Mr. Speaker, is there some

requirement on the part of our government to also sign off on those schedules? Who would be signing on behalf of our government? Is there any way to delay that signing-off until we have received some of this information we’re asking for?

Mr. Speaker, the process is

laid out that followed through from the concession agreement, the guarantee that's in place, working with the banks and their lawyers, that they’ve had a secondary review on this.

The signing is to proceed with their final work on it. If the lenders are happy with what’s been committed, then it would be proceeded with.

The Department of Transportation representatives would have to be on a number of the file schedules — or files, I guess, is the term — and there may be a few for which we're trying to get that information that would fall under the finance side or the FMB side.

For an actual schedule or timing, a decision doesn’t have to be made. Those decisions have already been in place. It is now just confirming and following through with the requirements that are being ironed out.

Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just want to be clear. Is there something yet for our government to sign off with respect to these schedules, which are the appendices to the

concession agreement? Do we still have requirements to officially sign something off? If that is the case, who would be signing those off on behalf of our government?

Mr. Speaker, they are, as

I

stated, part of the process of finalizing the

agreement with the lawyers reviewing it. Signatures would need to be accepted from all the parties involved. The lending organizations, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Department of Transportation, as well as Finance, would be required to sign off a number of the schedules. I’m not sure of the exact amount, but this is the follow-through from what was laid out there. We’re following through the process that’s already in place.

Mr. Speaker, as MLAs, we represent

all the people. I’ve made reference to subsidies a few times, and how I believe sometimes we unintentionally make people dependent on the government.

I stress that to illustrate my point that there are a lot of people out there who are trying to make a go of it. As a government we should do what we can to help them along. I appreciate the government trying to give out subsidies to help people along, but it has to be something that’s fair for everybody.

I’d like to direct my questions today to the Minister of EC&E in regard to my Member’s statement on the Childcare Subsidy Program. I’d like to ask the Minister if there’s a certain amount of dollars that are allocated to each community or each region each year.

Mahsi. Mr. Speaker, yes,

the Member is referencing subsidies for the communities. We do serve 33 communities on the subsidy of the child care services, early childhood programs and services.

Each community has an opportunity to apply for certain program dollars. They’re also entitled to our program dollars. There are federal dollars and Territorial dollars. The communities can apply on top of what we offer as a Territorial government. Mahsi.

I’d like to ask the Minister: if there’s no uptake on the child care subsidy in the communities, what happens to that money? Is it lapsed, or does it move on to another community?

Some of the money is based on the enrolment at the centres and facilities. Also, the Member is referring to…. If the money is held back or if there is a surplus, then we have to extend the money to different programs as well,

where it is needed in the community. As I said, we serve 33 communities. We open up for communities that are in need of funding to offset their costs.

I speak specifically to individuals who are out there trying to work, get a job or go to school; or a combination of both, one working and one going to school. A lot of people who try to work have mortgage payments, and they have all of these other payments — federal tax, Territorial tax. I’d like to ask the Minister if there is a cap on the subsidy program, and if that cap is based on the gross or net pay.

Mr. Speaker, we assist individuals in the communities, whether it be the two parents or single parents, based on their needs and their income.

I will have to get back to the Member on the net versus gross. I don’t have that information in front of me, but certainly, I can work with the Member on the specific area.

We do try to assist all individuals who are in desperate need of funding to cover their programs in the communities — the child care programs. Mahsi.

Final supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

I appreciate the Minister committing to get back to me on the gross or net.

I think “desperate” is the wrong word to be using right now, because there are a lot of people out there who are working; they are not desperate. They would like a subsidy that would help them along so they can see some money at the end of the day.

I notice the applications that they have to fill out to get these programs. There is so much here that by the time that they are all filled out, the child has already graduated from high school and the subsidy isn't needed anymore. I’d like to ask the Minister if there are any plans in the works to review the child care subsidy and make changes to it that are fair to everyone, especially those who are trying to work and contribute.

Mr. Speaker, there have been some changes to our program. We have increased 30 per cent in the child care program area. We are listening to our Members who raise an issue. Certainly, we will take that into consideration.

With various programs there is always room for improvement, so certainly, we will work with that and how we can expedite the application process.

We have our resource department staff who are more than willing to assist with the clients and parents as well. We will do our part as well. Mahsi.

Before I go on to the next question, colleagues, I would like to draw your attention to your rules of the House concerning food, which I determine to mean gum, candies, whatever. I would ask Members to please abide by your own rules. Thank you, Members.

Mr. Speaker, I’ll have to inform the Member again that he’s not correct in assuming that the water plant contract has been awarded. Negotiations are still ongoing. There has been a company that has responded to our request for proposals that has contracted with us prior to this and along the same lines as what we have through our requests for proposals in dealing with water plants.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister keeps pretending that a contract isn’t being awarded — or isn’t in the process of being awarded — to this Abbotsford company. The fact is, it’s in the process of being done.

Let’s put semantics away and say, “Look, just because the t’s haven’t been crossed and the i’s haven’t been dotted, the fact is, it is going to this,” because it’s not going to the Northern firm, which could do this project.

Could the Minister explain to this House, or assure this House — and, certainly, demonstrate to this House — how this Abbotsford, B.C., company didn’t play a special role to make sure that when the RFP came out in August of last year, they didn’t already have everything all set up so they were the

only obvious choice? Could he demonstrate that to this House?

Mr.

Speaker, the only

person pretending here is the Member. He’s pretending not to hear my answers.

Laughter.

Mr. Speaker, the contract hasn’t been awarded. There is a fairness process that was put in place as part of this request for proposals, and we have an independent evaluation team, along with an independent evaluator, that is ensuring a fair process is there. We have provided all the information to all the proponents who took part. We have the Department of Justice, and we have three other departments that are working with us. The process is fair, Mr. Speaker.

However, the contract hasn’t been awarded, and it is difficult to speak to this issue.

I guess if the Minister can give hypothetical answers, you know…. And it kind of puts me in an unfair position, because I can’t ask hypothetical questions to get the facts.

If we’re going to live in this sort of hypothetical world, are they in negotiations with this Northern company, or are they in negotiations with this Abbotsford, B.C., company for these water treatment plants?

Mr. Speaker, the question, of course, is hypothetical. The Member is asking me for information that may influence the outcome of our negotiations, and I can’t respond to that.

Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Speaker, we seem to continue to dance around the fact that when you write a letter and you say, “We regret to inform you, you didn’t get it,” that leaves us one option: the other group. Unless you’re cancelling the whole project, maybe….

Or maybe that’s the issue: the Minister has decided to sole-source it to an Abbotsford, B.C., company. Maybe that’s the problem. I’ve been asking the wrong question.

Are you sole-sourcing this project to the Abbotsford, B.C., company, without giving the Northern company — the one that’s done these types of jobs for years — a chance to do the job where they would employ local people, keep the money north and….?