Akaitcho government. I said it.

--Interjection

You are not detecting anything. I am just trying to respond as positively as I can. There is no reluctance on my part at all. I am excited about the prospects. I am trying to suggest, if I am elected Premier, I will commit to work with you. You are the one who has goals and aspirations. You have to give me that opportunity. There is nothing in the tone of my voice or my expression that should lead you to think otherwise.

I am interested. I want to be supportive. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The Chair will recognize the Member for Yellowknife Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question for both candidates with respect to the land claims and self-government issues.

I ask this question with the understanding and appreciation that a speedy settlement of land claims and self-government negotiations are desirable, not only for aboriginal people, but for non-aboriginal people of the Northwest Territories as well.

I also ask this question with the recognition and appreciation to address and recognize the rights of aboriginal people, and an appreciation of the outstanding obligations to the aboriginal people of the Northwest Territories.

I believe this is also important in order to create certainty in our economy and for all of the people in the Northwest Territories, in particular for the business community. My question to both candidates is; I would like to know what your vision is as to how the public government fits into the process, and how the non- aboriginal people, who have no direct claim in the process, but obviously have great stake in the process, fit as well, understanding that we all have to have a place and future in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. I will go to Mr. Kakfwi first, then to Mr. Roland. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It has always been my view, due to the demographics, that it is not possible at this time to see a proliferation of governments. It is my view the people of the Territories are being well served by the Government of the Northwest Territories.

Many of us set out in the early 70s' to gain recognition of our rights as aboriginal people. Our right to self-government. I have been there through the years and I have held at the highest political level of government in this country that the right to self- government is in the Constitution of Canada. I was there to help achieve that, because I support my people when they say they want to have the right to set up their own government.

But I also support and respect those people who choose and elect people like myself to represent them in this government. We have to make sure this government serves those people that elect us in the best, most efficient way possible.

We also have to support aboriginal leaders who strive to obtain funds of aboriginal government negotiated, recognized and implemented, so they too can provide an option to the people. Those people who elect to live under an aboriginal government should have every right to do so. They should be respected, recognized and given the proper resources to do that.

How do they all fit together? At this time, it is all starting to grow from the community level. Maybe there is an Akaitcho government. I do know the people in Lutsel'ke will have a community government. Fort Resolution will have a community government. The Yellowknives will have a community government.

The community governments have the inherent right to choose to put it at the regional level and the territorial level. That is their business. That is what the process of negotiations is going to be. There may be a regional Akaitcho government. Aboriginal governments may elect to be part of a larger, central government. How they are going to fit together is what they are going to work on.

There is some order and logic to the process, even though it has not really unfolded yet. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. The Chair now recognizes Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we simply have to look at our recent election. People across the Northwest Territories voted for who they thought would best represent their situation. It was not biased, and will not be in the future, on what your status in the Northwest Territories is.

We have to build on a true partnership. Partnerships start, I believe, from the ground level up, and start with integrity. We are going to have one, large task to show the aboriginal governments of the Northwest Territories that we mean business this time around.

We do not have a lot of control over some of the issues that are facing this government, mainly because we do not have control over the decision making process that comes directly out of Ottawa.

I know there is a reluctance for the aboriginal governments to recognize this government as well, and that is based on past relationships.

For example, when people come into my office in Inuvik, I do not check them off the list as being a Gwich'in, or an Inuvialuit, an immigrant, a non-aboriginal Northerner. I believe we are here to represent everybody equally.

In doing that, we must also show the land claims groups and aboriginal governments are equal partners to us. How do we do that? That is going to be one of the things we are going to have to wrestle with.

As it clearly shows in previous governments, there is no magic answer to pull out of the hat. I believe we have to start building on respect and trust with one another. How does that occur?

That starts when our first meeting with the intergovernmental forum, or the aboriginal governments one on one. When we make a statement to them, we have to stick with it.

All of us have to be involved in the process as well. I do not see this as being a portion of this government going out and doing something, and coming back and updating the rest. If we are going to build true partnerships and unity in the Northwest Territories, it has to be done with everybody having equal participation in the process.

That is where the intergovernmental forum comes into play. How do we do that? We truly need to address that. As rich as we are in the Northwest Territories for our minerals, oil and gas, we are considered by the large corporations as being one of the most unsettled areas, so much so that they are afraid to come and invest in the North. They are not sure what is going to happen. That hurts everybody.

That is why our hand, as I see it, is being forced here, which is good. It is time we sit down as public and aboriginal governments and set out our priorities. If we fail, both groups fail.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Next on my list is Mr. Braden, the Member for Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To follow up on this very useful discussion about public government and the way we are going to integrate the systems as we know them now with the emerging constitutional rights of aboriginal governments, I would pose a question to both candidates to see where they would come to the floor in helping to bring Ottawa into the picture.

The perspective I have, Mr. Chair, is that both the Government of the Northwest Territories and the aboriginal governments are coming from positions of weakness. There is not a level playing field in terms of where we stand with Ottawa. I am encouraged with the expectations that we may see in the intergovernmental forum scheduled for just a few weeks from now. But would the candidates please advise us as to how they see us getting the federal government to really take some ownership and some partnership in truly developing the North for aboriginal and for non-aboriginal people.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The question will be directed to Mr. Roland first and then to Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you Mr. Chair. One of the largest hurdles we are going to have to cross is how do we in the North deal with Ottawa. Mr. Braden's statement is quite correct. We come from a point of weakness as long as we continue to work and walk down our own paths.

I see that we must first come to some agreement in the Northwest Territories and build on a position of power: where we have all peoples speaking together, where we recognize our differences and realize that our differences make us stronger, not weaker.

