Thank you. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So if -- whether the Metis or the Dene in Fort Resolution wanted to bid on work on projects, then what you're saying then is that essentially the Town of Hay River would deal with its own contractors and the reserve and that kind of thing. And I understand that. At the same time, like, how does one get involved in the bidding process if there's already -- you know, we're talking about the GNWT tax dollars that are there and, you know, everybody should have an opportunity to bid on that. So, again, the community do need work. We do -- the communities do matter. So I just want to mention that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Minister of MACA.

For that detail, I'll turn to the deputy minister. Thank you.

Thank you. Deputy minister Gareau.

Thank you. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. So I think that would be great if that could happen. How does one from Fort Resolution -- we have the -- the band had their own equipment. We have the Metis that have their own equipment and other small little contractors that have their own gravel trucks and those kind of things. So when does the standing offer agreement come out to tender again? Because now we hear the communities could also build capacity by partnering up with other contractors as well. So I just want to -- that would be the question.

The other one is can -- is this information being -- is that public information as to who is all involved in the sole source contract and the standing offer agreement? Mahsi.

Thank you. Minister of MACA.

Thank you. So the first part, reach out to the Department of Finance. The second part, yes, it's all public. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Are there any further questions to the directorate? Seeing none, please turn to page 344, Municipal and Community Affairs, directorate, operations expenditure summary, 2023-2024 Main Estimates, $66,463,000; does committee agree?

Thank you. Committee will now turn to page 348, public safety, with information items on page 349 and 350. Questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My first is in regards to the Office of the Fire Marshal. I believe that there is a bit of a willingness to give the code compliance engineer, of which there was one to do all plan reviews, a bit of a contracting budget so that when either they go on vacation or there's a bit of seasonality to the work too in that the GNWT tends to submit all of its code reviews at the one time because of the fiscal cycle. So they get pretty business and get backlogged, which has caused some frustration.

I guess my question is, have we secured the services so that the chief code compliance engineer could have a little fallback of some sort of contractor when needed. Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of MACA.

Not used to doing this to the Member, but yes.

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm very happy to hear that. I'm just looking at the line item here, and I note there is no change in budget. So could the Minister perhaps just speak to -- the OFM is a pretty small shop. Is that to be funded internally from MACA; is that found in some other contract services budget; or will we see a sup coming forward? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister of MACA.

No, it's internal. We take it from -- as an as and when. So we try to find the money within because, you know, the contract services we have to cut and so we find money within. Thank you.

Thank you. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can the Minister just tell me who we've hired for that contract? Do we actually have a contractor in place, or are we just planning to go out and get a contractor? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

We'll have to get back to the Member. Thank you.