Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intent of the department's commercial room and board directive is to support the economic viability of commercial establishments -that is, hotels or motels in the communities -- by requiring all non-local contractors to use these business and the use of the facilities. In the past, contractors from outside the communities have, from time to time, set up bunk houses or bought older units and called them a bed and breakfast to got around our policy. So we've tightened up our policy to close this leakage. We've also issued a directive saying that contractors must stay in hotels.

The bed and breakfast facilities in these communities are licensed by Economic Development. They are licensed as a bed and breakfast for a tourism home. They are basically for one-night stays. It's defined as a private home or dwelling in which a room or rooms are offered for rent to the travelling or vacationing public. It anybody wants to get a hotel licence, then we would be able to assist them with the Economic Development people in order to get a hotel licence. But a hotel and a motel costs a lot of money to invest in that, whereas a bed and breakfast takes a small amount of money to invest. What we're trying to do is make sure that the actual hotels and motels in the communities become economically viable. That is why the directive was issued. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.