Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, there weren't going to be some impacts, especially when we decided to make the decision to go to a centralized system. Now, we do have a lot of IT services which are done internally by our department. We have regional staff in the field. More importantly, Mr. Speaker, we still continue to use the private sector when it comes to purchasing hardware, software, computers and looking at upgrades. So, Mr. Speaker, like I mentioned earlier, we do spend roughly about $1 million a year working with the private sector through our contracting procedures to ensure that we have a competitive process. So we do allow for that to happen. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, the money the Minister references is spent I would think almost exclusively in Yellowknife. This is an issue that affects smaller communities, businesses in smaller communities. The Minister does not know if there was an impact. The businesses are telling us there was a significant impact. I am asking him if he would take the time to take the steps to check through his department and the businesses if there was an impact, what it was and are there possible remedies? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker, yes, I will take it back to the department to see exactly what impacts there were. I admit there were impacts in regards to how this process goes, but to ensure that the million dollars that we are expending that everyone has a fair opportunity to either bid on the process but also have a competitive process so everyone is able to abide by that, so I will commit to that to the Member.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Minister for that commitment. Now I would like to ask him if he could put some timelines on it for me so I could have a sense of what I can tell my constituents that this is being looked at by the government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will take a little time to compile the information and also talk to different service departments and departments we are dealing with. Again, I will possibly make an attempt at getting back to the Member, say, as early as April.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one question I have is for the Department of Transportation to the Minister. The recent reports of the NWT oil and gas exploration program target Little Chicago out of Fort Good Hope. I want to ask the Minister if he is working with the people in the Gahcho Kue Dene area in terms of the winter road and the types of services that are going to possibly improve by having this oil company come into our region and look at some of the oil exploration find that they may have them in our area. Will the community of Fort Good Hope or Norman Wells see road improvements between those two communities because of the recent announcement by the Kodiak Energy Company? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, that is a good news story for the Sahtu region; continued investment into their region. I am not too sure about their actual plans, but if they do use our roads, our agreement is that they do contribute and help maintain and upgrade those roads for easier transportation of their equipment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Time for oral questions has expired; however, I will allow the Member a supplementary question. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the roads will be used from Norman Wells to Fort Good Hope then further on north to Little Chicago where there are potential billions of oil and gas. Again, I will ask the Minister if he would look at this policy to see if there is a specific policy that would ensure that his department, along with industry, meets with the community members to ensure that future development such as oil and exploration companies coming into our region, that these community meetings happen to ensure the safety of our roads are kept up? Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, opportunities like this are always of great interest to us. We do make contact with communities and industry that is operating and using our infrastructure and do enter into discussions with them to assess the maintenance and upkeep. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Minister, in making contact, I hope that he means by coming in, sitting across face to face with our leaders, with contractors, with the oil companies and having a discussion of some of the roads that could be improved. I certainly again applaud the Minister, Mr. Speaker, for creating some bypasses that have now diverted some of the bigger traffic around communities. So this is what I ask for in terms of a consultation. Would the Minister do a face-to-face consultation with our people? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and great improvements to our winter road structures. We have always entered into discussions with the communities. I would be pleased to travel to the Member's riding to discuss further priorities that they may have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Written questions. Returns to written questions. Petitions. Reports of committees on the review of bills. Tabling of documents. Notices of motion. Notices of motion for first reading of bills. Second reading of bills.

Before I go to the next item on the Order Paper, I would just like to take this opportunity to thank our Pages. I know a couple of them have to leave a little early today, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the Pages that have been working for us all week. They are from William McDonald School and Sir John Franklin School. I would also like to recognize two Pages from my own riding, Ben Squirrel and Justin Boutilier.

---Applause

Thank you very much for the work you have been doing for us. I know all Members appreciate your efforts in the House. I hope you enjoyed your experience. Thanks.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bills 18, 19, 21, Committee Reports 7, 8, 9 and 10, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.

Thank you. I would like to call Committee of the Whole to order. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We hope that committee will be able to conclude the Department of Transportation today and get into our consideration of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment under Bill 21, the Appropriation Act, Madam Chair.