Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I got a call from a rate contractor out of Inuvik, Mr. Mike Baxter, in regards to his business. He provides welding services out of Inuvik. He was in business for 25 years, yet he is nowhere closer to getting any benefit from a $100 million school which is presently being constructed out of Inuvik. After being told or getting the run around, he was told to call Jim Carter out of Whitehorse. Apparently Mr. Carter is managing the project now from Whitehorse. This individual was told, well, we’ll hire you for $25 an hour as a welder. Excuse me, he said his labourer makes more than $25 an hour in Inuvik.
At the same time, the contract to this company is $100 million in Inuvik. The same company has two contracts with the one they just completed in Tulita for $22 million and now they have another negotiated contracted for $24 million in Fort Good Hope. This company has negotiated contracts of $146 million, yet they are not hiring Northerners, contractors, and people who basically have made their life’s work in the Northwest Territories, established their businesses. They basically are trying to find whatever they can.
There was a $6 million contract that was let to do the foundation work. Again, the majority of that work was done by southern companies. Again Mr. Baxter received 24 hours of work on that jobsite, yet there were welders there from Newfoundland who were working in excess of 200 hours. Again I have to ask, what is this government thinking when they think they can get away with a $100 million contract, telling us that it is a negotiated contract, it’s going to benefit the North, it’s going to benefit the community and, more importantly, benefit the contractors who make it their business to take advantage of these opportunities and not being heard.
I believe Mr. Baxter has spoken to the Premier and Mr. McLeod on this issue, yet he is getting nowhere. I think as a government we have a duty to consult on any of these large-scale projects in excess of $100 million. Yet when the little dinky curling rink in my riding was reamed over by the media, the Construction Association of the Northwest Territories from $900,000…