Masi. Minister responsible for NWT Power Corporation.

Mr. Speaker, the Power Corporation, as most government operations, does have a procurement policy. I can’t speak to what steps were taken to ascertain, in the instant case, the qualities of the bidders. I do know, from what I have read, that they all were well-known bidders in this area, so I assume the Power Corporation took the regular steps in determining that when they reviewed the bids. I don’t have any specific knowledge as to the steps that were taken in this specific case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That leads to my next question. When a bidder proposal is evaluated, sometimes it is not uncommon with government procurement that we could find a bidder to be what we call “non-responsive.” That means that they somehow didn’t fulfill the obligations of the bid. Another aspect that is sometimes brought into question is whether the bidder is what is called “non-responsible” and unlikely to work out. Maybe, in this instance, it is almost too good to be true. What does the Power Corporation do to determine if a bid proposal is responsible or not?

I imagine that evaluation is done at the time any bid is received. They could certainly look at whether it had past history with this bidder, how the potential bidder had done in other bids, and how they had done with other contractors. I have no idea what exact steps were taken in this case, but I imagine those steps would have been taken.

Just to be clear, can the Minister indicate that the Power Corporation does, in fact, follow GNWT procurement policies, or do they have their own procurement policies?

The Northwest Territories Power Corporation does have its own purchasing policy. I don’t imagine it is very different from that of the government.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To that extent, then, there are probably opportunities or times when certain contracts are not going to be put out for public offering. Can the Minister describe if, in fact, the Power Corporation puts all of its contracts and services out for public offering, or are there circumstances where the Power Corporation sole sources contracts? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That information is, in fact, contained in the purchasing policy. The determination as to whether it will go out to the broad public or to sole-source is determined by a series of factors, including price. I know there is a sole-source contract awarded that would depend on factors such as emergency and other factors. There is a policy which the Power Corporation follows.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Masi. Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not 100 per cent sure that I understand the question. I am not sure what a premedical diagnosis would be. When it comes to residents of the Northwest Territories in the small communities attending a health centre, we have a number of standing orders that the nurses in the communities utilize when assessing an individual trying to determine what, if anything, is wrong with them. We also have a number of standing programs that are available in each of our health centre, Well Man, Well Woman, Well Baby, and there are some pretty defined guidelines and the types of things that the nurses are looking for when those residents come to those particular programs. We also have the codes of practice for nurses as outlined by the individual licensing bodies which outline the practice and the types of things that the RNs can do. There are a number of protocols, standing orders, and procedures that are used by our practitioners when assessing an individual. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I welcome the response from the Minister. My next question on that phase of medical checkup, if you want to call it, on the principle of quality control is: is this practice being monitored on an appointment-by-appointment case at the end of the month?

Prior to moving to a single authority in the Northwest Territories, we used different protocols by regions and communities on how things were monitored and assessed. We now have 32 performance indicators that we utilize in the Northwest Territories and collect on a regular basis. That information helps make some evidence-based decisions moving forward. We are continually trying to enhance the monitoring that we are doing of the services and program delivery to make sure that they meet the needs of our residents, and we will continue to move forward. I am happy to sit down with the Member and go through his concerns and questions to see if we can focus in on exactly the area he is looking for.

I welcome the Minister's invitation. As we all know, we live in a small area and communication is really fast, faster than RC's fibre link for example.

---Laughter

The fearful word we are commonly hearing now, and I have experienced it quite frequently on requests for medical services, is the word cancer. In some cases, the medical staff are saying, “Here is a jar of Tylenol. Go home and come back later” kind of thing, just to summarize it up. Later on, as tests are --

What is your question, Member for Sahtu?

I thought I was at number 5. Excuse me. Yes, I welcome the invitation from the Minister. As part of the invitation, would he provide some information on the cancer proceedings on a preliminary diagnostic assessment?

As I indicated, as we are moving forward and rolling out the single authority here in the Northwest Territories, we are trying to improve the protocols and standing orders that we have in all of our health centres. We also have a cancer strategy -- I think the Member is talking specifically about that -- that outlined some of the services that we provide, but also some of the standard testing that we do in cases where cancer may be suspected. I am happy to sit down with the Member and go through some of the protocols that we have so that he will understand what service are being offered both at the front lines in communities but also all the way through the system to our territorial hospital here in Stanton.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I spoke about parents who want to maintain the current range of choices for early childhood development and I asked the Minister in writing to provide an analysis of how the implementation of JK will accommodate the existing programs. Unfortunately, I didn't get an answer. My question is: can the Minister say whether this analysis has ever been done, and if not, will he undertake it? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through our program, we run a lot of subsidy programs with our early childhood partners. As for the analysis, I would have to check with the department to see if something has been done. In terms of moving JK forward, this government has committed to fully funding junior kindergarten, and it was agreed on by this House when we passed the budget earlier this week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the Minister's commitment to check with the department to see whether there has ever been an analysis done about the financial viability of the programs. It is my understanding that ECE offers a subsidy to existing programs like Montessori because they meet the department's licensing requirements. Does the Minister believe his department has any responsibility to ensure these programs remain viable?