Thank you, Madam Chairperson. Madam Chairperson, the opportunity to negotiate contracts by qualified firms in the small communities is always there. When it comes to the department, we are considering requests to negotiate and will take into consideration their past performance, as well as the fact of how long they have been in the business. We should keep in mind that part of the negotiated contract policy and the end result of that program is to have these small firms qualify to enter the public tender process. In other words, at some point in time we have to accept the fact that they are capable of competing in a public tender process and therefore some consideration will be given to whether or not we are still continuing with negotiated contract policy. The policy will be subject to review at some point in time by Cabinet and by the Legislative Assembly as to whether we still continue with the policy. Until there is a decision to do away with it, we will go by the policy that is established by the government.
I would just like to add, Madam Chairperson, that in the acceleration of Highway 3, there should not be an expectation that this highway is going to be done in less than five years because the funding from the National Highways Program is spread over a five-year period. I do not see this acceleration being anything less than five years. Thank you.