Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the passing of my great friend and mentor Ruth Spence. Mrs. Spence was a force to be reckoned with from the time she arrived in Yellowknife. She was the first Executive Director of the YWCA in Yellowknife. She built the Y from a 12-bed home for single women to the 84 apartments at Northern United Place. Mrs. Spence served several terms on the Yellowknife City Council, was chair of the Stanton Territorial Hospital, and the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority. She was honoured with one of the first Orders of the NWT last year. She lived the famous saying of another great Canadian woman, Agnes MacPhail: "Never apologize, never explain, just get the thing done and let them howl."

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I'll go to the bottom line, and this is what it is: the GNWT is helping to perpetuate the poverty trap. They are not allowing families to experience the full benefit of the new federal anti-poverty initiative. Shame, Mr. Speaker, shame for trying to save money on the backs of the most vulnerable residents of this Territory. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today is an important day. It is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, as declared by the United Nations and marked each year on this date since 1987.

I believe all of us understand that poverty is a problem here in the Northwest Territories, as it is in much of the world. According to 2014's CRA tax filer data, 17 per cent of families and 22 per cent of children live in poverty in communities across the NWT.

In March, the federal government announced it would help families with income under $80,000 a year with the cost of raising their children. The Canada Child Tax Benefit came into effect on July 1st this year. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment celebrated this new benefit by announcing that, starting in August, the GNWT would not count this new benefit as income "to ensure our residents have the full benefit." This sounded like good news and a much-needed lift for people caught in the never-ending cycle of making ends meet.

Alas, the expression "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" applies in this situation. Let's take a single parent with one child, receiving income assistance and living in Yellowknife. Since August 1st, she is receiving an additional $450 from the federal government. At the same time the federal government was giving, the territorial government was taking away. Her food allowance from income assistance decreased by $137 a month and clothing by $31 a month. So instead of getting the full benefit of the new $450 Canada Child Tax Benefit, she is getting just $282. No matter the size of the family or where in the Territory they live, the amount of income assistance they receive for food and clothing has decreased.

The Minister has been clever about making these changes. It's hard to describe them as clawback, because he's not clawing back either the Canada or NWT child benefits. In fact, he's not counting them as income anymore. But at the same time, he has reduced the benefits available to families who rely on income assistance for food and clothing. It's not a clawback; it's a reduction. Because the federal government has increased the Child Tax Benefit, families have a little more income than they used to have. Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek permission from my colleagues to conclude my statement. Mahsi.

---Unanimous consent granted

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the Finance Minister for that. One of the points in my statement was that some people seem to benefit disproportionately from sole-source contracting. I mentioned deputy ministers and consultants who had multiple contracts among them for quite a steep value. I wonder if the Minister would consider, as part of his review, looking at whether there need to be some limits on the number of contracts awarded to a single individual or, alternatively, a total value of contracts awarded to a single individual? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I wonder if the Minister could give me even some preliminary thoughts about what this review might look like, who would do it, when it would be done and so on and so forth? Thank you.

Could you reverse the 100… no? okay.

--- Laughter

Mr. Speaker, I'm tempted to ask for even bigger and better things since I've got the Minister mostly saying yes.

--- Laughter

I welcome the Finance Minister following through with that and putting accountability into action within the next few days. I made reference in my statement to the last evaluation of contracting practices released in 2009 by the Auditor General of Canada, who, of course, is our Auditor General, as well. It found flaws in the awarding of one in five sole-source contracts. With new contracting limits and dramatic upstream in the sole-source contract value, the potential for error and loss is there. Will the Minister commit to carrying out an evaluation of sole-source contract awarding practice and performance for this fiscal year? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance. In June of this year, the Minister committed to share the 2015-16 GNWT report on contracts over $5,000. That fiscal year end, of course, is now six months ago, and still no report has been released to my knowledge. Will the Minister commit to table this report in this House in the coming days and have it posted to the government website? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.