Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. This is a very important area, a very important question, and especially when we see the effects of climate change, especially when we know that the world is seeing a significant change with the signing of this Climate Change Protocol. Certainly, we will do our part.

Previous governments have looked at the fact that carbon tax or carbon pricing would increase the cost of living for people in the Northwest Territories. We're already paying a very high price for fuel and energy, so we've tried to address that by having government pay for ways to reduce carbon emissions. We have the Greenhouse Gas Strategy where we've been able to reduce our emissions so that we reached 2005 levels in the government, and we've been very successful by introducing programs into our government whereby we reduce emissions and we've saved money. We're also leading the country in biomass and we, on a per capita basis, I find it unusual, but apparently per capita we're one or two in Canada utilizing solar energy.

We want to invest more into energy efficiency and conservation, and I think this is one of these areas where I think it would be an excellent way to go out and have public engagement on this issue to confirm that NWT residents are willing to pay more on carbon pricing or carbon tax or what have you, to see if they're interested and they're willing to do that to help reduce the carbon footprint. I think this is an area that, as an Assembly, we could look at doing and could do something fairly quickly. We could engage the public and get direction from the public and take appropriate action.

Mahsi, Mr. McLeod. Next on my list is Mr. Nadli, Deh Cho Member.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker-elect. [English translation not provided.]

Consensus government means that we work to involve everyone in decision-making of all 33 communities. There has been discussion, in light of fiscal constraints, to examine more effective management systems through boards.

If elected Premier, how would you work to ensure small communities will be involved in decision-making in the areas of health and education?

Mahsi, Mr. Nadli. I'll turn it over to Mr. McLeod, Premier candidate.

Okay. I'll get Mr. Nadli to repeat that last question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. The question is: There has been discussion, in light of fiscal constraints, to examine more effective management systems through boards.

If elected Premier, how will you work to ensure small communities will be involved in decision-making in the areas of health and education?

Mahsi, Mr. Nadli. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you for repeating the question. I think it continues to be very important to get input from communities, from the small communities. I don't see having a board preventing that from happening. I think that having a board in the health area will make things more efficient, will provide for better programs, and I think there are still ways to engage the communities. We have not done anything similar in education. I think the education right now, the district education authorities remain as is. With the board for health that would look at delivery of operations, we will make sure that the information goes back and forth to the communities and that we get input from communities as well.

Mahsi, Mr. McLeod. I'll turn it over to Mr. Abernethy, Premier candidate.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. In my speech last Wednesday, I talked a lot about past predicting future and the way we've done business in the past is often the way we will do business in the future. When it came to health information, I travelled to every community in the Northwest Territories and sat down with residents and leaders in those communities to talk about the health care system and how it can be improved. We took that feedback and incorporated it into the model moving forward.

With respect to health care and boards, there will be regional advisory councils in every region and community, so there will be members from communities in the Deh Cho who will be sitting on the regional board and chair that board and will be sitting as a member of the territorial board. This gives us a real ability to make sure we are getting the voice from the communities through the system so that we can customize programs at a local level but also have an opportunity to provide inside guidance on to the territorial programs. Places like Stanton, things like medical travel, this has been a very successful process and has been very collaborative.

I also convened a meeting of Aboriginal leaders, which was the first time that was done, to discuss health and social services and how we could move forward with the construction and development of these wellness councils. We received a significant amount of really positive feedback on how we could do that and engage with people.

In my speech I also indicated that through the mandate letters, I would be requiring Members or Ministers to travel to the communities to meet with residents and talk about the issues that they have, especially around program areas that are maybe going through modification or design. I think this is critical to ensure that we have public engagement. As Premier, I will ensure that the Members are getting out, meeting in public, meeting in communities. But it can't stop there. It has to be some of the bureaucrats, some of the deputy heads as well as program staff. They need to get out to the communities so that they see the reality of living in smaller, more rural, remote communities, so that they can design the programs appropriately, can meet the needs.

We need to have flexibility in our programs as well. I think it is important to get out there. As Premier, I would ensure that the Ministers and staff get to communities to learn from our people. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Abernethy. Next on my list I have Robert C. McLeod, Inuvik Twin Lakes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. First of all I need to commend the two Premier candidates for putting their names forward, answering all the questions today, and there were a lot of very good questions that are being asked. Good on you for that.

I have a very straightforward question. The Northwest Territories is facing a number of challenges, as we all know in here. I would like to hear from both candidates.

