for new work or in a competition for new work? Would the department favour that company just because they’ve been working with them recently?

Mr. Speaker, any time we work with a company or a company has been involved with some of the earlier stages, whether it’s a feasibility study or other studies, we ensure that the information that goes out is equal to all parties involved.

In this case, and in most cases, we will enlist the help of a fairness commissioner or somebody of equal stature. We also set up committees or independent bodies or hire independent evaluators to work with us. That usually gives comfort to everybody that this is a fair process.

Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Premier, and they are in regard to the Deh Cho Bridge project.

At least three working days ago the Premier said he was going to have FMBS pull some numbers together which might give us an idea of what it would cost our government to exit the Deh Cho Bridge agreement. He made reference to having that information “in a couple of days.” I'd like to know how close we are. How is the Premier intending to share that information with us?

Mr. Speaker, if that could work. As the Member said, Friday. No. In fact, I've been having the department try to pull all this stuff together.

There are a number of factors that come in there that are hard to quantify, and that's been some of the difficulty. For example, if we as an Assembly were to decide to shut this down, what kind of domino effect could happen? That's been the problem area of trying to put this together.

I instructed them this morning, as well as through the Executive, to review what we know is on the ground and what our position is, and then just highlight what the other issues may be that have to be considered. I would provide that to the Members through the Chair of Priorities and Planning.

Mr. Speaker, I'd be most interested in knowing when that might happen, because as the Premier knows, we will all be leaving here shortly.

Speaking of leaving here, Friday is February 22. The 22nd was the day by which the legal counsel for

the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation was supposed to have “dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s,” as has been referred to a number of times. I'd like to know if the Premier has had any kind of update on the status of that review that's been ongoing. If he wouldn't mind throwing in when we can get that other piece at the same time, that would be great.