Kieron Testart

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment about, you guessed it, procurement. Obviously, businesses continue to come forward, business owners continue to come forward. How is the department using procurement policies to level the playing field with southern companies that are doing business in the Northwest Territories, to give a competitive edge to northern businesses? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move that the chairman of the Committee of the Whole leave the chair to report progress. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that the format of our proceedings might not accommodate the same kind of back and forth we have in other reviews, but I do appreciate all of the Members who spoke to this, the time that they have put in, and of course, the Minister's comments as well.

I am certainly not saying that we need, with definite certainty, a brick and mortar facility today, but there are a lot of people who feel that way, and I think the work that the standing committee has done has given new information to consider about the effectiveness of our addictions strategy.

Aftercare...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the Minister's clarity of purpose on this. There are a number of companies that are grandfathered in or are meeting a 50 per cent requirement that are still either owned in part or owned entirely by southern companies that can benefit from southern supply chains, so we are giving those companies a 20 per cent markup through their northern preference, even though they can double dip, so to speak, and benefit from southern markets. Is the Minister willing to look at those requirements and the list of grandfathered companies that are benefitting from...

It is interesting that the Minister is so confident in BIP's success because all the concerns I hear are about BIP. I already know he is not willing to reform BIP, to do a review of BIP to take action on these concerns. So, given the high-profile nature of several procurement issues -- I am talking about the Housing Corporation modular project in Hay River that the failure of the procurement policy resulted in the loss of 40 full-time jobs, a Minister's riding, by the way, Mr. Speaker, and, of course, the NTPC power generators ongoing affair, which is at least half a million dollars of...

So, I have it here. The electronic medical record system is a system of patient information used in healthcare clinics for scheduling, longitudinal charting, and billing to support the delivery of patient care, and it's available to all health authorities, whereas the MediPatient system referred to in the Information and Privacy Commissioner report indicates that it's local hospital patient information used by several NWT health and social services authorities and includes admission, discharge, radiology, rehabilitation, and scheduling functions. So are some authorities still using the...

Thank you. The component under design and technical services, is this just the department using existing resources or have they identified additional resources that are required to complete the action plan? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize my constituent, Ms. Sharon Firth, four-time Olympian; a Page who is with us today, Justin Vollenweider, who has been helping us out all week; and last but not least, my partner, Colleen Wellborn. I am surprised she let me speak about her today; she is a very private person, but I am really pleased that she was able to hear those words and be with us today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I won't belabour the Minister to read out the action plan, but what I am interested in is the cost of that action plan and whether or not that is represented in this budget. Thank you.

I thank the Minister for clarifying, but I am concerned about the status quo approach to procurement, as I'm sure he's well aware, and other Members of this House are concerned, and the Standing Committees on Economic Development and Environment are concerned. I hope that, as we develop strategies and documents like the Manufacturing Strategy, we are better positioned as an Assembly to address these public concerns and make progress on them one way or another. Either amend the policies or provide additional resources in the form of subsidies or enhance existing engagement programs or...