What is the biggest challenge, the single biggest challenge the Northwest Territories is facing, and how would you deal with it? Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. McLeod. I will go to Mr. Abernethy, Premier candidate.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. There are a lot of problems, as the Member indicated. The bottom line is that if we can't find some way to revitalize the economy, whether it's through diversified economy or whether it's through more supports for non-renewable resource extraction, we are going to continue to be in trouble.

It is multi-pronged, obviously. We need to deal with some of the social issues so that when the jobs come, our people are the ones taking those jobs. With our revenues on a flat line, we are not going to provide the social programming that we need unless we can continue to have some revenue generation coming in.

It's really hard, and I thank the Member for his question. It's really hard to identify one problem because they are so intermingled and inter-twined. We have a lot of social problems that are stopping our people from being able to enter the workforce. We need to address those as well.

But if we don't have an economy, more people are going to leave the Northwest Territories, our GDP is going to continue to go down and we're not even going to be able to provide the programs that we have. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Abernethy. I will turn it over to Mr. McLeod, Premier candidate.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. It's very difficult to pick the biggest challenge, but I think the ones I have are both tied, so I have to use two.

Obviously, growing and diversifying the economy is a very big one. The economic outlook over the next five years is mixed at best. I see, in the next five to 15 years, the data suggests a protracted decline in resource production with really nothing in the works to replace it. Also, there is no resource exploration going on, and resource exploration is necessary for further development. It is also slowing down.

Growing the NWT economy requires some very major investments. We have the Mackenzie Valley Fibre Optic Link; we have the Inuvik-Tuk Highway; we are working on the Mackenzie Valley Highway; the Whati all-weather road; the Slave Geologic Province overland route, and this is something we need to pursue. In order to have a vibrant, robust economy, we need jobs, and part of it is obviously the cost of living. We have talked about it many times today. The cost of living is a big, big problem which is very difficult for us to address. We are starting to make some inroads, certainly in this area. For example, the price of gas was $1.389. It is now $1.09. I think food costs, I'm told, are probably on par with Edmonton or Grande Prairie, if you buy on sale. Housing is very expensive, and so the cost of living is another big one. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. McLeod. Next on my list is Mr. Beaulieu, Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker-elect. Taxing is a huge issue in the communities that I represent. There is taxing of lots, there is taxing of cabins, and many of the people I spoke to during my campaign had an issue with it. The government has some programs out there that they would like to access because of limited employment opportunities in the small communities. They would like to access some programs to create employment for some people in the small communities, yet the tax bills, once the taxing authority has issued the tax bill, if it's not paid then it goes to the Department of Finance and it affects their ability to receive various programs that normally come from the government.

If elected, I would like to ask the two Premier candidates what they would do to resolve the taxing issue in the small communities, perhaps in the small communities where claims are not settled. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. Beaulieu. I will turn it over to Mr. McLeod, Premier candidate.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. I know this is a problem. I guess it has been around now for a few years. It's primarily been felt in the South Slave. I think there are a number of things that we can do.

First and foremost, some of the other regions have been able to deal with that through negotiating exemptions in their land claim. They have been able to deal with it on that basis. We've had many discussions with the NWT Metis Nation, and where we left it just before the end of the 17^th Legislative Assembly was our legal people were meeting with the legal people of the NWT Metis Nation so that we could find out exactly what the problems were, exactly what the issues were and we could find out how to deal with it. It involves Aboriginal rights to hunt for food and also trap. It is the ancillary rate that is there that we are missing the mark on. I think that is another aspect. If it's not negotiated through their land claim, then we should look at changing the legislation, if that is the intention, so we have fairness throughout the Northwest Territories. We could look at the legislation and see what would be required to fix this problem. Thank you.

Mahsi, Mr. McLeod. I will turn it over to Mr. Abernethy, Premier candidate.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect. That's a very specific question, as my colleague has indicated.

This was an issue that was brought to Cabinet in the 16^th Legislative Assembly and it's an issue that the Cabinet of the day asked for some more research and some legal reviews to be done. Until such time as we've had the opportunity to review those findings and have a discussion with the Members of this Legislative Assembly, I'm not sure which direction we would necessarily take, but I think it is important that that information be shared with Members. We have discussion on how we would move forward; we have discussion with the affected parties on the south side of Great Slave Lake in order to figure out what would be the most appropriate way to move forward, to ensure that people still have access to their cabins. It's certainly something that does need to be looked at. We need to be informed as we do it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker-elect.

Mahsi, Mr. Abernethy. Next on my list is Mr. Simpson, Member for Hay River North.