Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise in the House to talk about a couple of infrastructure projects on Highway No. 1 and locations on Highways No. 3, 5, 6, and the Hay River Reserve access road this year. Unfortunately, the tenders were awarded to two southern companies. It was my understanding the bid difference was less than a million dollars, so we are seeing approximately $17.5 million leaving the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure how many northern and local contractors are being used on this work, but I know I have witnessed a lot of BC and Alberta plates on equipment as I have driven by. It is my understanding that the old way we implemented the business incentive policy was to use the full amount of the contracts. However, the new way only allows contractors to use a few million dollars of the whole contract.

Mr. Speaker, it is frustrating for Northern contractors, because the GNWT are making contracts larger, and BIP does not help keep the work in the North.

Companies from BC and Alberta have no ties in the North, and with contracts being awarded, the majority of the money is going south, with no benefit to NWT besides the project itself. These are unfair practices and have a huge impact on northern contractors. I have heard some talk that it would be beneficial to leave the territories and become absentee contractors so they are not subject to the high cost of living in working in the North.

Without northern companies hiring northern people, the tax base of the Northwest Territories will continue to shrink. Without the tax base, many of the projects the NWT would like to complete would no longer be done without the assistance of the federal government. The BIP in its current format does not work for large contracts. An example method that does work is, when an out-of-province contractor bids on projects in BC, they are subject to extreme penalty costs from the BC government. This penalty protects BC contracts, and ensures the contract awarded stays in BC.

The government should either make the contracts smaller, so they are less attractive to out-of-province companies, or reinstate the BIP back to the original format and intent. The original intent was to ensure money spent in the North stays in the North. This is the only way to ensure that the NWT grows both in local services and population.

We know we are dependent on federal funding, and every person has a value. Every person we lose has an impact on us. I will have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure later on today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.