Masi. Item 7, Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. In June of this year, the Minister committed to share the 2015-16 GNWT report on contracts over $5,000. That fiscal year end, of course, is now six months ago, and still no report has been released to my knowledge. Will the Minister commit to table this report in this House in the coming days and have it posted to the government website? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my understanding is the latest version of the "Contracts Over $5,000," I believe is the document the Member is referring to, will be tabled during this Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I have to make a correction. I said "during this Assembly." I actually meant during this sitting of the 18th Legislative Assembly, so we will ensure we have that tabled. The Member's second question there, I will commit to having a review of this. The Member is correct, sole-course contract limits raising, I think it would be an ideal time for us to have a look at how we provide oversight to these contracts, so I will commit to that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I'm tempted to ask for even bigger and better things since I've got the Minister mostly saying yes.

--- Laughter

Could you reverse the 100… no? okay.

--- Laughter

I wonder if the Minister could give me even some preliminary thoughts about what this review might look like, who would do it, when it would be done and so on and so forth? Thank you.

No.

--- Laughter

No, I can't provide any preliminary estimates or thoughts on that, but I have committed to the Member that I will have a review of this and then we'll share the findings with the Members.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Finance Minister for that. One of the points in my statement was that some people seem to benefit disproportionately from sole-source contracting. I mentioned deputy ministers and consultants who had multiple contracts among them for quite a steep value. I wonder if the Minister would consider, as part of his review, looking at whether there need to be some limits on the number of contracts awarded to a single individual or, alternatively, a total value of contracts awarded to a single individual? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Well, Mr. Speaker, the contracts, I'm sure, are awarded to people that provide a skill set and some value to the workings of the government. I'm not sure that it's fair to any individual if we put on a limit as to how many contracts they can get or what the amount is, but I have committed to the Member that I will review that. Again, I just need to stress that we -- obviously these folks that do get sole-source contracts, provide a service and a skill set that would provide some value for the GNWT.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about a traditional economy and my questions today are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. In small and remote communities there's a heavy reliance in terms of traditional foods where people have to supplement their diets and their income by taking on traditional economy and so it becomes a very critical and integral part of the community's economy. How is this government investing in the promotion and protection of traditional lifestyles? Mahsi.

Masi. Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this individual and this government believes very strongly in the traditional value of the people of the Northwest Territories, especially those in the communities that still practice their traditional hunting. Through ENR and through some of the other departments there are a number of programs and I think there's even some resources put to those programs to assist those communities. Take a Kid Trapping is a perfect example, I think that's run out of multiple departments, there's some money there. There is the Grub Stake Program; I think that's provided through ITI.

So as far as dollar value -- and actually that's a good question because I would like to put together a dollar value of all the assistance that we provide to the communities. I think we'll all be pleasantly surprised at the amount of resources we put into the communities to practice their traditional lifestyle. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'd like to thank the Minister for his reply. In the past, the Protected Area Strategy outlined a seven step process in terms of bringing governments and communities to work on conservation area networks. Can the Minister explain how the conservation area network will improve upon the PAS initiative?

Mr. Speaker, I am getting weekly updates from the department. I mean, I've been in the portfolio for 36 days, four hours and 22 minutes. Not realizing what a huge department ENR is and how much it covers. So some of the information, as I get more educated on it, I'll be in a better position to respond to the Member's question.

The other question that I had is how does this department coordinate its work with other departments to ensure that habitat is protected? We have a series of conservation area network initiatives that are pending or being developed or advanced. Would the Minister explain in terms of its coordination with other departments in terms of ensuring that habitat is protected?

Mr. Speaker, we can work closely with the other departments. We recognize that there's some areas around the NWT that are being conserved or that people wish to have conserved, so we're working closely with the other departments. One of the first things as Minister of ENR I've asked our officials to work a lot closer with the other departments so that we're all on the same page because this is a very important issue to residents in the Northwest Territories, so we'll continue to do that work, and then through the committee of Cabinet on the economy and environment we also have those discussions. So again, as I become more familiar with the file I will be in a better position to share a lot of that information with Members. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank the Minister for his reply. In the outset, the Minister had indicated that he would be interested in developing at least a summary in terms of the investment of this government in terms of assistance to small communities and their traditional economy. Would the Minister commit to ensuring that report is tabled within the House at a given time and made available to this side of the House? Mahsi.