Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, we are committed to the use of multi-year contracts. I well know the aggravation and concerns that the Member has outlined that NGOs go through and the amount of time they spend year after year doing yearly contribution proposals and such. The Member has indicated that they would be monitoring us closely come September. We have made those commitments to committee and we will follow through on those.
I would also just like to touch base briefly on the issue of forced growth. This is a government-wide concern because there are services provided across government by NGOs, and the issue of adequately compensating them or recognizing that they have the same pressures we do is an issue that we are looking at. The Government of the Northwest Territories is putting out a third-party accountability framework which speaks to that in general terms at this point. Very clearly, there is a fundamental principle that we look at, and that is if the NGO was not providing the service, would we, as a government, step in and provide the service. That's a fundamental principle and criteria that's looked at. In some of our NGOs, we do have forced growth built in, but clearly it's not a comprehensive approach yet. It's one that we want to address within the Department of Health and Social Services, for sure. I know government-wide, it's an issue we are trying to get a frame around because of its implications.