I am fairly new to this. For example, in my role as Health and Social Services Minister and Minister of Social Policy Renewal, I see the meetings we go to with our federal/provincial/territorial counterparts, as critical. At those tables, we need to express our concern and express them, I believe, a little stronger than we have.

In previous governments, we have tried to work with the federal government. We realize they hold a large hammer because they are sending the budget down our way. But there comes a time in history, and I think the evolution of the Northwest Territories, where we must stand together, to be counted together and build on our strengths, not knock each other down and create weakness.

Yes, I believe it is important to bring Ottawa into the picture. Minister Nault has come to the North a number of times and shown that he seems to be open to the idea of this process of working together. We have to expand on that. But we have to start from a position of power in the Northwest Territories and that means going to Ottawa in true partnership, not one pitted against the other.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. I know many of the things that we need addressed by our aboriginal people and aboriginal governments, as well as the Government of the Northwest Territories, requires that we know how to deal with Ottawa. That tells me one thing. We need someone with experience, someone that knows how to make deals, someone that knows how to address the issues of aboriginal people and aboriginal governments.

I believe I can do that, because I have done it before. To give you an example: during the constitutional talks for the Charlottetown Accord, we dealt with every national aboriginal organization across this country: the Inuit, the Inuvialuit, the Metis, the First Nations and every provincial government, every territorial government, plus the federal government for six months. We were able to get them to agree it would take a leap of faith and say we do not know what it is, but the inherent right is in the constitution. That is what we accomplished.

So being confident and having the experience in dealing with Ministers and Premiers, and other governments is required. I have done it before and I can do it again. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. The Chair now recognizes the Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell, followed by Mr. Dent. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I would like to pose a question to both candidates. I think that everybody in this room, and all citizens in the Northwest Territories, would agree and realize that we are faced with serious health concerns. We hear that 20 percent of expectant mothers consume alcohol during their pregnancy. I think this is a staggering rate and scares us all. One of the key things we have to realize here, and probably all of you agree, is that we have an education problem, which is leading to a health problem.

We are all very focused on stimulating economic development in the Territories. But I worry that as we continue to stimulate economic development, we continue to lose employment to southerners who are trained. I would like both of you to answer this question; how does your government intend to make education a priority for Northerners so that we might curb some of the health concerns we are faced with and so that we might train Northerners for northern jobs? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The Chair will recognize Mr. Kakfwi first.

Thank you. We know that quality of life in the communities in the North is tied to education and ability of individuals to provide for themselves. That has been, I think, accepted by all of us. But what we require is a commitment to find ways to improve the lives of all our people. If there are people without jobs, we have to strive to give them jobs.

There are people who require higher education. We need to make a commitment to provide education. There are no quick answers, only a commitment. There was a forum set up by the Ministers Forum on Education. Many of us need to look at it again, especially the Caucus and the new Premier and Cabinet that meets in February. What does that forum say? What are some of the suggestions? We need to understand why our teachers are on strike. What are the issues they feel we need to know more about?

I do not have solutions; this is a commitment. We will work at it, talk about it and try to find some way in which we can provide better services to everyone. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. The Chair recognizes Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The one thing I have learned, as a Member of the 13^th Assembly, is that previous governments' idea of how programs and services are delivered in communities is not working. We have departments with policies and programs that are developed in their own area. Stovepipe mentality is what I would call it.

It shows that the system is not working. We can look at our statistics. Our graduation rates are not good in the Northwest Territories, especially amongst aboriginal people. How do we make the system develop or change into something that is more productive? That is where we get together again and look at our priorities. If we look at all that we spend today in the area of education, the area of health and social services, we find we have a lot of non-government organizations out there that are trying to do similar things. Whether it is life skills or adult education, we have a lot of areas dealing with the aftermath of how our kindergarten to grade 12 system has not performed as it was first developed.

I think we have to go back and ask ourselves as Members elected to represent the people, how are we going to change the system to make sure the dollars we are spending are spent on quality, not quantity?

If our people are going to be trained to take jobs, they have to have a quality education. There are a lot of good teachers who put in a lot of time to teach children, including my own.

We find ourselves in a system we have tried to patch up and band-aid for many years. We have to ask ourselves, what are our key priorities? How will we make sure the system is going to start to work? For example, are we going to take more steps in the preventive area? We know that a child's life is formed within the first five to six years. If we do not take advantage of those years, we are going to pay for it in the long run. That is where the dollars start to pour in.

Are we going to put priority on early prevention, and start early intervention from kindergarten up to grade three? Will we focus on those areas so we can ensure the next generation is adequately prepared? That is why I say we need to have an overall policy, one that fits the economic sector.

As I stated in my speech, we have done things piece-meal. We have had to run to catch up with the development that is happening, and often, we have lost out. In some cases, with the hard work of previous Ministers, we have pulled it off.

But trying to catch up from behind takes a lot of energy. Let us get ahead of the game, and that means looking at the preventative side. Those are the hard decisions we are going to have to make. That is where I will count on the wisdom of all my colleagues around the table. Everybody has to have input on the priorities of this government when it comes to health and social services. Sustainability is a key area. I believe we have one of the better systems when we compare ourselves to the rest of Canada, but it is stretched to the limit.

We saw signs of it this past summer, where health centres were closing down. We cannot continue the way we are. We have to look at our priorities. How can we sustain these areas?

I look forward to sitting down with colleagues and looking at these strategies and forums to take some of their recommendations and implement them. The people have spoken at those forums. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Bell, do you have another question?

No, that is it.

The Chair will now recognize the Member for Yellowknife Frame Lake, Mr. Charles Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My question is for both candidates as well. This government depends on civil servants to deliver critical services to people in every community. With job cuts, restraint, and knowing the fiscal forecast, morale in civil service across the Northwest Territories is low. I was wondering if the candidates could tell us if they thought of plans or ways they would propose to improve morale among civil servants?