Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recognizing that Mr. Patterson has a department full of legal counsel individuals that can give assistance to the Intergovernmental Affairs Minister at this conference, and recognizing that the session is in place, was it not possible for Mr. Patterson to send either his deputy minister or any of the legal counsel individuals that he has in his department as opposed to his going to give legal advice? Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that all of us would like to see that the constitutional issue is handled as a purely clinical matter; however, even though you are deliberating the legal part and the legalities of how we evolve as a country and as a territory within Canada, there are a lot of political considerations that are being put forward now. There is the issue of whether the country is going to stay together, and how many of the issues are going to be revolving around the aboriginal rights issues. A lot of the issues that are being discussed are very political and, unfortunately, many times when the political aspirations of people are to be integrated into the overall planning of Canada, there are a lot of borderlines. I believe it is very important for people to know how these political aspirations are being put forward. Oftentimes it is difficult to know, unless you are involved with the discussions. I believe the justice system has an ongoing requirement to track that in terms of what people are saying, how they are saying it and how it is having a total mix on the eventual outcome of those deliberations.

Mr. Speaker, we did consider the working of this House. We took into consideration that the ongoing support of just the legal advisor could be very well accommodating; however, in terms of the overall deliberations that are going on, I believe it is advantageous for Mr. Patterson to be at the meeting at this time since he has the legal responsibility for our system. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Item 5, oral questions. Member for Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Education. The Minister of Finance indicated in his statement that we are in a time of fiscal restraint. I would like to ask the Minister of Education whether or not it is necessary for the teachers of the Northwest Territories to be spending large amounts of public moneys to have a three-day conference here in Yellowknife. I realize this has been a practice in the past, but do we need to spend that kind of money to have teachers travelling to attend conferences?

Thank you, Member for Deh Cho. Mr. Allooloo.

Mr. Speaker, my information is that the department is contributing a minimal amount of money to this conference. The teachers themselves are contributing to attend this conference. The major contributor is Yellowknife School District No. 1. Thank you.

Thank you, Member for Amittuq. Supplementary, Member for Deh Cho.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister how much it is costing this government in wages, salaries, accommodation and travel. Which communities are involved? I know the teachers in Providence are here, too; so presumably there are a large number of communities involved.

I believe there are two questions there. Member for Amittuq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have those figures at this moment. I would have to take the question as notice.

The Member for Amittuq is taking the question as notice. Oral questions, Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to follow up on questions asked by the Member for Slave River to the Government Leader. In light of the fact that in order to qualify to be a participant in the final conference, you have to have attended at least one other, either Halifax, Montreal, Toronto or Calgary, how was the Minister of Justice able to participate in the final conference in Vancouver?

Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is right that you had to have attended one previous meeting, to be allowed within the regular assembly. There was some indication that there would be some rules waived to allow the Minister of Justice to attend. I am not sure whether that was done or not. However, in discussion with Mr. Kakfwi, the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Rights and Constitutional Development, he indicated that the process allowed a great deal of opportunity for lobbying and discussion outside the actual assembly, and he felt that there were opportunities there to get to know other people's views, because there were almost as many people outside as inside, in a lot of cases, in particular with certain subject matters.

So with that presentation to myself, I felt that their argument was adequate for me to say that if that was the case and there was an opportunity for that lobbying and getting to know other people and perhaps people who were doing the major part of the work that were not in the assembly itself, and then during breaks of the assembly, that this type of interaction was going to be of benefit to us. But at this point in time I do not know whether those rules would have been waived to allow him in, although Mr. Patterson felt fairly sure that they would be. But I would be prepared to come back and find out if that did happen.

Supplementary, Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, I would say that the two people who are there, the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Constitutional and Aboriginal Rights, are the participants. I know Mr. Bernhardt was to go to the conference; however, he became ill. My understanding was that he would be attending. But even if he did attend, Mr. Patterson requested that he have the ability to go as well, just to have an opportunity to discuss and talk to people at large. So at this point in time, when people went down there, I would say that Mr. Patterson and Mr. Kakfwi are the official delegates or observers of this conference. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Member for Yellowknife Centre.

This is the ultimate joke then, Mr. Speaker. The only person who has contributed to every one of these constitutional meetings, beginning in Halifax, Montreal, Calgary and Toronto, has been Mr. Funston. He has been a major, lead participant because he has built up a reputation as a constitutional expert. So since he is the only one who has participated -- he knows in great detail what has gone on in every particular part of the country at every one of the conferences -- we now, then, have the only person who has continuity no longer being a participant in the final meeting in Vancouver. Somebody who has had nothing to do with any of them now becomes the leading person.

I would like to ask the Government Leader then, why is it that Mr. Patterson, who has absolutely no clue what went on in all the other ones, is now the official person to replace Mr. Funston, who is the expert?

Thank you. I would like to remind the Members here that if you want to make a long preamble on the original question, I do not mind. But please make a short preamble on the supplementary questions. Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, I would never presume that any individual sitting in this House, whether it was a Minister or whether an ordinary Member, is totally ignorant of the process and has not kept themselves up to date on the whole constitutional issue. Whether you are attending a conference or not, we all listen, we all read, we all have our updates and we are all painfully aware of the problems and the issues that are being faced by many Canadians. We also keep ourselves up to date because many of the people, particularly the aboriginal people of this Legislative Assembly, are watching and being very aware and concerned about how this country is evolving.

So there will be not one person in this Legislative Assembly that I would say could not go to a constitutional conference and very easily be updated on the very recent events, which are only a tag-on to what has been happening for many, many years in this country at very different levels.

I believe that Mr. Patterson has always been very interested in constitutional issues, and he has been updated on a day-to-day basis on what has been going on. I do not believe that Mr. Funston, who is our ongoing technical person, will be playing less of a role than he has in the past. However, we have duly elected people. Whether you are inside or outside, the effect that you have in representing your country is the work you do in relating to other people and making your cause known.

I sincerely believe that Mr. Patterson, the Minister of Justice, whether he is inside the meeting or outside the meeting, will use his every ability like anyone else who would have gone down to that conference to talk to other people, to relate to other people who are in that process. I am sure that there are many other people who are doing the same thing, because there is a limitation to the number of people who can sit inside the ropes.

I can assure the honourable Member that the Minister of Justice has diligently and consistently kept himself up to date on all the efforts that other members have made on the whole process that is going on in this country. I have every confidence, wherever he is sitting, wherever he is standing, that he is going to do the best job that he can, as anyone else would do. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Item 5, oral questions. Member for Keewatin Central.