Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to welcome constituent Ray Ruben, the Mayor of Paulatuk. Ray's sat on the Paulatuk Community Corporation, Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, and the Paulatuk Hunters and Trappers. I just want to welcome him here today. It's nice to have a constituent travel from your region to visit the Legislative Assembly during session. Also Charlie Furlong who's sitting up there with Mr. Ruben. Welcome to the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to welcome Mr. Clarence Wood, long-time councillor for the Town of Inuvik, also His Worship Mayor Heyck, as well as a couple other leaders who have paved the way for us, Mr. Charlie Furlong and Ray Ruben. I'd also like to welcome my cousin William Greenland joining us here again today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize Laura Boileau and William Greenland from A New Day. I'd also like to recognize Ernie Abel from the Tree of Peace. My good friend Annie Harry who I'm glad to have here. Then the NWT Association of Communities, Ms. Sara Brown, the Chief Executive Officer; Mayor Mark Heyck, the City of Yellowknife; Mayor Charles Furlong from Aklavik; Mayor Ray Ruben from Paulatuk; Mayor Craig McMaster from Enterprise; Councillor Donna Lee Jungkind from Hay River; and Councillor Clarence Wood from Inuvik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to welcome many of the people who've already been welcomed: the staff from A New Day program; the leaders of the NWT Association of Communities; and I saw Alex Lambrecht, the new President of the Northern Territories Federation of Labour. I think it's really important for us to have leaders here who we can collaborate with and who support us in the things that we're doing. Thank you.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Hay River North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also want to welcome the staff of A New Day, as well as everyone here from the NWTAC, including Deputy Mayor Constituent Donna Lee Jungkind, as well as Enterprise Mayor Craig McMaster. Welcome, we're happy to have you.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I'd like to recognize two pages from my riding in Kam Lake; Josh Saturos and Storm Robbiard. We really appreciate all the work they've been doing, along with the other pages here, who help make our lives a lot easier. I'd also like to recognize all the mayors and members of the NWT Association of Communities who are here working in partnership with us, and also the staff of A New Day program, Laura Boileau, William Greenland, and also Ernest Abel, Executive Director of the Tree of Peace. Keep up the good work and thank you all for joining us today.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to take this time to recognize facilitators of A New Day men's program; William Greenland, Roy Erasmus, and Laura Boileau. Also, William and Roy are residents of Yellowknife North, so I welcome them. I'd also like to take this time to welcome my former city council colleague and the mayor, His Worship Mayor Mark Heyck, as well as all the members of the NWTAC, but in particular president Charlie Furlong and Executive Director Sara Brown. Welcome everybody, and thank you for being here.

Masi. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone in the gallery, welcome to our proceedings, it's always great to have an audience. Masi.

Item 6, acknowledgments. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to acknowledge a well-known lady who is passionate and also a very strong leader that needs no introduction down the Mackenzie Valley. Mr. Speaker, this is a lady who does not stand to any obstacles and when she speaks, she is heard. She is an excellent role model to the youth community, education and the Mackenzie Valley strongly support her. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Sahtu Region, I would like to congratulate Cece Hodgson-McCauley who will be receiving the 2017 Indspire Award to be held in Ottawa on March 24, 2017. An award that recognizes the successes of people who have achieved significantly and made a high level of contributions. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Acknowledgements. Item 7, oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Today, I have two sets of questions. I'm going to start with the other set, which are questions for the Minister of Finance, and they're about sole-source contracting. These questions are important, Mr. Speaker, because they help us understand how this special set of contracts is managed, and it reassures the public that their money is being well-spent. So, first of all, could the Minister explain for the benefit of the general public, vendors, and the Members of the House, why increases to the threshold for sole-source contracts were approved and what value that brings to taxpayers? Mahsi.

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these were raised after some consultation, and we'd heard from the business community that because these hadn't been raised in 20 years, they thought it was time to raise them. The value that it brings to residents is that they will be able to then go out and secure some services right away without going going out for RFP, because that takes up a lot of time and money for $5,000. So this was made at the request of the business community and in consideration of the cost to administer small contracts. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister for that answer. In 2012, as the Minister is aware, the Auditor General of Canada released a status report on the 2009 audit on GNWT contracting for goods and services. They found that significant improvements had been made, but the errors were still found in 15 of 44 sample contracts. As a result, the Auditor General considered progress on contract administration to be unsatisfactory. Can the Minister tell us what improvements and quality assurance processes have been made since then?

Mr. Speaker, the procurement of shared services was established which improved the consistency of the approach, and the procurement of shared services ensures that all steps required for RFP or tender are followed. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister's commitment to quality reporting, which he made earlier in this sitting, on government contracts will help increase accountability, or course. In 2012, the Auditor General also found cases where departments had updated their own records but not the contract registry and reporting systems report that is tabled in the Legislative Assembly like the one we saw yesterday. What has the government done to ensure this registry and reporting system is reconciled with its internal departmental records?

In the future, all reporting will be linked to SAM, which is our financial management system. So departments won't be maintaining separate systems.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.