Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement earlier today I spoke about some of our procurement policies, in particular, the Manufactured Products Policy. I would like to ask the Minister responsible why some of these products are proved in general terms, like winch truck, which has no specifications for what is required in that definition, while others require exact specifications, such as steel garbage recycling containers, 52 inches by 54 inches by 71 inches, bear-proof top. These distinctions seem arbitrary and are applied inconsistently. At least, that is the perspective of my constituents, who are not procurement experts. I am hoping that someone who is an expert in procurement can answer some of those questions for my constituents and help us understand why some products have no requirements and others have very exacting requirements. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To be honest with you, I can't answer that exact question, because this policy goes all the way back to the 1990s when the manufacturing policy was brought forward. That is exactly why this government has decided to come up with a new strategy and sit down with the Manufacturers' Association to have the discussion around how we can make our strategy and how we can make this policy better. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am not getting into that policy, which is not before the House at this time, and the Minister has already told us that. Is that an area that they looked at when they were developing it? Was one of their policy objectives to correct this inconsistency between product classifications?
There were a number of issues that were raised by the Northern Manufacturers' Association, and I believe that this is one of them that we are looking at and trying to figure out a way to address it.
Thank you to the Minister. That is good news, and I look forward to reviewing that strategy. Looking to the manufactured products application form, it calls for "competitive pricing for the same product or products named above from a southern vendor." Why is it up to small businesses to do market research for the BIP bureau? Is this not something that the bureau could do themselves and then use that to inform the registration of these products? Can the Minister commit to at least changing that part of the application process?
As I have said, we are looking at a number of things. The strategy is in front of committee, and if the Member would like to make a comment on that when committee makes their recommendations back to us, I strongly recommend that he have a strong look at that section, but we are looking at this complete strategy to try to figure out how to bring more economic opportunities to the manufacturers of the Northwest Territories.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is always hard to wait for another strategy, but this one is with committee, so I will do my due diligence on that side. I would like assurances from the Minister that he is going to implement the decisions in that strategy, the specific actions, before the end of this government, and that it is not put off for another government to put on the shelf somewhere. Will he implement the strategy within the life of this government? Thank you.
We will be tabling this strategy before the end of this Assembly, and I strongly believe in what we are doing in working hand-in-hand with the northern manufacturers to make this a better document for them with more clarity and figure out a way, as I have said, to bring economic opportunities to the eleven manufacturers that we have in the Northwest Territories and hopefully grow that.
There are a number of meaningful ideas that have been put forward in this strategy to help them realize these opportunities. We have worked very closely with the Northern Manufacturers' Association and, as I said in the House the other day when we were talking about this, we had a couple of committee members who actually participated in that. This document is in front of committee right now, and I am sure that they are going to be making some strong recommendations based on what their feedback is as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
