Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to express my concern about the loss of confidence in this government by a number of people in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, with the release of the Conflict of Interest Commissioner's Report, I believe, it is fair to say that many northerners do not believe that this government is holding true to their professed ideals of providing fair and transparent government. Like it or not, Mr. Speaker, I believe that we as a government have to take serious steps to reinstill public confidence in the workings of the Government of the Northwest Territories.
The first step in that reinstilling confidence came with the then Premier Morin resigning. The second step in regaining that confidence came when the Deputy Premier, Mr. Arlooktoo, announced a committee of senior government officials to review the committee's report of Conflict of Interest Commissioner's Report and report back to this House. We have to do more to regain the trust of the people, Mr. Speaker. Many northerners have had serious reservations about the process used to negotiate sole-source contracts and the awarding of contracts using requests for proposals. The process must, and I emphasize must, Mr. Speaker, be seen to be transparent to the average northerner.
Mr. Speaker, until such time as this government can develop comprehensive guidelines for the departments to follow in the awarding of sole-source contracts and on contracts awarded following requests for proposals, I believe that a moratorium must be placed on the awarding of these contracts and it be followed until standard rules of open contract law are developed. Northerners believe, Mr. Speaker, that there is too much interference at the political level in the awarding of these sole-source and request for proposal contracts. Even though no laws or government policies may have been broken, in awarding these contracts, this government has to answer to the higher court of public perception.
The review and development of standardized guidelines is the first step in regaining respect of northerners for the working of this government. Mr. Speaker, a moratorium on negotiated and sole-sourced and requests for proposal contracts, until such time as definite policies on criteria and eligibility are developed is necessary to instill public confidence in the Government of the Northwest Territories. Later today, I will be directing questions to the Deputy Premier in this regard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
--Applause