Mr. Chairman, just to clear up a point, I do not recall ever saying that I was going to legislate. I think he is referring to the fact that I might have said I was going to legislate the unions, legislate collective agreements.

The question was asked, if that had been considered in the department. I took it to mean that has it ever crossed my mind, and I said to be quite honest, which might have been a foolish thing at the time, it was crossing my mind. I do not know if it made it across. That was the thing, it was never a serious thing, but because of the serious financial situation that the government found itself in, that was a consideration that we had, definitely, at the time. How long we thought about it, I do not want to qualify.

In any case, one of the things that is going to happen, in my mind with unions is that as increasing number of northern people, aboriginal people, will start to, and continue to become an increasing larger proportion of union membership. It is going to have a direct proportionate effect of making it increasingly difficult, politically, for us here in the Legislature to be tough. Even now, when you might say, the perception is amongst many people that it is still largely a southern hire, a southern recruited civil service.

For instance, four years ago, before my time, the Minister of Education tried to change something in the education budget and it did not quite work out as well, in part because there was a large outcry from teachers. I think we have never really been that tough in negotiations. There is always a respect for what people have, and what they are working for. It reflects as well, the present agreement that we made with the teachers, and the one that is still not ratified by the Union of Northern Workers, that they respect the fact that the government has no new money. In fact, we are in a deficit. That is why they have agreed to zero and 1.8 in first and second year of the collective agreement. This in fact, is a cut, because it does not even cover inflation. I think we have to respect the fact that these are people who have signed on to serve the government in good faith, with certain exceptions, and there is some moral obligation on our part to maintain what they would perceive as good faith positions. Definitely, in some instances, legal obligation to do so.

There is an item, which I mentioned in my opening remarks, which has to do with pay equity. There again, I think it is something that Members should track as we get into negotiations, because the union filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, about four years ago. It basically said, the way that this government classifies jobs and pays for different work by different people, was discriminating. In particular, women were paid less than men in certain jobs, even though they could be deemed as work of equal value. That item has not been negotiated with the union. I mentioned in my remarks that I am going to in someway, address some of the inequities for all people of the north, but also for aboriginal people who have traditionally filled most of the lower paying jobs in positions within this government. That should be of benefit to them, and also to women.