Item 8, returns to written questions. Mr. Clerk.

Item 8, returns to written questions. Item 9, replies to opening address. Item 10, petitions. Item 11, reports of standing and special committees. Item 12, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 13, tabling of documents. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Promoting Independence: NWT Housing Corporation 2002-2003 Annual Report. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 13, tabling of documents. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have three documents to table. I wish to table the following document entitled NWT Liquor Commission 49th Annual Report, 2002-2003.

Mr. Speaker, as well, by section 32.1(2) of the Financial Administration Act I wish to table the following document entitled List of Interactivity Transfers for the Period April 1, 2003, to March 15, 2004.

Mr. Speaker, further to my Return to Written Question 4-15(3) I wish to table the following document entitled Travel Expenditures by Department for the Fiscal Periods 1999-2000 to 2003-2004. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 13, tabling of documents. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have two documents to table. One is a press release from the Government of Yukon dated March 29th in which it outlines increases of 50 percent in child benefit allowances.

The second document, Mr. Speaker, from St. Christopher House, an advocacy house for social causes. The document is titled A Primer on the National Child Benefit Supplement Clawback for Advocates. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, April 2, 2004, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that the Government of the Northwest Territories use the spirit and intent of the business incentive policy to its fullest advantage in promoting and growing NWT-based businesses;

And further, that the government undertake to conduct a comprehensive cost and benefit analysis of the business incentive policy and table it in the House during the fall 2004 sitting of the Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will seek unanimous consent to deal with this motion today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 14, notices of motion. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, April 2, 2004, I will move the following motion: I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Hay River South, that the 15th Legislative Assembly is committed to working cooperatively in support of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline;

And further that this Legislative Assembly is committed to working cooperatively and endorses the efforts of the Premier and Executive Council to seek with the aboriginal governments and the Government of Canada the control of our natural resources and the sharing among northern governments of resource revenues arising from development;

And furthermore that this Legislative Assembly urges the Government of the Northwest Territories, in partnership

with aboriginal governments, to continue support for the development of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline;

And furthermore that the Government of the Northwest Territories seek to maximize the benefits and mitigate the adverse impacts to NWT residents and communities that will result from the development of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

Mr. Speaker, at the appropriate time I will seek unanimous consent to deal with this motion today.

Item 14, notices of motion. Item 15, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 16, motions. Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to deal with the motion I gave notice of earlier today.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to deal with his motion today. Are there any nays? No, there are not. You have unanimous consent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the intent of the business incentive policy, as stated by the Premier in a return to written question on March 25, 2004, is to support the development and growth of NWT businesses;

AND WHEREAS northern businesses support the NWT economy by purchasing local goods and services, providing jobs and training, and reinvesting their earnings;

AND WHEREAS, due to the higher costs of operating a business and developing new products in the NWT, northern businesses may need preference adjustments to compete successfully with southern firms for government contracts and tenders;

AND WHEREAS there are instances where the government has waived the business incentive policy;

NOW THEREFORE I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, that the Government of the Northwest Territories use the spirit and intent of the business incentive policy to its fullest advantage in promoting and growing NWT-based businesses;

AND FURTHER, that the government undertake to conduct a comprehensive cost and benefit analysis of the business incentive policy and table it in the House during the fall 2004 sitting of the Legislative Assembly.

----Applause

The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the business incentive policy is an issue that has been before us for quite some time now. An enormous amount of time was spent on this issue during the life of the last Assembly. We tried to deal with this business incentive policy in many different ways trying to make changes to it. It was obvious from the discussions that we had with the public and industry during the last government in proposing to change the business incentive policy, that industry was not consulted in the changes that they were proposing. For the most part, they didn't realize where the changes had come from and they were not to address the issues that the northern businesses had issues with.

The contract that has brought this motion forward now that we're talking about was 22 mobile homes, or 42, whichever way you want to look at it, Mr. Speaker, is before us and brought this issue to the forefront again. On this particular issue, in bringing this motion forward I want to speak for a moment on the fact that I am going to support the Minister going ahead with this contract based on the fact that there is a need in the communities. The Executive Council has put a decision forward to do this to meet the demands in communities, however, I would support it to the tune of these first 22 trailers, and I am going to watch very closely and fight for the government to make a decision and look at northern industry, whether it's through a pilot project or a contract of some kind with northern businesses, to be able to build these units in the future in the North and create an industry that can handle that.

I know, Mr. Speaker, that there are many concerns with the BIP. It has been said that the Government of the Northwest Territories doesn't get any value for its money by using the business incentive policy. However, Mr. Speaker, when we dealt with this policy before it was very obvious that the government cannot quantify whether they do get value for money with using the business incentive policy or not. There are many things that northern businesses do by using the business incentive policy that we have to take into consideration when we're trying to determine whether the government does get any value for this policy.

I also heard that companies abuse this policy. But, Mr. Speaker, we have to remember that the policy was put in place for businesses to be able to establish themselves in the North and build capacity in the North. Businesses that have been successful in doing that, Mr. Speaker, have established their business here, they have built capacity, they employ our people, they contribute to our economy and, Mr. Speaker, for some part they have created a competitive base here in the Northwest Territories that in a lot of cases and a lot of contracts that go out take the business incentive policy right out of the picture anyway because it's one northern firm bidding against another one. In those cases, it's very hard to qualify what savings if any or what extra costs the business incentive policy puts to programs and contracts that the government is putting out there.

One of the biggest problems that we heard the last time with the business incentive policy in the last government was the fact that the business incentive policy in its present form is not policed enough, and that's what leads to abuse of the policy. There was nothing in the last set of negotiations that even indicated that there was going to be an increase in the policy, other than creating your registry for the business incentive policy. I think that that is still a major problem with this policy, is the policing of it and making companies and government live up to the intent of the policy when it was first put in place.

So, Mr. Speaker, I bring this motion forward to draw attention of this issue to the government, and I think that

we have to. It's a policy of this government and I think that we have to show clear direction in this and leadership in following our own policy. I know the Minister has said that the policy or guidelines, but I think it goes further than that, Mr. Speaker. I think that we can't use it to our advantage when we want to, and justify that and turn around on another occasion and waive it just so that it suits our needs. What can we do with the policy? I think that the motion speaks to what we can do with this policy. I think that the Minister and the government should look at doing a comprehensive analysis of what this policy is, and I know that there must be lots of contracts out there that they do. Come back to this House and explain to the Members exactly what the costs are, and give us a good reason to either support or not support the policy.

But one of the biggest problems has been all along -- and industry has been asking for it -- is what are you basing your decisions on? Waiving the BIP or making changes to the BIP, what does it cost government, what benefits are we getting, and what is it costing us? I think in looking at that we have to look at a lot of issues, not just the price that companies are putting on bidding on a contract. I think they have to look at the northern content in that. How many jobs are we creating? How much money is staying in the North? I think that those are some of the very basic questions that the government has a responsibility to produce for Members to be able to make an informed decision.

So for my part in bringing this motion forward, I want to force the government or strongly encourage the government to take some action to get some concrete information on this business incentive policy so we, as Members and as a House, can decide on what we're going to do with this policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

----Applause

To the motion. Mr. Braden.