Good afternoon. Orders of the day for Wednesday, February 19, 1992. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Madam Government Leader.

Mr. Speaker, the need to change government in a way that makes more sense at both the territorial and community levels is long overdue. It is time to put more people to work in jobs that give them greater control over capital projects and programs and services delivered in their home communities. That is what Members of the Legislative Assembly have been talking about. That is the message we want to give to all residents of the Northwest Territories.

Government in the Northwest Territories has an excellent opportunity to be different and unique in the way it responds to the needs of the people who elected us to office. There is no other part of Canada that has the opportunity we have. Their structures of government and their political party systems are too firmly established. I was reminded of this during last week's First Ministers' Conference on the Economy.

In order to achieve our goal of reshaping northern government, we have to work together and make sure that our special form of consensus government works to the benefit of all people in the Northwest Territories. With a shared vision and co-operation, we will be successful in reshaping the way government does business in the North. With confidence and resourcefulness, we will solve our financial difficulties. With determination and creativity, we will find ways to address our economic differences and get people back to work or into the work force for the first time.

Mr. Speaker, there are many important issues facing all of us. They include defining a new way of managing government in the Northwest Territories. The current system does not work properly. It is burdensome, and it costs too much money.

We have to give communities greater responsibility and the resources to deal with basic matters such as education, economic development and social services. Unless we place these responsibilities at the community level, our constituents will continue to rely on others to solve their problems for them.

The issues also include making better use of our money and human resources while finding new sources of revenue from increased economic activity. That means we must encourage all forms of investment in the Northwest Territories, in both renewable and non-renewable sectors.

Job creation, social programs, education and training must remain top priorities. Recognizing the economic and social well-being of our communities must be the starting point of all our decision-making. Those are the messages presented in a speech to Members three months ago, just before you elected me to the position of Government Leader. They have not changed. Later today, I will be tabling a document that proposes the first steps we can take to reorganize government and transfer responsibilities to community-level governments.

Mr. Speaker, our implementation plan on reshaping northern government identifies the various jobs involved in reshaping government, a process in which this can take place, and a time frame for getting things done. The first step must be to soften the effects of the government's deficit position. The Minister of Finance has already spoken about new budget processes. He spoke about our desire and commitment to work with Members in returning to a balanced budget within two years. Of particular importance is his recommendation of presenting our capital budget in the fall of each year in order to meet the summer transportation and construction season. By taking this approach, we can make sure that projects are planned well in advance and that construction activity in any one year does not exceed what the local labour force can handle.

The Minister of Public Works will speak later in the session about a plan to equip northern people to build northern projects. We may have less money, but that is no reason why we cannot find ways to get more people back to work.

Like other jurisdictions in Canada, we must make sure that government is organized so that it does business and delivers programs and services in the most efficient manner possible. Overlap and duplication must be avoided to make sure that our most important services are maintained. All boards and agencies must be reviewed to determine if they are still needed.

A commitment to strong, effective government management and cost efficiencies and controls at both the territorial and local levels is essential. Senior management of our government is committed to this task, Mr. Speaker. We have had many meetings with them since early December, and I can tell you that they are anxious to get on with the job. So are the communities. Reports we are receiving tell us quite clearly that it is about time government transferred more control to the local levels.

The time frame we have to make the changes we want is very limited. But a stronger, more confident Northwest Territories, doing more with less, is well within our reach if everyone is prepared to work for it. Government, the Legislative Assembly and its committees have to co-ordinate their efforts and start the process right now if we want to obtain results during the four-year term of our mandate.

Decisions to carry out significant changes during the term of the government will have to be made during the first 18 months of our term. This is a window of opportunity based on budget cycles and administrative capability. How we make these changes is up to all of us, but when we make them is no longer a matter of choice .

Mr. Speaker, our initial proposals for reshaping government and its programs and services were announced in December. Since our last session, we have been identifying the various steps involved, a process in which changes can take place, and a time frame for getting things done.

As a result of this review, we are proposing to take several immediate steps:

1) To improve co-ordination and efficiency in responding to the user-driven health and social service needs of northern residents, we are proposing a phased consolidation of the Department of Health and the Department of Social Services;

2) to provide better co-ordination of matters dealing with the sentencing and confinement of offenders at territorial and community levels, responsibility for corrections will be moved into the Department of Justice;

3) to provide a renewed emphasis on the important links between education, employment and culture, we are proposing that all programs dealing with education, employment and culture be moved, in phases, into one department. The initial consolidation would involve cultural and educational programs;

4) to gain greater efficiencies in the delivery of petroleum products and their use, we are proposing to move responsibility for the petroleum, oils and lubricants program under the NWT Power Corporation;

5) to provide improved co-ordination and gain administrative efficiencies, we are proposing to consolidate other programs and services of Government Services under the Department of Public Works; and

6) to assist the decision-making process and to eliminate unnecessary committee structures, we are proposing to restructure the Department of the Executive and its central agencies.

