Item 2, Ministers' Statements. Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today as Minister of Social Services I would like to offer sincere condolences to the family and friends of Fanny Maring. In addition, there are a very large number of her colleagues in the entire Department of Social Services who also share these deep feelings for a very special person.

Fanny was a very long-term and valued employee of the Department of Social Services. She was a compassionate and warm social worker who had done it all. Her special qualities were recognized shortly after she joined the Government of the Northwest Territories in 1970.

She welcomed the opportunity to share her knowledge with others. She was a teacher of the Inuvialuit language and was an active member of the elders' committee. On September 9, 1986 she was appointed a supervisor in the Inuvik area office of Social Services.

Fanny played an important role in the lives of all she worked with and for the many clients that she came into contact with over the years. Her recent death has been a shock to us all. She will be deeply missed and will not be forgotten by the people of Aklavik and the Delta region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 2, Ministers' Statements. Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, honourable Members have expressed concern about the criteria for disqualifying a physician from sitting as president of a particular board of inquiry under the Medical Profession Act of the Northwest Territories. The filing of a civil action is quite different from criminal charges or an inquiry into professional competence under the Medical Profession Act. Nowhere in Canada, including the N.W.T., does the filing of a civil suit disqualify a physician from sitting on a board of inquiry. Nonetheless, because of the questions raised in the Legislature about him, the head of the board of inquiry, Dr. Earle Covert, has now decided that he does not want unnecessary controversy to detract from the impartiality and independence of the medical inquiry now before the board. Dr. Covert has therefore made a decision not to sit on the hearing in question involving Dr. Uma Viswalingam. His declining to participate in the hearing will not deprive the current board of its quorum. The inquiry will now be headed by the Deputy President, Dr. Robert Fairbairn. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 2, Ministers' Statements. Item 3, Members' Statements. Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to advise the Assembly of the activities of the western Members of the Assembly who have revitalized the western caucus. I have been selected to be chairman of the western caucus and I appreciate the confidence my colleagues from the west have placed in me. I would also like to take this opportunity, Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the western caucus to add our congratulations to the people of Nunavut for the successful ratification of their comprehensive land claim agreement. Also of equal importance, the signing of the Nunavut Political Accord.

---Applause

The claim paves the way for the establishment of a Nunavut territory. The Nunavut Political Accord establishes a mechanism and process for the implementation for a Nunavut government by 1999. I can assure our Nunavut colleagues that we are here to work together to achieve constitutional harmony for both the east and the west.

---Applause

Mr. Speaker, we, the Members of the western caucus, realize that we have a lot of work ahead of us to develop a constitution for a western territory. There are a lot of other issues which affect our ability to develop some concise plans. These are in no particular order:

- the establishment of a Constitution for Nunavut and a new western territory;

- land claims;

- community transfer initiatives;

- division and the cost of division;

- devolution; and

- the report and title "Working Towards A Common Future" prepared by Jim Bourque and his commission.

Mr. Speaker, it is important that the excellent work that has been done by the many other groups and commissions on constitutional development for the west be taken into consideration as we struggle with the many elements that will exist in a new western territory.

The western caucus looks forward to working with all leaders and people of the west. As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, the western caucus plans to meet tomorrow night with the members of the Committee of Political Leaders to discuss the challenges ahead. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to proceed with my statement.

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

Mahsi. In light of the planned meeting tomorrow night and since there is a general feeling that the mandate and representation at the table for western Northwest Territories constitutional discussions needs to be addressed, the western caucus has suggested that the time is not right to engage in a constitutional discussion in this House. Accordingly, Mr. Kakfwi has agreed to allow his motion to expire on the order paper today. Mr. Speaker, we will have many challenges as we tackle the complex matters of developing the shape the new western territory will take. We see such issues as community transfer as one that has to be taken into consideration immediately and how it will fit into the new western territory.

Mr. Speaker, I indicated that we have many challenges ahead and I can assure you, and I speak for all Members of the western caucus, that as the elected representatives of the west we are up for the challenge. There will be some hard negotiations ahead and the trail may not be easy, but we will persevere and with the support of our constituencies and other leaders, hopefully begin the work that is before us for the good of the generations to come. Thank you, Mahsi, Qujannamiik.

