Mr. Todd.

I do recognize the seriousness of the issue and I know that it is serious with a number of Members for a variety of reasons. Let me try to not defend it, but to give some clarity. There are close to 6,000 contracts that we give out, I understand Public Works and other departments do on an annual basis. All of our government employees including our government officers who are authorized to award contracts, take an oath of office that they will faithfully and honestly fulfil the duties that they are assigned. In addition, the contract employees authorities must follow the Financial Administration Act, the contract regulations and the applicable government policies and procedures in awarding contracts. Now we have people in the government that have been with us for years that understand that.

If there is a problem here, let me say again today, yesterday I was asked by Mr. Picco about how many waivers have come across my desk, I have to tell you today not a single waiver has come across my desk. I checked that with one of my staff last night. It is important that you understand that because no waiver has come across my desk, to me anyway, it is obvious that there is no dispute in terms of understanding the rules and regulations, the contractual authorities that the people have and the manner in which the civil service applies them to awarding the contracts. I hope that explains it. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Todd.

Maybe what I will try to do again, is I wanted to get it clear, is provide some clarity. Because an officer leaves the government, that does not automatically mean that they are restricted from working with the government within the year that they leave the government. Do you understand what I am saying? It means that they can take work as long as the work they are taking does not give them the opportunity to unduly exploit the confidential information and they meet the criteria that I alluded to yesterday. I am advised, again, I say to you I am advised that nobody, in my tenure as the Finance Minister and I am sure the FMB, nothing has come across my desk, repeat nothing, that has requested a waiver. Therefore, I have to make the assumption that those people, all of them, including the ones we have talked about have met the criteria and the policies of contracting the former employees. Thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Todd.

I want to be clear, I indicate to my honourable colleague that I have received no waiver, I repeat, no waiver has come across my desk as Chairman of the FMB. My understanding in reviewing the contracts and with respect to Mr. Bailey, and there are others out there, that he met, I am sorry but he met the guidelines, the criteria and the policy that is set within government. The contractual departments that are responsible in making decisions understand what these guidelines and policies are. Thank you.

Thank you. Again, I would like to remind the

Members regarding naming people in this House who cannot be in the House to defend themselves. I do feel very uncomfortable that a statement was made regarding a person. There is not much I can do in way of ruling something of the person's name out of order because it has already been made. The statement has been made about that. I also would like to remind the Ordinary Members that you cannot be asking a question that has been asked before, to repeat an earlier question which was answered. I want to give notice to the Members that if you continue to repeat the same questions over that I feel have been answered, then they will be ruled out of order. Oral questions. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Deputy Premier, Mr. Arlooktoo, and it is regarding my statement in the House today on a moratorium on sole-sourced and negotiated requests for proposal contracts. Mr. Speaker, potentially my question would be better addressed to Mr. Antoine, from Public Works, but I am addressing it to the Premier, with your concurrence, because I would like to get an overall view of the flavour of the government as a whole. My question to the Deputy Premier, is he aware of the number of negotiated or sole-sourced contracts that the government are participating in now with individuals or businesses within the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Acting Premier, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I am not aware of the number, but I can find out what it is and provide it to the Member. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Premier agree that many of the concerns raised by the Conflict of Interest Commissioner surrounded the area of negotiated contracts and sole-sourced contracts and that there is potentially, among the public, a distrust of that particular process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated yesterday, I am still in the process of analyzing the report myself, but my reading of it generally is that the Conflict Commissioner was more concerned, generally, about the perception of conflict and how the public could perceive on how these contracts are being awarded. I would acknowledge that it has been raised by Members of this House. Thank you.

Thank you. Again, I would like to remind the Members how they ask questions of the Minister, in which the Minister is expected to know what the public thinks of the process. The Minister cannot respond on what the public thinks. He can only respond to things that are within his knowledge. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I accept your comments. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Deputy Premier is, will the Deputy Premier consider taking the whole question of negotiated and sole-sourced and requests for proposals, take that whole issue to his Cabinet colleagues for discussion of the potential for putting a moratorium on that until there are guidelines put in place, and more importantly, that the public of the Northwest Territories trust can be regained in this particular area? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I answer that, I have just been provided with the numbers that the Member had asked for, at least the percentages, so if I may, I will take the opportunity to clarify on the number of contracts that are awarded by the Department of Public Works and Services each year. In summary, during the previous years, 70.7 percent of the total were publicly tendered, 11.8 percent were sole-sourced, 8.3 percent were negotiated and 9.2 percent were RFPs. I will also provide a written copy of these numbers to the Member as there is more detail to deal with.

As far as putting a moratorium on RFPs and sole-sourced contracts, I think that is out of the question. The government needs to carry on with the business of awarding contracts, of doing government business and, I think what is more appropriate is the ongoing review of our policy and procedures. I would confirm that is what the government does on a daily basis and that is what the Cabinet has looked at in the past. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister, would he consider taking the whole question of those contracts to his Cabinet colleagues for consideration while the trust of the public of the Northwest Territories is regained in the government and in the whole process? Would he consider taking it for discussion to his Cabinet colleagues, not whether

he would consider putting a moratorium on it but take it for discussion in respect of how the people of the Northwest Territories, at least the ones I have spoken to, feel on this topic? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.