Fair point, Mr. Speaker. I don’t mean it to be personal, but I can tell you it wouldn’t be surprising that he would be asking these questions. No one would be surprised. It’s not meant to offend. The fact is, these are just fair questions. All I’m asking for is why isn’t this contract being fulfilled. Explain it to us so we can explain it to the citizens.
You look at the supplementary appropriation, it’s basically a one-liner, more money for the Deh Cho Bridge so we can open it up November 2012.
There are ten million reasons to ask a few questions and have a little delay on this particular question and spend the time and say what are the reasons. Why should we be afraid of the reasons? At least today the Minister relented at the very end and said maybe some of these issues should be made public. I’m sure they will be sanitized to be very benign. I think the public deserves some explanation. He may be surprised. The public may be fully in agreement of the extra $10 million. I’ve had constituents come to me and say, just finish the bridge, it doesn’t matter what it costs, just get a good product at the end of the day. I certainly support that principle. Let’s get it done; let’s pay whatever it’s worth if it needs to be done.
The fact is, it’s still clouded with these questions about why we can’t fulfill the contract. My question about trying to get our engineers trying to get the contract done, why can’t we get that fulfilled? What’s the fear of getting that answer? It seems to be nothing but stonewall, change the subject, let’s talk about going forward. We all want to go forward. Myself included, okay? We should emphasize that. I want to go forward, too, because I’m looking forward to the final chapter of the Deh Cho Bridge.
This has nothing to do with personality. This is just a question of what is the money for, and that seems to keep getting lost on this whole situation.
Mr. Chairman, it’s not frustration just held by me. There are other Members on this particular side of the House that just want this project gone and don’t want to deal with it anymore, and I respect that. But there are underlying questions from Members on what are we buying into for $10 million. We know what $10 million could buy us, which is a theoretic opening this fall 2012. We know what the money is intended for. We’ve heard the Minister say this makes us go forward, this will help get the project completed. Who’s lost on that message? No one. No one has not heard him say that. Who’s in disagreement with that? Nobody, including myself, is in disagreement with that initiative. We just want some explanation and some answer as to why the contract isn’t being fulfilled.
Today we hear context of maybe change orders. I know the last Minister was stalwart against any change orders in direction because he knew it would cost money. What type of discussion with the committee members, the Assembly Members through Caucus, to find out what these changes mean? Any time a change order is issued, I know it means money. It means money to somebody, whether it’s us or them. Chances are the way government works, it always means government’s money.
The fact is, these are the types of questions we can reasonably ask. If you went to the bank today and said I want $10 million, they’re going to ask you why. We’ve got the Minister of Finance saying we need $10 million. It’s just a matter of saying, well, explain to us why you need it. We know what the outcome is going to be: the bridge. Sure, that’s simple, but it’s the foundation of the problem which is we need to explain and fully understand and have it out there and not be embarrassed about it. If we had asked for something that was needed, who is going to say that’s wrong? If we needed something because cables needed to be changed because of safety, or lighting needed to be proposed for clarification, or ramping needed to be adjusted because the original design didn’t work, that’s the types of questions that seem to continually be refused. That’s, at the end of the day, what the questions are.
What is our $10 million getting us, other than an accelerated schedule just so the government feels and looks good. We’ve already missed two targets on completion dates. Of course, no one wants to miss a third one. It’s not to anyone’s benefit. Who wants to run the ferry for yet another term? Other than the ferry workers, of course. Other than those guys, who I do feel sorry for, but progress has come along and now a bridge that is being constructed is almost completed.
Just to wrap it up, the department, whether it’s Finance or Transportation or the Minister or the deputy minister, they have to start answering those questions, which is what is the problem exactly, and that will explain why we need the $10 million. The silence is deafening.