House of Commons Hansard #8 of the 36th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was quebec.
Bob Kilger Liberal Stormont—Dundas, ON
Mr. Speaker, earlier there were discussions among all parties. I believe you would find that there is agreement among all parties to deal with the main motion now and to dispose of it on division.
Division No. 5Government Orders
The Deputy Speaker
The House has heard the proposal of the chief government whip. Is there unanimous consent for the proposal?
Division No. 5Government Orders
The Deputy Speaker
The question is on the main motion. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
Division No. 5Government Orders
The Deputy Speaker
I declare the motion carried.
(Motion agreed to)
A motion to adjourn the House under Standing Order 38 deemed to have been moved
Bill Casey Progressive Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Mr. Speaker, on Friday I asked a question of the Minister of Transport about untendered contracts on a highway 104 project in Nova Scotia which is being done under a federal-provincial agreement. The minister's reply was basically that it is a provincial issue. I take exception to that. It is not a provincial issue.
Under normal conditions perhaps a highway is a provincial issue, but this deal is anything but normal. It is not normal because the federal and provincial governments have contributed money to set up a business to operate a highway at a profit of $151 million.
It is not normal because the province of Nova Scotia gave up control of the speed limits and fine amounts. It gave up control of who can drive on the highway. It even gave up the right for the financiers, Newcourt Credit, to establish their own police force on this highway. So it is not normal.
It is not normal because this is the only highway in and out of the province of Nova Scotia and it will affect every person in Nova Scotia and also Newfoundland because it is the only highway that serves Newfoundland.
This is a screwball agreement. The reason we have it is because there is no national highway program, which we will get into later. If we continue with projects like this one, we will have a hodgepodge of agreements all across the country if we do not have a national highway funding program.
Today the issue is the untendered contracts. The minister said that it was a provincial issue. I will read from the agreement where the federal government and provincial government put $55 million into it.
Clause 5.1 states that the $55 million agreement will be managed by two members of a management committee, one member appointed by the federal minister and the other appointed by the provincial minister. It goes on to say that all decisions of this management committee will be in writing and shall be acted on only if they are unanimous. So every decision had to be approved by the federal government, it had to be unanimous and it had to be in writing.
Also leading on into the agreement another clause states that all contracts shall be awarded to the qualified and responsible tenderer submitting the lowest evaluated bid.
Considering it is very clear that all the contracts had to be tendered and also it is clear that all decisions had to be agreed to by the federal government, did the federal government agree to issue $113 million of contracts untendered, or did the province circumvent the terms of the agreement and do it by itself? It is either one way or the other.
If the feds did agree, we would like to have a copy of that decision because in the agreement it says that all decisions will be in writing.
There are a few other little things we would like to have from the hon. minister concerning this agreement.
Section 5.3 says that the management committee will be responsible for issuing annual reports to the minister on the progress achieved by this agreement. We would really like to have copies of those progress reports.
Section 5.5 says that decisions of the management committee will be in writing and will be acted on only if they are unanimous. We would like to have copies of all the decisions.
Section 11.2 says that progress reports will be made public frequently. We would like to have all those progress reports. We would like to have copies of the untendered contracts. We would like to know exactly how the $27.5 million of federal money was put into the Atlantic highways improvement program.
Basically we want to know if the federal government agreed to allow $113 million of untendered contracts to go through and, if so, why.
Stan Keyes LiberalParliamentary Secretary to Minister of Transport
Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Transport stated to the hon. member in question period on September 26, under the Constitution of Canada responsibility for highways, including highway 104 in Nova Scotia, falls under provincial jurisdiction.
For the clarification of the member opposite, I would like to explain it a little further.
Transport Canada's only involvement in highway 104 is to match dollar for dollar $55 million with the province. That amounts to $27.5 million each.
The highway 104 western alignment project is one of a few projects funded through the Transport Canada/Nova Scotia strategic highway improvement program agreement signed in 1993. This agreement makes provisions for both the federal government and the province to each set aside about $70 million, for a total of $140 million, for highway improvements in Nova Scotia.
It is important for the hon. member to note that Transport Canada's involvement in the highway 104 project ends right there. The province of Nova Scotia is the responsible authority for the project. It is the province that decides on the alignment, design, construction standards, tendering process and how to finance the construction costs of the provincial highway system.
The province of Nova Scotia chose to use a public-private partnership concept as a means to construct and finance highway 104. Nova Scotia decided the developer would be allowed to charge tolls as a means of recuperating costs directly from the users of the new highway.
The federal government is neither party to nor responsible for Nova Scotia's public-private agreement with the developer. As the minister has stated to the member, the government's only involvement is to match the funding provided by the province.
The hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester also expressed an interest in the tendering process for the highway. According to the officials in Transport Canada, the province of Nova Scotia went through an extensive selection and tendering process for highway 104.
Division No. 5Adjournment Proceedings
The Deputy Speaker
I am sorry but the hon. member's time has expired.
A motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m., pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).
(The House adjourned at 7.17 p.m.)