Good morning. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Mr. Arvaluk.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I travel in the Northwest Territories, I am continually impressed by the commitment northerners have to education. This past weekend, I travelled to the Sahtu, with the Honourable Stephen Kakfwi, and learned a good deal about education in that region.

Today I would like to congratulate the people of Fort Good Hope for the way they have supported the grade 10 program, which began in that community this year. The school anticipated 18 students would enrol, but 47 are now in the program. They vary widely in age, but all of the students want to successfully complete their senior high school education. I am sure other communities in the Sahtu will soon follow this direction, and will want to offer senior high programs in their own communities.

The Sahtu Divisional Board of Education is currently developing a strategic plan, to guide the direction of education in the coming years. I would also like to congratulate the board for its work in this area, particularly in consulting closely with band councils, hamlet councils, and members of the public. This type of consultation is very important, if the educational system is to continue to meet the educational needs of the people in the region.

Mr. Speaker, while Mr. Kakfwi and I were in the region, we visited Fort Franklin, Fort Norman, Norman Wells and Fort Good Hope. In each community we held meetings with the community education council, the band council, and the hamlet representatives. We were extremely pleased with the good turn out for each of those meetings, and the discussions we had on education issues.

Mr. Speaker, during the coming weeks and months, I look forward to more opportunities to visit other constituencies, in the Northwest Territories, to discuss educational issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Later on this morning I will be travelling to Fort Simpson to attend the Community Justice Forum that has been going on for the last two days. Today will be the last day. Later on in the day, in the committee of the whole, we will be talking about the budget of Economic Development and Tourism.

I would like to say something about the economic development in the Deh Cho region, and Nahendeh constituency of six communities. The people in the communities, every time I travel to the communities, are very interested in the whole area of economic development. They feel that they have been left out, up to this point, and they would like to be more involved with that.

I would like to urge the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, to concentrate more on the smaller communities and change their attitude towards people, so that the people in communities have the opportunity to be provided with programs and services from this department. I, also, would like to let the House know, that the Deh Cho Tribal Council has, for one and a half months now, hired an economic development coordinator to help the communities in the Deh Cho region. Their approach is a community-based approach to people in communities, what they want. This coordinator will help coordinate, and the idea is that they could work with the Department of Economic Development and Tourism to help these communities. This is the peoples' way to tell the government that they are very interested in economic development, and they are doing something about it, themselves, by hiring a coordinator. I would like to urge the Department of Personnel to work with these people so that economic development would happen in these communities. Mahsi Cho.

Members' statements. Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was intending to rise on a Point of Privilege, however, I believe my remarks go beyond, just the matter of privilege, with regard to an article that was in the Yellowknifer, under the editorial "Parliamentary Fun and Games" which suggests that the issues raised by Members are of no concern to our constituents.

To be more specific, Mr. Speaker, I want to address comments in the article related to a written question that I posed to the Government Leader. Mr. Speaker, the article suggests that this is an issue of fun and games. I would say it is too bad that the writer did not speak to my constituents in Arctic Red River, or within my constituency, who were, and have been, asked to pay as much as $17,000 to have power poles moved from lots for which they applied.

Mr. Speaker, more importantly my constituents and those who have been asked to pay these exorbitant costs do not believe this to be frivolous, or fun and games. Mr. Speaker, in fact, the individual in one case applied for a new lot rather than being forced to pay these costs.

I want the writer to understand the same situation occurred as recently as last weekend, in Mr. Todd's constituency, in fact, where a private business owner had to move power poles at their own cost and pay the cost for hook-ups for electricity.

Maybe these are normal situations, and accepted arrangements, but I have been told that the N.W.T. Power Corporation has assumed in several instances total cost in the constituency of Nunakput.

Mr. Speaker, I ask, is this fair, or is it the truth? If it is true, then why does this policy, or situation, exist in Nunakput, and not in any other constituency? Further, if it is incorrect then this is where it ends. If not, you can be assured that Members of this Assembly will want to know why this type of preference is given in the Government Leader's constituency.

I know, Mr. Speaker, my constituents will thank me for raising these concerns on their behalf. More so, Mr. Speaker, all the people of the N.W.T., including residents of Yellowknife...

Mr. Nerysoo, the allotted time has elapsed.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my Member's statement.

The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Please proceed, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. I know, Mr. Speaker, my constituents will thank me for raising these concerns on their behalf. More so, Mr. Speaker, all people of the Northwest Territories, including the residents of Yellowknife, will agree with my concern that any unfair application of policy has to be accounted for.

Financial expenditures without authorization are not acceptable by residents of the Northwest Territories, or in Yellowknife. It may not be important in Yellowknife, but then who does the Yellowknifer speak for, or account to? Mr. Speaker, unlike the media I am accountable to an electorate. The media, and should I be more specific, the Yellowknifer, can say what they want, publicly harm peoples' reputations, or impute motives without accountability, and never lose an argument.

Mr. Speaker, the editors, the writers and owners of the Yellowknifer, in my personal view, do not accept that Members may at times show their humanity or human faults. They are probably perfect, which I can say, I am not. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Mr. Kakfwi.

Returns to oral questions. Mr. Arvaluk.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Lewis on September 29, 1992. Student loans are not written off because of student requests. Only loans which are considered impossible, or uneconomical to collect, are recommended to be written off. The purpose of writing off loan accounts is to recognize, on the financial statements, that these accounts are extremely unlikely to be collected.

Loans are recommended to be written off after all means of collection are exhausted, including the use of the courts and collection agencies. However, when loans are written off these loans are still considered outstanding debts. If a loan which has been written off later becomes collectible, it can be collected by government. Thank you.

Returns to oral questions. Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Nerysoo.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Health if he could confirm whether or not he and his public administrator at the Fort Smith Health Centre have been named co-defendants in a court case he referred to on September 10?

Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question will be directed to the Minister of Health. Mr. Minister, a concern was brought to my attention by one of the community health representatives in the region of Kitikmeot in regards to the apparent lack of recognition for our community health representative. The community health representative plays a very important role in promoting health in the community. The community health representative feels that he was not being recognized as a professional at the community level by this government.

My question, Mr. Speaker, does the Department of Health have a job description in place for the C.H.R.? Thank you.

Mr. Patterson.

Well, I would expect so, Mr. Speaker. I cannot say that I know for sure, so I had better take it as notice. Thank you.