Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would assume that’s a contribution to the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation and that who knows what’s going to happen. I guess every day that goes by is a surprise waiting to happen. This $15 million, obviously there’s good reason for us to be looking at supporting this $15 million. I believe firmly that if the Minister wants my support for this $15 million, I think the government’s got to come clean on the current disposition financially of that project. What claims are put against the project and by whom? How much money has been spent to date? What are the outstanding legal issues? What are the costs? I haven’t seen anything to that effect that would indicate that we have one iota of a clue about where we’re at with this project. That’s a sad state of affairs for a government for all intents and purposes to be building a $182 million bridge across the Mackenzie River to not know exactly where we’re at a on a day-to-day basis. I’d like to see the government pull that detail together.

Also, the issue with public confidence in the government’s handling of this project, and I’ve asked the Minister of Transportation on two different occasions last week about who exactly the project management team is. I want every assurance, and let me be clear about this, I want every assurance that this money and this project is going to be managed effectively and well. To date it hasn’t been. I believe that before I approve the $15 million that the government’s asking for for this project, I want to know who exactly is in charge of the project, what exactly their credentials are and their experience, have they worked on projects of this magnitude before, this size, this nature, a bridge project. We need to know those things and the public needs to have confidence that the government is handling this mess the best way that it can. Those are some things that I think are fundamental for me supporting the $15 million. Obviously those are some pretty fundamental questions and those are questions the public has.

Members of this House have a right to know, a right to get that level of detailed information, considering the gravity of the situation.

The gravity of the situation is that this project has the ability to cripple the government’s financial wherewithal in the near term. Absolutely. Make no mistake about it. It does. We had better be managing the project in a way that minimizes our liability and exposure and financial risk. Are we doing that? I can’t say with any certainty that we are, because I personally don’t know.

I hear information from the various Ministers when they need to come and tell us something. That’s the extent of what I hear. I mean, I’m hearing more about this project on the street, from e-mails I’m getting from other companies that want to bid on the work, from former government employees. You name it; people are chiming in on this project and its status. People aren’t very happy about the current disposition of this project.

I think again, I believe the Finance Minister and the Minister of Transportation and the Government of the Northwest Territories should lay everything on the table for everybody to see where exactly we are on this project. I have heard through good sources that the $15 million is just the start of other money that the Government of the Northwest Territories is going to have to come up with to put towards this project. I hope that is just a bad rumour, but, again, reputable sources close to the project. Is this just the beginning? It’s a scary proposition if we start dumping more and more millions of dollars into this project without first taking stock of where exactly we’re at.

Like I said, I’m of the belief that we should have gone to tender on the second portion of this project. Why we didn’t go to tender, I guess I’ll never fully understand the logic that the government’s using on that. I think the lenders themselves would obviously look at the Government of the Northwest Territories going to tender as good faith on our part in trying to get the best price we can for the remainder of that work on that project. Did we do that? No. Did we learn any lessons off the fiasco with ATCON and the sole-source contract to ATCON? Obviously not. We didn’t learn too much if we’re just negotiating with one company.

I can’t underestimate my disbelief that the government has resigned themselves to the fact that the best way to proceed is just to work with one company and we’ll get the best price we can from one company. That doesn’t make any sense. Not one iota of sense. Not to industry experts I’ve talked to in western Canada that bid on projects of this nature. They say it’s ridiculous. It’s unprecedented. I’m left to believe them. I’m left to believe them that this is what we’re left with.

Again, I think there’s going to be a lot of questions that Members have before we approve this $15

million and I think the government has to be able to answer these questions before we approve the $15 million.