Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, one of the areas you hear a lot of concerns about from the local contractors is that they’re building to take advantage of Housing Corporation contracts because the way that they design those contracts in which they don’t have the capacity to either bid or bond some of these contracts, especially the contracts which are basically supply, ship and

erect. I think that a lot of them feel more comfortable dealing with the labour only aspect of contracts where the Housing Corporation provides the material, brings it into our communities and they construct them. That makes more economic sense and also it’s an easier fix for a lot of the smaller contractors who are just starting out and they can’t compete against the big boys. A lot of the other bigger contracts who do have a side business in regard to hardware supplies and whatnot, they have an advantage over these smaller contractors because they have the business. I think that the way these contracts are being struck, it very much undermines the capacity building of ourselves as government and what they’re trying to do to provide economic opportunities for our communities and develop that capacity in our communities so that they can stay there.

I think it’s also important that at one time you were able to go to the local housing authority and they have their housing materials warehouse and, basically, there was the ability for you to go there. Because if you don’t have a hardware store in the community you either have to go to the regional centres or, in most cases, Yellowknife or Whitehorse. I think that used to be the practice. I’m not too sure on the status of it these days in regard to individuals who may have a furnace problem, in regard to requiring a part that may be at the local housing authority and because it’s an emergency, it’s the middle of winter, you want to be able to get the problem solved as soon as you can. It is an emergency, but if the Housing Corporation can assist by having the part on hand, in the local warehouse for the housing authority, that they’re able to solve the problem and then the person pays back or replaces that item in regard to some sort of a billing process.

I’d just like to know on those two matters exactly where is the government on those two issues and what are we doing to ensure procurement for communities.