Roland grilled over N.W.T. bridge agreement

Northwest Territories Premier Floyd Roland faced questions Tuesday from MLAs over a key financial agreement for a Mackenzie River bridge project that was signed in the waning days of the last government.

MLAs accused the government of rushing to sign the concession agreement, which spells out its commitments to underwrite the project, also known as the Deh Cho Bridge project.

The concession agreement was signed in the last days of Joe Handley's government on Sept. 28 — just three days before the Oct. 1 territorial election.

The document has not been made public since some of the details have yet to be hammered out.

"I'd like to have some answers from the premier on why the rush to sign the concession agreement — an incomplete document — was done on Sept. 28," Kam Lake MLA Dave Ramsay said during question period Tuesday.

The agreement commits the territorial government to pay roughly $3 million a year for 35 years to help cover the cost of the Deh Cho Bridge. It also lays out what the company building the bridge must do to secure money from the government.

Hay River South MLA Jane Groenewegen said Roland should have beenmore forthcoming about the concession agreement when he was questioned on the bridge on Oct. 19, during the first sitting of the new legislature.

"Mr. Roland can split hairs about this, but he knows the intent of my question was to find out what had transpired and where our government sat in terms of commitment," Groenewegen said.

"Was the signing of the concession agreement not a very key piece of information that he should have shared that day?"

Roland apologized to Groenewegen for not being clearer about the agreement, saying he did the best he could last month given that no ministers had been assigned and he was answering questions on behalf of the entire cabinet.

As for why the agreement was signed in the dying days of the last government, Roland said he cannot answer for the previous administration — even though he was finance minister at the time.

"What would that accomplish?" he said. "I would instead say, as premier of the 16th assembly, I would undertake a review of the processes and the outstanding issues around that project."

But Ramsay said he was not satisfied with Roland's response, and will call for a public inquiry into how the agreement was reached.