Robert C. McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled "Northwest Territories Liquor Licensing Board 62nd Annual Report 20152016" and the "Northwest Territories Liquor Commission 62nd Annual Report 20152016." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, well, communication plan is obviously very important, and, if there were folks out there that are interested in this particular type of training, as I said before in response to the questions from the Member from Tu NedheWiilideh, that, you know, if they approach the department, I'm sure that we can work with them to see if they fit into any of the programs that we offer; and, as far as anything else besides communication, our conversation right now is also a good way of getting the message out there; and, hopefully those that have an interest in the public service are listening...

Mr. Speaker, I totally agree. I totally agree that spending by the government in slow economic times is positive for the growth for the Northwest Territories, but I'm also a realist and I realize that we need to have the money to spend to stimulate the economy, and that's one of the reasons that I stand up here and take the flack I take for trying to make the decisions we make on reducing some of our spending so we can be in a position to reinvest that into the economy of the Northwest Territories. I will continue to stand here and preach that message, even though some of you may be getting...

Mr. Speaker, everything we do in this Assembly, and I'm talking all 19 of us, is I think targeted towards the Mandate of the 18th Assembly, and many of the things in the mandate is to create employment, and it's a very large mandate so we don't miss too many parts of the mandate when we do our spending across the Northwest Territories. So the answer is yes, we do target the spending towards the Mandate of the 18th Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, we'll start the work and gather a lot of that information and I think it would be valuable information. I mean, we will share it with the Members obviously, and then once we get all the work done we will table it.

Mr. Speaker, I am getting weekly updates from the department. I mean, I've been in the portfolio for 36 days, four hours and 22 minutes. Not realizing what a huge department ENR is and how much it covers. So some of the information, as I get more educated on it, I'll be in a better position to respond to the Member's question.

Well, Mr. Speaker, the contracts, I'm sure, are awarded to people that provide a skill set and some value to the workings of the government. I'm not sure that it's fair to any individual if we put on a limit as to how many contracts they can get or what the amount is, but I have committed to the Member that I will review that. Again, I just need to stress that we -- obviously these folks that do get sole-source contracts, provide a service and a skill set that would provide some value for the GNWT.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Capital Estimates, 2017-2018, Government of the Northwest Territories." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

No.

Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member may have no idea of where he is going, but I know exactly where I am going. I am going to try and put this government, with the assistance of this Assembly, in a position where we're able to make further investments into our mandate in the remaining years of our Assembly.

As to specific projects as to where this money is going, we have a number of corridor projects that we have identified as some priorities of this government, but those are not all. The money that we're working with here is not just for capital, but it's also for O and M, to put us in a better...