Mr. Speaker, the direction the Minister took was the direction he felt was necessary. Exactly

why the timing was what it was...I would like to inform the Members of the Legislative Assembly that the chronology was put together at my request by the former Minister and his staff, because of the concerns around this issue. So, in terms of how and when and why it didn't happen before December 31, sometimes we are not in control of the timing. I know that, certainly, with the financial state of the community, there was some urgency pressed upon us to deal with that.

I suppose we could put off these decisions until a more politically appropriate time, after the session or after the mid term review, but at the time that the Minister made the decision, he felt it was imperative that we deal with it. It was important enough, so he did so. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Ng.

Madam Premier, was there not ample opportunity to brief the MLA prior to the decision being made, or to work with the municipal council in trying to rectify the problem before that action had to be taken?

Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that over a number of years and up to that time, the department and the Minister had spent a great deal of time working with the council trying to resolve the issue. As I have said before, we apologize. Yes, we could have informed the Member. We have apologized for that and we acknowledge that we could have communicated a lot sooner. Thank you.

Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Lewis.

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, there was no question that the Department of Finance realized that Iqaluit could not meet its financial obligations. This was the issue we were dealing with, but we were also aware that it was not all of the issue. We were faced with the task of having to write off some $4 million in interest payments that the town of Iqaluit could not pay us.

We were also aware that there were some other problems at that time. We were talking about up to another $1 million that this municipality may not be able to cover. As late as yesterday, I was told by somebody from Iqaluit -- and not a government employee, I might add -- that amount may go as high as another $2.4 million. The Department of Finance was gravely concerned about the state of the finances of the town of Iqaluit.

To answer the specific question that Mr. Lewis has put to me through you, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Allooloo's options were to come back to the Financial Management Board with more information. The board did not turn down the issue, simply because we knew that, sooner or later, we were going to have to make an arrangement with this particular municipality for at least $4 million.

There was just no way they could actually pay us. We knew that. So, what we were requesting from Mr. Allooloo at that time was for the consideration and further information. We felt we did have some more time to enable him to go away and to come back with that particular submission. His options at that time were to go away and come back to us and fulfil the information that we requested. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary, Mr. Lewis.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is again regarding the events of early to mid October, 1993. After failing to convince the Financial Management Board that this debenture issue should be resolved by helping Iqaluit get out of their financial difficulty, would the Minister not agree that the statement in the chronology of events which states that, "approval for debenture re-financing the town, it would still face financial problems," constitutes turning down the request, as he understood it?

There are other events, for example, information collected even yesterday about a further $2 million. Would he not agree that, at the time, it was turned down and that the position that was presented to the board wasn't adequate to resolve the issue?

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, when something is turned down at the Financial Management Board level and it is rejected, then it is off the table, it is gone. "No" would be the answer, and it would be gone. In this instance, this didn't

happen. What happened was that the issue was still alive with the Financial Management Board. It is just that, at that particular time, there was not enough information to make a decision about that issue. So, it was realized that it would have to be dealt with at a later date.

A rejection to me is when we say no, it is off the table and don't bring that thing back here any more. That didn't happen. Everyone knew that issue was going to come back to us again. So maybe I am splitting hairs, Mr. Speaker, but I cannot say it was rejected because that doesn't meet what we term a rejection at the Financial Management Board. I hope that clarifies the issue, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Lewis.

All right. Assuming this was still on the table, Mr. Speaker, and it wasn't rejected, did Mr. Allooloo, at any time after that, come back to the Financial Management Board with any other proposal?

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, when the issue came back, it was deemed there was sufficient information to deal with that issue at that time. FMB chose to make a decision in that regard. Thank you.

Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, I am heartened to hear from the Premier and the new Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs that democracy would not be suspended except as a last possible resort, after all other steps had been taken. Everything I have learned about this situation, from talking to officials, is the real problem was the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs did not have confidence in the senior administrative officer in the town of Iqaluit. They acknowledge the duly elected town council had inherited a situation that had developed long before they were in office. In fact, since 1987. Given that, the Premier has said we took every last possible step. I would like to specifically ask this. Was it not available to the Cabinet to say to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs -- who asked their advice -- "We are prepared to provide a $3 million or $4 million rescue package," but to meet with the mayor and council and say, "Our people cannot work with your senior administrative officer. Deal with that person, replace that person, we will even offer you an administrator, otherwise, we are considering the drastic step of dissolving the council." Isn't that the last step that could have and should have been taken, Mr. Speaker? That is my question to the Premier. Thank you.

Madam Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister responsible, at that time, made a decision because this was an outstanding, long, extended issue. To my understanding, this had previously been done. This option was offered to the council, or suggested to the council, that they must do something about that issue. I don't have the chronology, but that was also part of recommendations that had been given to the town of Iqaluit at a previous occasion. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, is the Premier saying that the mayor of Iqaluit was asked to deal with the problem of the senior administrative officer? Were they told to replace that person or further drastic steps would be taken? Thank you.

Madam Premier.