Mahsi. This particular committee, obviously, will be established. Definitely we’ll have some staff on there because we deal with the minimum wage, cost factor and so forth. But we have to minimize the hours, the costs towards the committee.

Again, I don’t have the detailed information because this is all new. We’re just establishing the committee in the spring, within the next couple of weeks. So once I have all of the information, I will be providing it to the Members. Mahsi.

Thanks to the Minister. I guess if the Minister is looking to be efficient and to reduce work, I really don’t understand why he’s establishing a committee. We are committed to death, I think, in this government.

I’d like to know from the Minister why we would not simply do something as simple as tying minimum wage to the cost of living and do increases to the minimum wage when our cost of living increases. Thank you.

Mahsi. Obviously, that will be taken into consideration, as well, and I want to hear from the employers, the employees and the representatives, not only my staff telling me this is good. I want to hear from the general public. So that’s why we’re establishing this committee. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess if the Minister is going to establish a committee, then that’s going to happen, but I think we could canvas our employers once, agree to tie it to the cost of living and then we’re done.

My question to the Minister now is, if this committee is established in the spring, when are we going to see our next increase to the minimum wage? It’s been two years since we’ve had one. Thank you.

Mahsi. Once the committee is established, they do their work and get their recommendations to me, I’m hoping that either the spring session or early this year I want to reintroduce that to this House. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To no surprise to the House, and certainly the Minister, I have a few more Inuvik-Tuk highway questions. I’ve been getting feedback from people in the Beau-Del region that the GNWT, in this Inuvik-Tuk Highway Project, will be buying the equipment and turning it over to the contractor. Would the Minister be able to provide some highlights as to what type of contract and deals are being put together for the potential proponent who will be building the Inuvik-Tuk highway? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If we haven’t made decisions in this House on whether to move the project forward, we haven’t got the funding agreement from the federal government and the approvals from the federal government, that hasn’t happened. So, obviously, we have not made a decision on procurement for the Inuvik-Tuk highway. That will happen after we get all the approvals. When we get the decision to move forward in this House is when we will make decisions on procurement and not until then. Thank you.

Thank you. The Minister has an interesting point, but the fact is, it doesn’t preclude the opportunity to do and work out some of these deals informally, or even formally, until the final decision is before the House.

So has there been any deals worked on by the Department of Transportation with perspective proponents who will construct the Inuvik highway and whereby we buy, as in where the GNWT buys, the construction equipment and we turn it over free of charge at the end of the project? Thank you.

Thank you. I have no idea who the Member is talking to, but it’s not the same people we’re talking to. Thank you.

Thank you. In the stewardship of good taxpayer spending, will the Minister commit to this House that the GNWT will not be buying any construction equipment for any particular proponent who ends up with this contract if it does proceed, and there will be no giving away any GNWT assets we purchase through our government, and we will not be supporting a contract that buys the equipment so they get it for free? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. That’s a hypothetical question, but I’ll allow the Minister to respond. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have nothing to add aside from echoing your comments that it is a hypothetical question. Thank you.

Thank you. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate your guidance on that being hypothetical, but that’s also a reality that’s coming to my office as a phone call to be afraid of. So it’s important to get these issues out.

My last question is: Will all of this information be before the public long before a final decision is made in this House? Citizens need to see these facts and understand them and be able to talk to their duly elected officials here and have the good discussion with them before they make the final decision, because if it comes after the decision is made, it becomes useless information. Thank you.

Thank you. That’s a very open-ended question. The Member referenced this information. Not knowing specifically what information the Member is talking about, I can’t say yes to that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Speaking to the risk matrix, if that helps the Minister for a bit of guidance, even though we spent a lot of time last time, would he be willing to publish all that information? As to the potential risks the GNWT and the citizens of the Northwest Territories would be taking on as a risk, would he be willing to publicize all that information on our website long before a final decision is proposed in this House? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier during question period I did commit, like we’ve committed to Members when we were before the standing committee, we provided the risks, we’ve been upfront with Members on what the potential risks are. Likewise, we intend to be as fully upfront with the public here. We will get the information on our website as soon as we have a deal.

We do not have a deal, we do not know where all those risks are today, we’ve shared all the risks that we know with Members of this House two weeks ago during committee. So as we move along, we will continue to share the information with Members and with the public.

Thank you. The Minister keeps speaking to this as if a deal has already been formalized and it’s just a matter of it being signed off to the feds.

What new construction technology has been advanced that we will guarantee a solid construction of the Inuvik-Tuk Highway Project? I liken it to the Highway No. 3 that has been invested in for many, many years and millions of dollars and we continue to always be in bad shape. So what new construction techniques has the Department of Transportation innovated to guarantee it as a real, good, solid, quality piece of work? Thank you.

Thank you. The Department of Transportation is not going to construct the road. I’m a politician and not Bob the Builder. Thank you.