Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Last week I asked the Minister a number of questions regarding the contract award system and I would like to repeat some of those comments and then later on during general questions, I would like to pose a number of questions to the Minister for further clarification.

I have stated a number of times that to me and to certain contracting people that are in the contracting business and members of the NWT Construction Association, we feel that there are aspects of the system that are unfair. About 20 to 25 percent of the government's contracts are done through sole-sourced, negotiated, or construction management proposals, or site superintendent services, among some. Certainly there may be more, but those are the ones that I have been able to flush out. I am putting a figure of about $30 million on that value are done through those particular areas.

I guess the concern I have, Mr. Chairman, is the whole area of openness and the ability for the public and for us to know that we are getting value for our money. Certainly that has to be a great concern during these very, very tight economic times that we are facing. We have to remember here in the north the whole philosophy of what private enterprise is and how it works and what it stands for. Some of these tendering areas are challenging that philosophy, in my opinion. We have responsibility to be very open with the public and so, as I said earlier, I will be asking a number of questions in this area, seeking some statistical information and some rationalization of why these programs exist. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.