Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I guess that raises the issue...We have a community -- as was mentioned earlier -- that is ready, willing and able to go to work on these transfers. Yet, there is seemingly some delay by some government departments on providing information and proceeding at the pace in which the community wants to proceed. My supplementary is, what action are you taking, or is Cabinet taking, on trying to accelerate these negotiations and the speed of the community transfer initiatives in Inuvik?

Mr. Kakfwi.

Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am supplying the information to Mr. Irwin through the Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

I take it from that response that Mr. Pollard is the lead Minister with Mr. Irwin. Therefore, my question would be to Minister Pollard, if I may, Mr. Speaker.

(Microphone turned off) ...to a new Minister. Item 5, oral questions. Everybody gets a turn and now you, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Housing acknowledged yesterday what we all know. I quote from unedited Hansard, "we don't have any money for next year for housing." Given that the Housing Corporation budget is before this House this session, I would like to ask Mr. Pollard, who is dealing with Mr. Irwin on this issue? Has Mr. Irwin been asked to give a firm yes or no answer on making up the federal shortfall within a certain time limit this year? Thank you.

Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Irwin has not been asked for a firm deadline. Mr. Irwin, as you know and Members know, met with Cabinet. There was a whole range of issues discussed. The Premier asked me to follow that up with a letter to Mr. Irwin and that letter is fairly lengthy, Mr. Speaker, with regard to all the topics discussed at that particular meeting. The letter is in draft form at the present time. Mr. Todd, I understand, will be seeing Mr. Irwin before I will be seeing him again. So, Mr. Todd will be raising some of those issues, I believe, next week in Rankin Inlet. I understand that Mr. Anawak will be there as well. I will be asking Mr. Todd -- because this is a pressing issue -- to raise that issue with Mr. Irwin, who said he was going to go away and maybe study up a bit on that particular issue. So, next week, hopefully -- a week from this Monday -- Mr. Todd will be meeting with Mr. Irwin and bringing that issue right to the forefront. Then, I will be following up the request for a meeting with the Minister, prior to Christmas, to try to resolve this particular issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 5, oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, given the urgency of the matter, the urgency of tender deadlines and winter road deadlines, and the fact that we don't have the money in our budget at the moment, can I get Mr. Pollard's agreement that it is critical to get a commitment from Mr. Irwin on a firm yes or no by the end of this calendar year on whether or not his department, failing CMHC, will deliver money to meet the shortfall for new social housing units this coming year?

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to have an answer as soon as possible. I know Mr. Morin would like an answer today. I would agree that we should try to get an answer as soon as possible. But saying to get an answer by the end of this calendar year, I'm not prepared to say, Mr. Speaker. I would say we will settle it, hopefully, and get an answer from the Minister as soon as is humanly possible.

Mr. Speaker, there are a number of Ministers involved in this; Mr. Todd, Mr. Morin and myself. There are least two federal Ministers involved in this particular issue: the Treasury Board Minister in Ottawa is involved; and, the Premier is involved in discussions with the Prime Minister and is sending a letter. I think it contains the same kind of information. There are a lot of issues residing with a lot of people. It is not between myself and Mr. Irwin.

There is also a matter that Mr. Morin has been working on, and I hope he would excuse me for replying on his behalf, Mr. Speaker. On the whole matter of fiduciary responsibility of the federal government for aboriginal housing in the Northwest Territories -- before we want to pull the trigger on a bullet that is in the gun on that particular issue -- Mr. Morin wants to do more research into it.

He has been doing research in Ottawa and has somebody working in that regard. Without speaking on behalf of the Minister, I'm merely informing the House that Mr. Morin is doing some research. I'm sure he is not prepared to make some clear and final statements until he has all that information at his disposal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the answers of the Minister of Finance and that it is a complicated issue

involving many Ministers of the federal government. However, Mr. