Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Public Works, Mr. Arlooktoo. I received from several companies some information. From the NWT Construction Association, a public notice from the Department of Public Works of an intent to negotiate a construction contract for the new Clyde River Community Learning Centre. I believe the value of this may be in the range of $800,000. I also understand that the construction of the Sanikiluaq air terminal was pulled off the public tender list and may be going to either a negotiated or sole-sourced contract. Again, this is a $1 million project.

Yesterday, the Minister said that these types of contracts are rare. Now these are the first of the contracts out of the chute for the coming year, Mr. Speaker. Both of them appear to be negotiated. Certainly, the one is negotiated as advertised. My question for the Minister is, is this the trend of government contracting in these tight economic times?