Thank you. I am aware that by our legislation or by our policies, you do not have to meet all of the criteria for sole-sourcing. However, I would argue that it is very suggestive. If I heard Mr. Voytilla right in explaining what the sole-source award to McLennan Ross, I think he said that they do have the taxation and corporate structuring expertise required in their corporate offices in the south and the expertise is not available in the Northwest Territories. Even if we concede that the expertise is not available in the Northwest Territories, there are other law firms who are partnered with southern affiliates who certainly could provide this corporate structure and taxation advice. There are other law firms who have staffed offices in Yellowknife and who could have been contacted urgently.
I cannot see why this would not have gone out to a competitive situation. I cannot image that this was required so urgently that a week or two weeks to go out for bids would have derailed the whole process, especially when I just do not see that there is any argument. The argument that these folks are the only folks that have access to this corporate knowledge somewhere in their organization I do not think holds water, Mr. Chairman. I think a lot of other law firms are partnered up or do have this expertise internally, even if it is located in the south. Could the Minister speak to that?
