Thank you, Mr. Brennan. I'll move on to Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I'm just looking at contract services under the expenditure category of regional operations. I'm wondering if the Minister can give us an idea of what type of contracts would come out of this for a main estimate type budget for regional operations? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The contract services include things like leases and maintenance for the long-term care facility, Highway No. 8 maintenance, the seasoned project officer transfer that was already referred to. The Wek'eezhii land use planning office, the Norman Wells Health Centre maintenance. Highway No. 8 maintenance, we've seen some decreases there. We've seen a decrease in the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway operations and maintenance as well as a decrease in marine maintenance. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Just looking at this line item and the substantial value of $66 million, I'm wondering how much of that ends up going to northern companies and staying in the North when we're hiring people to either do that maintenance or we're paying companies for office leases and such. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have that percentage in front of me. I will check with my team to see if they do have that. Dr. Dragon does indicate he does. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Dr. Dragon.

Thank you, Dr. Dragon. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you very much. I think I'm crossing over to my same line of questioning as last time now, so I'm going to be careful. We talked last time about whether 87 percent went to northern companies, but did 87 percent actually end up staying in the North and benefiting northern workers? I just want to reiterate that that's my concern with that one. The definition of a northern company is a concern. Also, what is actually the benefit retention to the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. As we all stated, this is a priority to have this become a more meaningful use of our procurement dollars to retain them in the North, so that is part of the focus and what I have directed the department to do. We are going to be coming back to the AOC with a procurement presentation and the conversation around the plans going forward for input on how we can do procurement better. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to start off with the ferries. Most of the ferries are up there in age, and I know that we're spending money to keep them up to standards. I'm just wondering if the department is looking at, just on a cost basis, if it's worth to continue doing repairs and trying to keep them up to standard for Transport Canada, or are we going to be looking at possibly building new ones for the ferry system? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. As any department would have, we do have a preventative maintenance program, an asset program, where we would be looking at items like the ferries and others to determine if they are near the end of their useful life, and whether or not replacement would make sense than continuing to retrofit. Currently, we're going to be applying for funding under our low carbon energy efficiency fund. I think I've got that right, but the LCEF, and we'll be looking for our money there to work on our ferries and potentially purchase new ones. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to move over here to marine operations, which I'm not sure if MTS is part of that. Anyways, what I'd like to comment on here is: in Hay River, a good portion of the operation is there. The facility is there, and ships are there. One of the problems we run into is the access out of the harbour. I'm wondering if there is any consideration given by the department to take a look at possibly dredging that harbour to reduce any cost associated with damage to the vessels because I know that this spring, I think MTS set one, there's one boat that start sailing out of the harbour. I wasn't sure if the department was trying to save money because it was unmanned, but they were able to bring it back. If it wasn't for the sandbars out there, it might have gone out a little further. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. That does not include MTS. It's its own revolving fund, so that is the ferries. We do have an application in under the Oceans Protection Plan to dredge the harbour, so we're waiting for a word back from the federal government if we were successful in that funding. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.