Thank you, Dr. Dragon. Do we have any other questions? Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Just in speaking with businesses from my constituency, I understand that sometimes a lot of contracts are, yes, awarded to northern businesses, but the employment doesn't necessarily stick behind. Do you guys have a breakdown of, even though 87 percent of contracts went to northern businesses, how much of the dollars or employment actually stayed in the North for that percentage? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think that would be one we would have to come back to you on. I doubt that we have those numbers handy, but we will commit to that. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. In addition, another thing I would be curious to know, and I understand that the Minister might not have this information handy, is, if contracts are being broken up and then passed on to companies down south that are then bringing up workers who are actually doing the work and gaining the employment, it would be interesting to know: can we as a government actually break that work up ourselves and do a bit more project management to be able to maintain the employment actually in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just one second, here. Definitely, that is the goal, obviously, to not have it just become again a sort of shell company that gets a cut and then just gives everything to the south. Obviously, this is part of our mandate and our priorities that we all came to together. So, we definitely will be incorporating those types of suggestions into our procurement review and our, what do you want to call it, when we start making the adjustments to the procurement system. I am not really getting my word right. Yes, we commit to incorporating that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The last piece that I want to be able to bridge in there is -- actually, I am going to save that question. I am good. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Are there questions on asset? Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi, Madam Chair. I am looking at page 228, specifically the Deh Cho Bridge Opportunities Grant. It states that the grant is for the purpose of creating community benefits and economic opportunities related to the Deh Cho Bridge. I know they get I think it's $200,000 on a yearly basis. I had asked the questions, I think, through emails previously.

I believe the agreement states that, in the eighth year, it can be up for renegotiating, or maybe to negotiate the parameters or the criteria. Right now, it's strictly for somebody who gets a business licence, and they are getting free funds, free money as a business, and it's continuing every year. The business doesn't even have to be successful. It doesn't even have to go out and get a contract.

That is what I noticed as a project officer. Those construction companies weren't even bidding on contracts that were in the community. It was going to people from La Crete. I just thought the CERB funding and all this funding where they just get it for free and no incentive to really go out and actually do some work and bid on contracts. My question is that the time surrounding this funding could be negotiated so that we can use the funding to create employment within the community, you know like make-work projects or else it can be used to build something, maybe upgrade the harbour or something like that?

Because I know right now you can't do much with that funding except those little criteria, you know. It does benefit the schools and the employment office and those kinds of people, but not a huge amount, and we never, ever get any reports on a yearly basis to see what is the tax we have and who is getting all of this money on a yearly basis, you know, those type of things. Because there are people who could be in conflict who actually handle this money, who are getting those grants, too. My question around that is: can it be opened? Since you are in the eighth year, can it be looked at to get away from specific criteria and be open for the wishes of the community? Mahsi

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is my understanding that that grant is fairly flexible and can be used for different items within the community, its cultural well-being, education and training, community economic development, a small portion going to administration. I will commit that we can give you an annual report. I think that is completely a fair and valid request, and so we definitely will do that.

Like a lot of the programming that we are talking about with the federal government or within our GNWT programs, we talked a lot around flexibility. You will see with the SEED funding under ITI that we did change some of the parameters around that funding. That is another thing that the federal government is doing around infrastructure, is removing some of the restrictions so that we have more flexibility to make those decisions for ourselves because we know where things need to be spent and done right now with COVID-19 and being able to bring in the lens of keeping people employed and working and businesses operating. So we have all of this. We are already having this discussion about flexibility with our different funding pots, so I would add this to our list. We will definitely look at it. I know there have been ongoing conversations with the Member regarding this grant, and I can commit to continuing to have those conversations with him and going forward together. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Deh Cho.

Mahsi for that. I know you have a set criteria for the funding because you did mention those other, the different criteria for the grants that people can use, but I have never, ever seen or heard anything in the community that any of that money given to those four areas created employment. That is why my question is: can we have this modified, the criteria changed, so it benefits the community so that they can maybe look at building something or getting a large infrastructure, maybe a community freezer, that type of stuff? Then it creates some employment in other areas, constructing a building or something like this, to keep people employed. I am wondering if you can, if you are open to that, could write a letter to the Deh Gah bridge corporation to initiate discussions leading up to any changes that we can see and if they can identify some opportunities and if you would be open to making some changes to some of the criteria. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It is my understanding there is no criteria. I am just wondering if it's perhaps an education piece, that we maybe need to be letting people know that they could kind of come together with a proposal that would have more of a significant build or such. I am almost wondering if this is perhaps a function of small businesses just accessing the pot on their own and nobody really thinking to get together to create a large proposal for accessing the funding. My understanding, there is no criteria or limits to what could be accessed; it's just a request, and then the funding goes to those businesses.

We definitely will commit to revisit, and maybe I don't have that right, so I do commit to revisiting that with you and having that conversation with you, then, so we can ensure that we use the money in a sort of more effective and efficient way, is I think what I am hearing you say, so that we come up with something big versus tiny little bits of companies advancing slightly. I think maybe that is an area where the department could do better outreach, then, and come in and say, "Hey, have you guys thought about using this pot? You guys want to build an arena in that location?" I do not know what Providence's immediate demands are, but maybe that is a conversation we should be saying: "You know, you have this money and this funding; why does not a company come together and bid on it?" Thank you. I commit to that, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Deh Cho.

Yes, thanks for all that. Just to let you know, it was like a secretive group, you know. I was asking questions of the corporation. I guess some members were getting upset because I was asking questions of it when I was working out of Hay River. I was asking, "Where is this? Who is on the board? When do you guys have meetings?" Apparently, what they do is they send emails to each other. Because I was asking questions, it turned a lot of them off, against me. I could not believe it. You know, asking questions and the administrator, she does the finances and stuff, and I asked questions of her, and she just refuses to answer anything whatsoever. We don't know that. Every time we are trying to ask something, we are being turned away. We are not being given straight-out answers or anything. I have asked the band councils and that if these boards are accountable to them and if they see reports, and they don't seem to want to do that. They don't want to hold anybody accountable for anything.

Regarding the reports, I am not sure if you legally can share it with me, but, if you can and it's okay, then I would like to see a report. Mahsi.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that you've raised the point of the fact that perhaps there are things we actually cannot tell you from an agreement, but definitely, everything that we can tell, I would like to provide that to you so you have comfort that the money is going out in a good manner. If it's not, that will tell us that we need to make some corrections there. So I definitely commit to reporting on whatever we can that is not in violation of any sort of accounting or agreements, but I would have to look into that, and I commit to looking into it, for myself. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Are you good? Okay. Questions. Member for Monfwi.