Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Creating Our Future Together: In Search of a Common Vision for the Northwest Territories, Results Report and Appendix. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The departments that request a negotiated contract and those contracts that are agreed to, there is a reporting process by the departments back to Cabinet. So there is a report that’s required.

The issue of negotiated contracts is one that does come up right across the Northwest Territories. The challenge we have is when there are competing interests and when there is capacity to be able to bid the work. My understanding is there’s some work coming up, there’s opportunity and there’s some work in progress on a couple of potential negotiated contracts during the life of this government, if not already been dealt with. For example, the demolition of one of the schools is one of those areas, so some success in that area. But we will look at the Negotiated Contracts Policy, its application in the Sahtu area. Again, the difficulty becomes where you have more than one Aboriginal company trying to bid on the work. One of the other areas that we use is when we know that the end result, a public tender, for example, will not achieve a better result is another area that is looked at from time to time. We look at all of those areas in making a decision of Cabinet.

I guess the overall target of the Government of the Northwest Territories, as raised in this House a number of times, is to try to build capacity in the industry in the Northwest Territories amongst our businesspeople, whether Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal, birthright corporations and so on. We’ve done that and we use a number of tools. Negotiated contracts is one of those.

Some of the difficulty we have is when in the same community or region there is, in a sense, a competition. When you have two Aboriginal companies requesting negotiated contracts it becomes problematic. We use the tools available to us and tendering in the region is one of those that can be used. In a sense, when you just look at the overall percentage that we’ve achieved, at 84 percent shows that many of the companies in the Sahtu are quite able to compete and be successful in that environment. The Negotiated Contracts

Policy itself, my understanding is through the regional office there has been workshops held in the past on that and we’ll look to see when it was last done and if that could be seen again.

Part of the other issue is I know Minister Bob McLeod through his shop and on the MOU has been working with the Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated to look at finalizing the work around the MOU as one of the tools as well.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Negotiated Contracts Policy is one that we do use throughout the Northwest Territories, as the Member highlighted. We have a number of other tools that we use, as well, and it was referenced in this House about the memorandums of understanding with a number of the Aboriginal groups around contracting, and negotiated contracts falls in that to help meet some of those targets. Some of the work that we need to do in those areas and in reference to the Sahtu is to get a better understanding of the businesses that would qualify.

I must say that, for example in the Department of Public Works and Services, just in the Sahtu in 2010-2011 to date, 84 percent of those contracts, the value of those contracts, have gone to Sahtu-based contractors.

Again, in our many communications -- and we have quite a number of letters that have gone back to committee -- this has been raised. This has been committed to look at through the Financial Administration Act. I think that question is mute. We have in fact been looking towards dealing with this subject matter.

Thank you. As I believe I said, but I will confirm, that in fact when we responded to the standing committee it was a request to Executive to do an overview of this process on the Deh Cho Bridge Project and that was provided to committee and we’ll send it again. In there it referenced the fact that the Financial Administration Act was under review to look at these types of issues as future governments would look towards these types of projects or indemnifications.

Thank you. Again, there is no requirement through indemnities for providing Members that. The Members are getting hooked up on... I believe there’s a requirement over the $500,000 figure, 14 days’ notice that’s honoured. In the requirement for indemnities, that process has been followed. There wasn’t a change in regulation to make it, so that process was excluded. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The indemnification that occurred is a normal part of business and part of that is the requirement to notify Members 14 days in advance, I think is the crux of the matter here, but that is a normal part of the process. There wasn’t an extra decision to not provide that. So it was just a part of normal process and through our many briefings to committee, Members were aware that this indemnification occurred. Thank you.