I hear the Minister but I worry he’s

not hearing me. The issue is it’s not about Avens and if the government decides to contract directly with Avens for services for the extended care level 5 beds. Albeit it’s not as if it’s a competitive market in the city where we’ve got 50 seniors agencies scrambling at the door saying we want a chance. We really have one. Sorry; two. I should say it this way. You have Avens and you have the Government of the Northwest Territories. You have one or the other who wants to take on the challenge.

That isn’t the issue, and I want to be very clear, but the problem really boils simply down to the fact that if the government is now offsetting its, sort of, problem with this one by finding a partner who’s willing to carry the weight or the crux of the issue and follow through on the success of it, that’s great. But the fact is we’re giving them the money, government money, public money, taxpayer money, and they’re going about it in a way that probably creates great frustration in the community. I can’t say they will. I want to stress that. I can’t say they won’t. I don’t know. But I can tell you, when you are in business, be it in Yellowknife or anywhere in the Northwest Territories, and the government gives, I stress by way of example, $10 million for another group to build a facility that will then come up with a long-term contract, they see that still as government money. If the government enters into a $10 million, $20 million, $30 million project by way of contracting spaces, beds, leasing, whatever, they still see that as government money used to pay for that whole facility.

If any agency enters into sole-source agreement, they just see it as, de facto, the government has chosen to steer or redirect government taxpayer

money without a competitive process, and that’s what I’m trying to avoid. I’m trying to see that we have a competitive process. Yellowknife is the one market community where we have a competitive community. It’s not as if it’s in Fort McPherson where you may only have one or two people who can do these types of things, or you’re in maybe Fort Simpson where, again, you’re very limited on your options and choices. The everyday citizen sees it as government going through. It’s not the issue of Avens being the partner or the deliverer of the solution. It’s about how we get the construction portion and component of it, and that is a great concern. We have construction companies in the city that have more than enough skills and competence to do that, and that’s the type of assurance we need. I’m sorry to go on at length, but I need to ensure that it’s explained very well where the issue l

ays. It doesn’t lay with Avens.

The final thing I’ll say on this area is that if any agency wants to enter into a contract with the Northwest

Territories

government,

I

mean,

essentially they do it at their own choice. We could put in our agreement with them that they have to have a competitive process on that. That’s a choice we can make how they do that. To say that, well, it’s up to them, actually I disagree. If they want to provide the service, which I certainly hope they do because I believe they do a darn good job at it, we can say at the beginning that you have to be competitive and that is the minimum expectation we have in that area.

I know we have a lot of contractors. We even have some formally of Hay River who would like to be involved in this initiative and opportunity just to bid. I’m looking for some type of assurance I can go back to the folks in this community who own construction businesses who want to play a role in this, because these opportunities don’t come along very often.