The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my questions are for the Minister of Finance. Earlier I spoke about P3 contracts and how these are becoming maybe a bit of a new norm here in the Northwest Territories, but right now they don't necessarily include northern benefit policies, such as BIP, to be applied to them or similar types of aspects of, let's say, negotiated contracts. I would like to ask the Minister: is there anything built into the negotiated process when you are negotiating with a proponent with P3s that brings northern benefit to the NWT in terms of employment or having to use local contractors and suppliers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member pointed out in his Member's statement before, P3 projects have allowed the government to allow their dollars to go further and make further investments in infrastructure, which is a benefit to the people of the Northwest Territories.

When a project is undertaken as a P3, a specific part of the agreement is negotiated with respect to local and northern content. A good example of this is our latest P3 project that we just completed where there was $71 million of that particular amount that was spent on northern businesses. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

I appreciate the Minister's reply. I guess one of the other aspects that I would like to ask the Minister is that we have another opportunity where we have to negotiate contracts sometimes where we don't go out for a public offering per se. That negotiated process allows for some added-value northern benefits to be had for training, for potential apprenticeships, for hiring, and that sort of thing. Is there any kind of requirement that we can build into our P3 negotiating process that would for sure ensure that we have northern benefits such as those that we see when we do negotiated contracts in the Northwest Territories?

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

It is always our priority in the Legislative Assembly to try to make as many benefits available to Northerners as possible, and we do try to build that into a number of the projects that we have. An example of this would be the upcoming P3 project we have, the Tlicho All-Season Road. There were specific thresholds established for the private partner to meet northern and Tlicho business for construction costs, labour requirements, and local business operation requirements. As we go forward, I think that those will be built into many of the projects that the Government of the Northwest Territories would implement.

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you to the Minister for his reply. I am wondering, when we award P3 contracts, is there any opportunity thereafter where we can expect that the proponent or the operator would have a requirement that they have to put out, say, a public offering or a public tender to local and northern suppliers and contractors so that we are not just letting these operators use their previously southern contacts, and that we're ensuring at least the opportunity for northern companies and suppliers to bid on work that these operators. In the instance of the hospital, I used an example earlier about coffee supply. Can we find a way to make sure that northern companies, northern suppliers, are going to be ensured the opportunity to bid on this type of work?

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

As I said before, we will work with the proponents to try to build some of these requirements into the contract. Again, it would be up to the proponent where they will get their supplies from, but if we were able to come to sort of agreement that would benefit, the proponents obviously want to do things fairly quickly and use people that they are familiar with. Having said that, though, we need to build some of these requirements in. One of the benefits of the P3 projects, and we have seen that, I think, with the Stanton Territorial Hospital, is that they come in on time and on budget. That is a benefit of the P3 process.

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Cory Vanthuyne Yellowknife North

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister for the reply. I guess that, lastly, I would be looking towards opportunities where we could solidify and ensure a little bit more as it relates to local hiring and local training. Is there a way in which we could add a feature into negotiating P3 contracts that would ensure that we are going to hire locally and that have the opportunity for those operators to train people locally for the jobs that are coming forward after a P3 has been awarded? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Robert C. McLeod Inuvik Twin Lakes

As I said earlier, we do want a lot of the benefits from these projects to go to Northerners, be it training, business opportunities, job opportunities, and it is expected in our negotiations with the proponents that these are built in so that Northerners will benefit from the money that the government spends on a lot of these infrastructure projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Frederick Blake Jr. Mackenzie Delta

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In follow-up to my Member's statement, I have a few questions for the Minister responsible for ECE. As I mentioned, there is no childcare in Fort McPherson at this time. I would like to ask the Minister: how much funding is available for childcare, for setup and operations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Speaker Jackson Lafferty

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.