Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the present policy is not working. As a government, we realize there are problems with regard to how it is being handled and managed, and yet, Mr. Speaker, we hear from the Minister basically saying "We will continue to give you statistics." I would like to ask the Minister, exactly what are we going to ensuring the policy is working in regard to how it was supposedly implemented to ensure that indigenous women in this government have a fair opportunity to enhance this government? What are we doing to change that?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, we do regularly give our staff in the regions and headquarters and so on, updates on what the expectations are on hiring practices, so if...I take the Member's suggestion that we have to be more thorough on that and we are prepared to do that to make sure the system works.

I will talk with my staff to make sure that we are following up, not just on having the right policies, but making sure that the right policies are being implemented.

I think in the regions, the practices may vary somewhat, depending on people's experience, people's interpretations, and we have to be continually updating what we are doing and updating our training and professional development for staff in this area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask a question to the Minister of RWED regarding the sole-source contract that has been discussed on several occasions in this House. It is not something I made comment on earlier. I do not have any companies in my riding that can handle a water bomber contract. However, I have listened to the Minister indicate and tell us that there is no one else in the North who can handle a water bomber contract. In all likelihood, if a contract went out to public tender, that it would go to probably a joint venture with an outfit from the south.

I would like to know, because I have been receiving correspondence from different companies in the North that indicate that they can handle it. I would like to know if he could tell me, was there an evaluation or an assessment done that allowed them to come to this conclusion that there is nobody else in the Northwest Territories that can handle it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not know if I heard the Minister indicate to me that there was an analysis of what companies in the North had the capacity to bid on the water bomber contract. I do not believe you can just do a phone call kind of survey. Nobody is going to have a water bomber sitting on their tarmac waiting for a contract. However, if the contract was available in the form of public tender, I am sure they would have got it.

I would like to ask the Minister if he could tell me then if Buffalo Airways had water bombers when they bid on the contract seven years ago, or did they buy them after the fact?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I would have expected the Minister to have those answers before he decided to go to a sole-source contract. He should know the history of how the contracts were awarded initially and he should know what was done to make sure that everybody was on a fair playing field.

I would like to know if this Minister could tell us how he could justify that we have to contract or tender out the smallest of aircraft contracts, even down to $1,000 but yet we can sole source a $30 million contract? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have heard in the media that this government may be facing some fiscal difficulties in the coming months. The Minister has been quoted as saying that our deficit picture is not looking so well. However, I do not think that we have heard anything formal in this House in that regard. Could the Minister indicate when we might be able to hear that in this House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. For the benefit of the Chair, would you please indicate who you are directing this too?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question on the fiscal picture of the government was directed to the Minister of Finance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I did give AOC an update on our fiscal situation. I also offered to do some further explanation and description of what steps we would be taking to take it to AOC first before we make a statement in the House. I have had some discussions with the chair on that one, so as soon as we do that I will bring it here if the committee agrees. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for the Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to go back to a statement I made the other day regarding ammonium nitrate. In my statement I indicated that I was quite pleased to see that this matter was being resolved and a lot of the stakeholders had come together in order to make this happen.

Throughout this whole process the community has indicated to me that some of the government personnel have identified the potential economic opportunity. So I would like to ask the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development if he could tell me, through all his programs, through all the programs available to the residents of the Northwest Territories if there is an avenue to have Members of his staff work with the community to develop the opportunities that are identified? Thank you.