Mr. Speaker, still under consideration are consolidations that may affect regulatory functions; environmental responsibilities; design, engineering, construction and maintenance of houses; transportation and municipal and public works facilities; economic development responsibilities; and social housing policy.

In these areas, we have to decide whether consolidation is desired and in what time frame they should occur. It is desirable that decisions on these outstanding questions be made during 1992 to allow consolidations to occur during the term of the current Legislative Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, consolidation of departments and changing the way government programs and services are delivered is only the first step toward developing new structures of government in the Northwest Territories. As I mentioned earlier, we are determined that government must also recognize the local way of getting things done. We need to encourage greater community self-sufficiency with strong community governments making their own decisions on behalf of the people who elected them. This means community ownership of programs and services controlled by local people who know the community and who can set their own funding priorities. Proposals on the approaches and arrangements designed to provide for local control and to set the stage for community transfer agreements are also set out in the implementation plan.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, getting this job done will require strong leadership, a common purpose and a willingness to make hard choices. In reshaping northern government, all of us will have to revise our expectations of government's capacity to meet everyone's needs. Mr. Speaker, we must plan and manage better, to do what matters most. Thank you.

---Applause

Ministers' statements. Mr. Kakfwi.

Ministers' statements. Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There have been a number of questions this week about a request by teachers at Sir Alexander Mackenzie Elementary School in Inuvik for additional days to take more in-service training and

to handle administrative duties. Mr. Speaker, the teachers' request to the community education council was turned down last November. As a result, the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association is supporting a work-to-rule situation. This means that teachers are not participating in school activities that take place outside of normal classes until they get what they want.

This is unfortunate, Mr. Speaker. Under our Education Act, teachers are required to spend 190 days -- or just a little more than six months each year -- teaching our students. The collective agreement provides them with an additional five paid professional development days each year. Now the teachers at Sir Alexander Mackenzie School want an additional one and a half in-service days and one more day at the end of the year for administrative purposes. School would be closed on these days.

Mr. Speaker, there is a public process for establishing the school year in each jurisdiction. School calendars and schedules are developed by divisional boards of education and are based on our criteria of 190 teaching days. The development of the schedules involves consultation with parents through community education councils. That is the way it should be done, and I do not see any reason to change this practice.

As a result, I was pleased to learn yesterday that the Beaufort/Delta Divisional Board of Education will be reviewing this matter. Once the review has been completed, the board will be presenting a recommendation to my office.

Ministers' statements. Mr. Kakfwi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am very happy to announce today that Iqaluit's Toonik Tyme has been chosen as one of the top 100 events in North America for 1992, by the prestigious American Bus Association...

---Laughter

---Applause

...which has 700 bus companies and 2000 travel organization members. This ranks Iqaluit's Toonik Tyme alongside such important Canadian events as the Quebec Winter Carnival, Klondike Days in Edmonton, Discovery Days in the Yukon, the Stratford Festival in Ontario, and Canada's 125th anniversary in Ottawa.

Iqaluit's Toonik Tyme was picked by travel industry professionals from among hundreds of submissions from all across North America. The events or festivals considered must celebrate ethnic diversity and/or historic moments and are ranked on amount of community support, uniqueness and national reputation. The top 100 events were announced on December 3 in Nashville, Tennessee, at the ABA's Marketplace, a premier travel industry tourism show. The winning events have been listed in a full colour brochure distributed by the ABA to its 2700 members.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the community of Iqaluit and their very hard-working Toonik Tyme organizing committee, who helped make last year's Toonik Tyme a great success. The special feature last year, and a highlight, was the northern entertainment night, which featured entertainers from across the Northwest Territories and northern Quebec.

The first Toonik Tyme was held in 1965. Bryan Pearson, then mayor of Iqaluit, and Abe Okpik, a holder of the Order of Canada, were the prime organizers. From the beginning, Toonik Tyme was a springtime festival designed to promote tourism and celebrate the traditional games and skills of the Inuit, with a modern flavour. Consistent features over the years have been dog-team races, a long distance skidoo race to Lake Harbour and back, igloo building, seal skinning contests, and such modern northern sports as the honey-bag fling. Over the years many prominent Canadians have been conferred the title and accompanying scroll of "Honorary Tooniks," the first being Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.

