Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier on privatization initiatives. There was much discussion in the House on privatization, particularly POL. I note in the unedited Hansard of yesterday, Mr. Kakfwi informed the House that there is no specific policy on privatization. My question to the Premier is, where do they take their initiative from if there is no privatization policy in place? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as where we take the initiative from on privatization issues, is we look at services that we do supply to the public through government dollars and we look at what makes sense to privatize and we attempt to solve that problem that way. At this time, it looks like privatization of petroleum products would be a good idea as well as computer services and property management. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, Mr. Kakfwi in Hansard suggested there was no specific policy on privatization. My question to the Premier is, is this factual? Is there no policy on privatization? Thank you.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, there is no policy on specific privatization issues. It is the government's intent to pursue

initiatives of privatization wherever possible. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a document that says, Policy Privatization, now it was dated back in 1985. I am wondering if the Premier can tell me if this policy is no longer in effect. It is on privatization. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not know about the 1985 paper the Member is speaking of. We as a government took the initiative to explore the options of privatization and that is what we are doing. We are looking at the options of the things we can privatize. Thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The document I am talking about is the privatization policy and it is signed by the then Commissioner John Parker, dated 85/10/22 but there is an interesting comment. Article 6 in that particular document states, "Responsible Department: The department whose program or service is under consideration for privatization ..." I would ask if there has been a change to or if indeed this policy is not in place presently. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is 1985. That is from a previous government. We as a government have taken an initiative to privatize and look at the options that are available for us to privatize government functions. We have also made it very clear that the co-ordination of privatization will be within the hands of Mr. Kakfwi as the Minister of RWED. That is the economic arm that deals with economic issues for this government but the actual footwork or the work that has to be done on the ground level, for example POL, Mr. Arlooktoo would handle that work because they are the department that deals with POL so they know that issue best. So they do the ground work. Thank you.

Thank you. Again, just to remind the Members that when you are making reference to policies of previous Assemblies or governments you can cite from it but you cannot read extensively from a document that is not in front of the House. If you wish to cite more from the document, table it as a tabled document. Oral questions. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you. The Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, in about 80 percent of the cases the reason why a contract was awarded to one firm and not the other is because of price and those are through our public tenders. In the other cases where we go through request for proposals, the process is a little bit more elaborate. There are more concepts involved, therefore that would make it pretty clear that in most cases it is a cut and dried reason why they did not win. However, I have looked into the issue a bit further and I have taken steps to ensure that in all letters from the Department of Public Works to unsuccessful bidders, that there is an offer to answer questions that they have on their own proposal.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, I will see exactly what the situation is. I understand that in most cases that the final figure for the cost of many projects does become public either through our accounting procedures, public accounts or through the different construction associations. But I will see what the situation is and see if we can respond positively to the Member's request.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Ootes.