Thank you, committee. Does committee agree that this concludes our consideration of the Department of Finance?
Debates of Sept. 27th, 2017
This is page numbers 2785 – 2828 of the Hansard for the 18th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was communities.
Topics
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
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The Chair R.J. Simpson
Thank you, committee. Thank you to the Minister and your witness. Sergeant-at-Arms, you may escort the witness from the Chamber. Committee, we have agreed to next consider the Department of Justice, which begins on page 49 of the capital estimates. We will defer consideration of the departmental total until after consideration of the activities, but I will open up the floor to any general comments after I see if the Minister has any witnesses he would like to bring into the Chamber. Minister?
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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The Chair R.J. Simpson
Thank you, Minister. Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses into the Chamber. Minister, please introduce your witnesses for the record.
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Louis Sebert Thebacha
Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. To my left is Mandi Bolstad, director of corporate services, and to my right, Martin Goldney, the deputy minister of Justice. Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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The Chair R.J. Simpson
Thank you, Minister. Opening comments on the Department of Justice? I see no opening comments from committee. We will begin consideration of the activities. The first activity is on page 51, corrections. Mr. Testart.
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Kieron Testart Kam Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am sure the Minister can guess where I am going to go with this. We have two capital items here: North Slave Correctional Centre Zone 2, building security control system renovations; and North Slave Correctional Centre, building, security control system integration. Let's hear more about that. Can the Minister provide some detail about why these are required and if they are related to the security improvements that are required due to the incident report from last year? Thank you.
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Louis Sebert Thebacha
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are two major projects we are talking about in this area of security. One is to install fencing in response to the incident, the escape that took place in August of 2016, and the other is to mark the property line of the facility.
With respect to the critical incident response, if I can use that term, that is to secure the yard used for inmate programs. Again, it was obvious that security had to be enhanced after the escape in 2016, and my understanding is that, since that time, this portion of the facility has not been used. A budget was approved for this work, and we tendered the project. However, the bids received were far in excess of the allocated budget. At that point, what was done was that a revised approach to securing the yard is now being undertaken.
The other project was the perimeter fence. As I mentioned earlier today, the project closed on August 29th. The work is being conducted even as we speak and is expected to be completed by mid-October. This was a fence demarcating the facility boundary from the Homes North housing development. It was a 6-foot-high fence, 220 metres along the west side of the property. As we mentioned, we did go out for tenders, tenders were received, and the work is proceeding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Kieron Testart Kam Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the Minister for that detailed response. Unless I am not seeing this clearly, are these fence projects in this capital budget? The two items I spoke to were a security control system integration and building security control system renovations. Are the fences this control system renovations item, or are they the security integration? Am I missing something? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Louis Sebert Thebacha
Yes, Mr. Chair, I wonder if I might defer that question to Ms. Bolstad. Thank you.
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Bolstad
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The two capital projects that the Member mentioned are actually enhancements to our security system at the facility that were planned as part of our conversion from an analogue-based system to a digital-based system. They are unrelated to the inmate escape. They have been planned for several years and have phased in over 2017-2018, 2018-2019. The upgrades are to the camera and voice components as well as the door controls. Those are the two differences. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Kieron Testart Kam Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the official from the Department of Justice for that helpful clarification. With this fencing issue that has yet to be resolved, that the tender was not successful, what is the plan to deal with that? Is it to put more money into it so we can get it done, or is it to scale it down into something different? Can the Minister provide some more clarity about what this is going to look and where we will see it? Obviously, it is not in this budget, but where will this House consider that capital project, and how much is it going to cost? Thank you.
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Louis Sebert Thebacha
Yes, Mr. Chair, I think we are looking at somewhat of a scaled-down project, but if I might defer to the deputy minister for details? Thank you.
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Goldney
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The project is still within the budget and the funds that we have identified. The fact that the tenders came in well in excess of what was expected frankly forced us to go back and look at other options. I am a little constrained in getting into too much detail about some of the security features of the facility in a public setting.
However, perhaps generally what I can say is one of the difficulties with the first design is it would have involved much more extensive need for a concrete footing and placement. When we were frankly disappointed with the results of the previous tender, we asked our experts to reconsider other options. We had some structural engineers come in and look at options that could get the same result without requiring some of the more expensive components of the original plan and original design. I am happy to report that an option was identified with the benefit of that expert review with the engineers.
The other nice benefit is the new plan, because it has changed somewhat, does not run into the same issues around a construction window, with the absence of some of the footings that were there previously, so we do anticipate this tender going out as early as Monday or Tuesday and are hoping that we will get a favourable response. That would still allow construction to happen within this year and be completed over the late fall and early winter. Thank you.
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The Chair R.J. Simpson
Thank you, Mr. Testart. I have no further comments or questions on this section. I will call it. On page 51, Justice, corrections, infrastructure investments, $3,889,000. Does committee agree?