Thank you, Mr. Koe. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize in the gallery and to welcome students from the Rae-Edzo Adult Education Centre and their instructor, Mary Goldsmith. Item 3, Members' Statements. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to talk about the chronic unemployment problem that is faced by most of the regions in the Northwest Territories. As Members know unemployment is one of the largest factors including some of our other dreadful social problems that face the territories such as alcoholism, teenage suicides, and family and sexual abuse. The list goes on and on. The traditional hunting and trapping lifestyle that has sustained many of our people for so many years has been wounded as the fur industry activists endure assault after assault by animal rights activists. In the interim we have done a poor job of preparing our people for wage employment by increasing the education and job skills of our citizens. What is left is whole communities of people who cannot even find employment enough to access unemployment insurance. In some communities we have upwards of 60 to 80 per cent of our people receiving some form of social assistance annually. Mr. Speaker, this is not a pretty picture.

With that said, I would say that we have done some good work during the past year to help change this. We are attempting to concentrate on improving the educational system. We have taken steps to ensure that northerners obtain jobs from government contracts and we have instituted employment training programs in conjunction with the construction of capital facilities that will improve job skills of our people within the smaller communities.

However, more has to be done to stem the tide until these programs can be fully implemented. One such proposal is the re-institution of the Local Initiatives Program. Such a program was recently advocated by the Keewatin Regional Council at their fall session. I will be tabling a copy of this resolution later today. Such a program should be community based and employ people on a short-term basis to work on community improvement projects. It should be employment driven for areas of high unemployment. People could work for two or three months at a time, then would be able to access unemployment insurance benefits at the end of the project. Funding for such a project could come from a variety of sources such as reprofiling social assistance monies. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask for unanimous consent to complete my statement.

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

...such as reprofiling social assistance monies, accessing job training funds, or seeking other types of funding from the federal government or from within our own budget.

In my mind, it is much more important at this critical time to use our limited resources to put our people to work than to spend millions of dollars on museums and the cost of television.

It is my belief that programs designed to ease the chronic unemployment problem and to get our people off of social assistance are of the utmost importance, particularly at this time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' Statements. Mr. Pudlat.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to recognize an individual who has been working for a long time with the Baffin Regional Health Board. We deal with the health issues in the Legislative Assembly and I would like to recognize the chairman of the Baffin Regional Health Board, Mr. George Eckalook. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 3, Members' Statements. Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak on a process which I feel is an area that needs to be addressed. This process is the manner in which this Legislative Assembly reviews the capital, and the operations and maintenance budget. At the present time the Cabinet, which is composed of eight Ministers, decides how the operations and maintenance budget as well as the capital budget are to be allocated. These are then reviewed by the Standing Committee on Finance which is made up of seven Members. During these reviews the seven Members and the eight Ministers are able to hold detailed discussions on what funds will be allocated and spent in the Northwest Territories for the next year.

This process, Mr. Speaker, is done in a closed meeting room. The meetings can be attended by any of the other Members who are not Members of the Standing Committee on Finance if they are in the city of Yellowknife at the time. As all Members know, we who are not Members of this committee, are not able to be in Yellowknife when the Standing Committee on Finance is meeting. Therefore, 15 Members of this 24 Member Assembly make decisions and form recommendations to be brought into this House. This process makes it all the more frustrating when one begins to realize that senior bureaucrats, who are not elected people, have more say over what funds will be allocated into the communities that I and other Members represent, before we can even begin to formulate a response to the proposed budget.

I and the other eight Members who represent 20 communities, which is close to one third of the 66 communities in the Northwest Territories, do not have any input into this process until decisions and recommendations have already been formulated. The present process allows the standing committee Members the opportunity to criticize and review the budgets behind closed doors. They are able to say whatever they wish to the Ministers. We, who are not Members of the committee, are not given the same privilege. We are then asked to agree or disagree on these recommendations at the beginning of the latter part of the process, which by this time is at the Committee of the Whole stage.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to continue with my statement.

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

Thank you. In short, what I am trying to say, Mr. Speaker, is that there are Members and communities which are not fairly represented by this process because they have no input into the budgets before they are discussed in the Assembly. The process we are using at this time is duplicated, especially for those Members who are Members of the Standing Committee on Finance, as they are able to raise their concerns to the Ministers twice.

If I may, Mr. Speaker, one suggestion would be to bypass the standing committee stage as it would make the process fair by allowing all Members to participate in the formation of the budget. It would also reduce costs to this government as all Members would then have to meet only once to form the budget recommendations.

One of the concerns raised by some of the Members was that there is no public process at the standing committee stage. This suggested process then brings the proposed budget of this government directly to the Legislative Assembly and brings the whole budget process to the public as it happens. Another suggestion which would make it fairer for all Members and the communities that they represent would be to bring in all the ordinary Members to the standing committee meetings. I urge this Legislative Assembly to reconsider the present process and review it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 3, Members' Statements. Mr. Zoe.

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

Item 3, Members' Statements. Mr. Nerysoo.