Mr. Chairman. With all due respect to Members, these are recommendations that I have said we did have a part in formulating but I cannot at this time assure Members on what specific recommendations we are going to act on. Just that every one of them will be looked at and if there is sufficient merit in moving on it, if there is, for instance, a way that we can shore up our assurances without increasing costs, in fact, if it has any sense of reducing costs, we will do it. If it simplifies the process, if it increases benefits to the local communities, we will try to accommodate these suggested changes. I cannot specifically tell you, at this time, which ones we will go forward with, at this time, to Cabinet. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Minister made comments in response to one of the questions from the Member for Hay River in regards to it is time to be politically sensitive and measured in their response, so that we do not cause confusion or disrupt the economy any more than it already has been affected by various factors. Does this mean that, in fact, the Minister will not be looking at any substantive changes to the BIP in light of the concerns you addressed to the Member of Hay River as well as the concerns I have raised earlier in regards to division and the way that the northern community seems to be split on the issue of the BIP? That, in actual fact, we are looking at sort of fine tuning what we have, if we are going to do that as opposed to any kind of substantive modification or possible development of a different system?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Minister Kakfwi.

Madam Chair, I do not want to get into generalizations but it would appear that my sense that the business incentive policy should stay in place and, within certain parameters, we should be prepared to look at certain amendments to the policy. So that is where I am at this time. As I said, I am prepared to go to Cabinet, with the support of my colleague, Mr. Arlooktoo, with our recommendations on what to do. Cabinet will then decide what changes, if any, will be supported and we will certainly be in a position then to share that and promote that, explain it and defend it to the Members of this Legislature. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. On the issue of the grandfather clause, with the joint committee there was no consensus and in the tried and true history of a good committee it was recommended that they study it some more. My Solomon-like decision, given I suppose the difficult nature of the issue, is the Minister going to be looking at any kind of serious revisions there? There has been some strong concerns voiced by myself and others on this issue of multi-nationals with billion dollar profits being covered under this clause. I am also concerned about companies that say they are northern but, in fact, they hire most of their truck drivers, whatever, from the south where there is the intent of the BIP and the reality of the BIP seem to be considerably different and I think that is an issue that has to be addressed and if the Minister could respond how we could stand up and tell small communities and very small businesses that yes, the CIBC is a good northern, small business because Lord knows, they need every advantage they could get because probably a billion dollars is not enough. They probably would like a billion, two or something. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Kakfwi.

Madam Chair, we have had extensive discussions about the grandfather provisions of the business incentive policy. We will be having some more discussions with our officials to discuss the exact nature of the concerns and specifically go through the list of parties that are on what you call the grandfather list and see what basis there are for the specific concerns. Based on that, we will be making a decision on what to recommend to Cabinet. As I said earlier, there is extensive concerns about the grandfather clause and there may be some merit in trying to do something to alleviate the concerns with specific parties that may be listed in the grandfather clause. Whereas others may have no basis whatsoever for concern. So that work will be done with myself and as I say, Mr. Arlooktoo and our officials, before we go to Cabinet. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Chair. With my accounts card, can I have one more question? I think Mr. Ningark said five?

Unless I have miscounted, I have this down as your fourth. Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger.

My final question to the Minister - if I could be heard over the eruptions to my right here, does anybody have any antacid? - is regards to compliance. I have been talking to a number of businesses lately and people who deal with BIP and the issue of compliance, which is very complicated and of concern to a lot of Members. It is one that I am not sure how you can address but the more rules you put in, the more adept people or businesses seem to become at finding ways to possibly circumvent them. I am very concerned that even companies that are northern, according to their store signs that they hang over their businesses, in fact, bring in a lot of their labour from the south or that you will go through one or two northern sort-of store operations but in the end it still brings people in from the south but on paper you have complied with your northern requirements. I think that it is a significant issue and I think it is one of the sources of concern when you talk to what I would say are legitimate northern businesses that have their entire operation located in the north and they are competing against that sort of situations of that nature. I do not have an answer, I have more of a question. Does the Minister see a way in this particular review of the BIP of trying to deal with that particular issue? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There is one option we know, to leave everything as it is. It is true that many businesses find that extremely cumbersome and frustrating having to fill out extensive paperwork to comply with the provisions of the policy at this time. What we have been asked to do is to look for a system where northern local labour, is there some way to ensure that there is some incentive for contractors to use local northern businesses, local and northern labour, employ northern and local people in the carrying out of their contract obligations. How are we going to do it? Again, I cannot tell you at this time, but if I think there is a way to do it that improves on the present while still ensuring that there is heavy (inaudible) and benefits to the contractors for hiring northern and local people and using local services, then we will try to meet that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The policy by definition has to stay intact in its basic outline and if it changes too substantially then it is not going to be the business policy any more. The exemption would be null and void to the internal trade agreement, it will not apply. Again, tinkering with the policy just to see what will happen might have some merit. I suppose you would have to have some substantive reason to go with making changes not just to, for instance, adjust the temperature to see what is going to happen a year down the road. The other suggestions that the Member makes we can take those into consideration. Just to remind Members again, as I said in the beginning, get rid of it, leave it as it is, because there is no overwhelming consensus on what we should do or go forward with some changes to improve and support the development of our economy. The first one is not being considered at this time. The policy will stay in place and, at this time, I am prepared to go forward to the Cabinet with suggested changes and seek support for those changes. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Any further questions, Mr. Erasmus?

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Under the business policy, you have to register as a northern business and be listed in order to enjoy the benefits that the policy provides and, as Mr. Gamble indicated earlier, there were many, many instances where there are no southern companies bidding. We have effectively arrived at a situation which I think everybody, I would expect, would applaud, which is in many cases it is only Yellowknife businesses that are bidding on certain jobs. You know, Vancouver is not competing with them, or Edmonton or Calgary or Montreal and I would think that is a plus for the business community of Yellowknife, Hay River or Inuvik for that matter. In that case for instance, 10 Yellowknife companies bid on the same contract. It is a level playing field within the northern business community and there are no bid adjustments. So there is no cost. We enjoy the benefits of having only northern businesses bidding for the contract. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Erasmus.