Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize my constituency assistant, Mr. Taylor Pagotto, who is in the gallery with us today. I couldn't let -- I share him with the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh, and he mentioned him in his opening statement so I couldn't be remiss not to recognize him for the amazing work he does for the Range Lake riding to help all the constituents out there. Thank you so much, Taylor. You work very hard every day, and we're very lucky to have you. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Range Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too want to recognize Taylor Pagotto who I share as a CA with the Member from Range Lake. Also, I just want to say that our CAs that we use in this House, they do a lot of work behind the scenes, the research, and especially taking calls on the weekends and nights from my members in my riding. So I just want to recognize Taylor Pagotto and Warren Delorme. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too want to take this opportunity to share my recognition of the staff in this House - the interpreters, the pages that have come and gone, and my colleagues here for the Christmas holidays that are coming up, and have a safe season until we meet again here February the 5th, and special congratulations to retirement to Cynthia. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Colleagues, recognition of visitors in the gallery are for people here in the gallery. Please remember this moving forward. Thank you.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just want to recognize -- we got lots of pages in the house today from the Frame Lake riding. I recognized her earlier this week but wanted to recognize and thank again Lucy Mackay. We've got Emereigh Moffatt returning, so thank you to her for her service. And also Tika Ristau. So thank you to all three of our Frame Lake pages this week. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Frame Lake. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Yellowknife Centre.

Mr. Speaker, it could never be said enough that our interpreters and translators do an important job, and sometimes I don't know how they keep up with us when we get going but acknowledging one particular translator, Ms. Sarah Cleary, she's a constituent and she's a translator extraordinaire, grateful for her services and her kind friendship. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife Centre. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Hay River South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to recognize Elise Scott, chief governance officer with WSCC.

Thank you, Member from Hay River South. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Member from Yellowknife South.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize a resident of Yellowknife South, also a fellow hockey parent, fellow soccer parent Nicole Sok here today. Thank you.

Thank you, Member from Yellowknife South. Recognition of visitors in the gallery.

Colleagues, if we've missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to your chamber. I hope you are enjoying the proceedings. It is always nice to see people in the gallery.

Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Northwest Territories businesses expect the government to fulfill its commitment to maximize benefits of spending of public dollars in the North for the North. This is why we have the business incentive policy, Mr. Speaker. The Stanton audit states that we cannot prove that the single biggest project in the history of this time achieved this goal.

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of ITI. How do we assure northern businesses that the BIP is being used? Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Boot Lake. Minister of Industry, Tourism, and Investment.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, a few things, businesses have to meet the eligibility requirements of BIP and then those businesses, of course, are audited on a biannual basis. And then also we have our vendor performance management policy as well as the -- which was put out in 2023. And then in 2024, the guidelines were put out so that both the staff of the GNWT would understand what is expected and required, and staff do undergo training. And then in future we will be putting out training for contractors as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister. And, yes, I was aware in 2023 certainly the BIP had had some changes. I attended the workshop in Inuvik when they implemented -- they were talking about implementing goes. So I guess my question is who was watching? And previously, Mr. Speaker, people would fill out the BIP application but how are we now, I guess, being a little more robust in monitoring that and ensuring that those businesses that fill out that form are actually following through on the commitments they make to northern businesses in that form. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, the change that was made was specific to start off for construction contracts over $250,000. And so those contracts, they're really what we are focusing on to start with the vendor performance management policy to ensure that those contractors are meeting their BIP requirements. All of the contracts that are put out by the government then undergo review, along with the contractors, and there are penalties that are applied to contracts where BIP is not followed within that financial bracket. And I'd be more than happy to answer any other questions about enforcement of BIP certification for the Member as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And in the past, there has been issues where the following up has kind of taken place halfway through the contract where it puts us in a position oftentimes not to be able to make a change because of the cost associated with that. I guess, can the Minister maybe speak a little more on the penalties and on monitoring these contractors early on in the contract versus previous years it's been a little later in the project. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, well the contractor is the one that is making a commitment off the hop on a commitment they are making through a contract and through a bidding process to the government. So they would, I would hope, would know what commitments they're making in their own tendering process right from the hop. That being said, one of the things that we will be implementing coming up here is training for contractors so that they understand the expectation of all contracts, they understand how businesses are registered and comply with BIP, that they understand what penalties will be applied to them. So if BIP commitments are not achieved and -- so sorry, the payment adjustment applies only if BIP commitments are not achieved and is equal to 15 percent of the amount by which a contractor failed to meet their commitment for NWT content and 20 percent of the amount by which the contractor failed to meet its commitments for local content. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister of ITI. Final supplementary. Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you for that. I'm glad to hear that. Again, my only concern, and my question would be, that it's great that we have penalties in there but if no one is watching, what's the incentive for a company to follow through? So my concern is, again, that not only are we saying it but that we're doing it and that we're following up early on in the contract to ensure that these businesses that say they're going to use local businesses but, maybe for cost saving measures, get halfway through the contract and say I'm going to flip that and buy that product in the south instead. Are we watching that early on in the contract?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this essentially is the point of this policy and this program is, first of all, penalizing financially the companies that aren't adhering to BIP and then at a certain point if companies are being nonresponsive, then they are going to end up with consequences and especially in a place where government contracting is so important to contractors, you know, as the -- my other hat, the MLA for Kam Lake, very much understand that government contracting is very important. If government's not putting out contracts, you better believe that I hear about it. So making sure that we are ensuring that there is benefit to Northerners, it helps everybody, and that is really what we are trying to do with this policy. Thank you.