I would like to invite you all to Toonik Tyme '92, April 19 to 25, to attend this wonderful event in the spring sun of Baffin Island. Now all we have to do is figure out how to get the buses up there! Thank you.

I think all Members share in your joy, Mr. Patterson.

---Laughter

Members' statements. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on January 27, 1992, the Keewatin Regional Health Board issued a news release indicating that a dentist who provided dental services to patients in the Keewatin Region had died three days earlier as a result of an AIDS related disease. This was confirmed by information from the office of the government's press secretary in Yellowknife.

As I understand it, Mr. Speaker, all available scientific evidence suggests that the risk of a dentist or, indeed, any health care professional, infecting patients with the HIV condition is extremely slight. The risk is further reduced when appropriate infection control procedures, such as the ones used by the Canadian Dental Association, are used.

It is my understanding, Mr. Speaker, that the dentist, the late Dr. Ian Carmichael, was diligent in using these infection control procedures. I am also aware that the acting chief medical health officer for the Northwest Territories has assured the public that risk to patients who received dental care from Dr. Carmichael is very low. At the same time, Mr. Speaker, anyone who knows the history of epidemics in the Keewatin Region or, for that matter, the vast devastation caused by disease at certain times in our history, in all regions of the Northwest Territories, will surely understand the utter dread that exists at the very thought of widespread HIV infection in our small northern communities.

I believe there are certain questions which should be asked about the situation, not from an alarmist perspective but in the interest of accountability. It is important to ensure that the statutory and procedural mechanisms that this government has put into place to protect our northern communities from the spread of communicable disease are equal to the task and will safeguard our people adequately. It is for this reason -- and definitely not the reason, or any sort of reason, to raise unwanted alarm -- that I will be asking some questions in the House today, of the Minister of Health. Thank you.

Members' statements. Members' statements. Mr. Lewis.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was concerned yesterday about the way we were being asked to advance toward the plebiscite in May. It was not with any sense of being awkward or disruptive that I denied the unanimous consent to deal with the whole plebiscite issue yesterday. The concern I have is that we are continually being told that this is a plebiscite simply to do with the boundary, and yet, despite those allegations, time and time again when you look at the plebiscite question, there are all kinds of preambles of what is going to happen in the Beaufort Sea, what is going to happen in the Mackenzie Valley, what is going to happen with employment, and so on. It seems to me that if it is just simply a matter of a boundary, then it should be made clear in the plebiscite question that that is all we are talking about, without having all these additions that tend to obscure what we are trying to do.

The other concern I have, again related to the plebiscite question, is the way in which we are trying to adjust ages, so that you can be this age to vote for that and another age to vote for something else. It is becoming an issue which I feel is becoming crowded and will make it very difficult for the people of the NWT to deal with something which, according to the statement Mr. Kakfwi made this morning, has been delegated to the Executive Council to deal with, without the input of the other Members of this House. I am very concerned about it.

Members' statements.

Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Pudlat.

(Translation) Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Education. I am not sure if he will be able to answer me at this time, but for a long time now we have been requesting a school. I am wondering what progress has been made since the request was put in. I asked about this during the last session, and at that time he indicated that he would be more able to respond to me within a month or so concerning the school in Lake Harbour.

Minister of Education, Mr. Allooloo.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we come to the capital items in the budget, I will be bringing up the matter of the request for a school in Lake Harbour. Once we get approval and it becomes concrete, we will find out from that point on whether we will be giving you a school in Lake Harbour.

Oral questions. Mr. Pudluk.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is also directed to the Minister of Education. When new teachers are hired to reside in the NWT, and seeing the traditions and cultures are different from the southern styles and cultures, are the teachers orientated about the unique culture before they are hired?

Mr. Minister.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we offer positions to the teachers, the hiring is done by the divisional boards of education; they are interviewed by the territorial government as well as the divisional board members. Cross-cultural workshops can be provided and acknowledgement of our culture can be provided through those workshops. For instance, they hold them in the Denendeh region and the Inuvialuit regions, and they are usually given cross-cultural workshops by their divisional boards of education to improve cross-cultural awareness and the differences between these cultures; however, if they are actually provided long-term education concerning cross-cultural awareness, that is something that I am not certain about. That probably falls under the jurisdiction of the divisional boards, and the regional centres take care of things like that. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.