Mr. Speaker, I am a new Minister and I have not dealt with the YMIR issue before, but the way I am handling it is that I have asked the Workers' Compensation Board at one of the first meetings I had with them, noting that the YMIR is now a number of years out of date and has not been adjusted, I asked the Workers' Compensation Board, for whom it is an issue, to make recommendations to me on a priority basis on what would be an appropriate new level on the YMIR. The board is diligently working on that, Mr. Speaker. Once I get their

recommendations I will have to take them to cabinet and then, in the usual process, through this House for a legislative amendment to the WCB Act which would then approve a new YMIR.

Supplementary, Mr. Lewis.

Thank you. To the same Minister. We are currently at the stage where Mr. Hinchey will cease to be the chairman of that board -- in the middle of the month -- and there are all kinds of uncertainties about membership on that board. Is it real or a fact that we now have a board that will find it difficult to make decisions within the next few months?

Mr. Patterson.

I would say not at all, Mr. Speaker. First of all, the terms of the current four members of the board do not end until June or July, and I expect that that issue will have been well in hand and will have been dealt with at the board level long before June or July.

As far as the chairman is concerned, he will be attending and chairing the next meeting of the WCB at the end of this month, at which I expect that issue to be resolved and from which I expect recommendations to be made to me for furtherance with cabinet and the Legislature. So I do not think there is going to be any problem of discontinuity by any changes that might be made in chairperson or board members. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Lewis.

Should changes to the levels be recommended, could the Minister indicate to the House what timetable for legislation he could envisage? For example, could he get this accomplished by the June or July session or would we have to wait until the fall?

Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, as the honourable Member knows, the legislative timetable is not up to the Minister alone; it depends on the standing committee on legislation who may well choose to have public hearings or receive submissions on the proposed amendment to the act once it gets to second reading. But having mentioned that caveat, Mr. Speaker, I think that it is realistic to expect that I could bring legislation to the next session of this Assembly in June, July, and then we will have to see how fast it can move. It really is a one-line amendment but there is a the matter of consultation and public hearing which will have to be determined by the standing committee on legislation.

Oral questions. Ms. Mike.

Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs. Recently I was troubled by public comments made by one of the Minister's colleagues that if there is a strong "No" vote on the boundary plebiscite the Inuit land claim will be lost. Has the Minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs undertaken any studies or developed any contingency plans which will guide the government's response in the event of a strong "No" vote on the boundary plebiscite?

Mr. Kakfwi.

Supplementary, Ms. Mike.

Can the Minister assure the House that the hard work and commitment that has already gone into the Nunavut land claim will not be wiped out in the event of a "No" vote?

Mr. Kakfwi.

Oral questions. Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As Members probably have read, decisions in this House yesterday have somehow challenged the ability of government to make reductions in the Housing Corporation. I want to ask the Minister if he is prepared to guarantee that in the restructuring of the Housing Corporation, as was proposed yesterday by the bill, whether or not he can guarantee to the House that the net savings to government would amount to $1.3 million or more.

Minister of Housing, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will not save one cent because there is no change.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Nerysoo.

Mr. Speaker, the honourable Member is willing to indicate that Members here are not prepared to find net savings in government. He said that there would be savings. Could he guarantee to me, as a Member who opposed any changes in the Housing Corporation, that net savings would be $1.3 million?

Mr. Morin.