...with the agreement of the House.

---Laughter

Madam Speaker, I'm very pleased that the business incentive policy is being reviewed. Although it has done a lot of good over the years in supporting northern employment, my assessment of the BIP today is that it is dominated by a centralized bureaucracy who apply the letter of the policy in each case and who lack the knowledge of local situations to make good judgements about eligibility based on the spirit and intent of the policy.

The result is that today certain cheaters are taking the Northwest Territories and its government for a big, big ride. The easiest way for me to describe the problem is to cite the rent supp tenders for social housing in Iqaluit this summer. The winning firm, Nova Construction, has not only northern but local preference, I understand. What actually happened in my constituency on this tender? Nova apparently won this tender on the basis of northern preference. The decision was made in Yellowknife. Nova was rated ahead of companies whose owners do live in the north, with significant assets, offices and resident managers. Who owns this company? Mike Mrdjenovich. He's a nice guy.

---Laughter

I have nothing against him personally. I see him occasionally in Iqaluit, but I understand that he lives on a ranch in Alberta. How does he rate northern preference? What did Nova contribute to the NWT or local economy with this job? I assume they were given the job on the basis of a promise to construct locally. They did subcontract construction to a local firm. However, that firm, in turn, subcontracted a big part of the construction work to Cedarcrest Homes of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Maybe all those employees of Cedarcrest Homes have been on a job somewhere in the NWT for three months and have an NWT health care card.

I would like to request permission to continue, Madam Speaker.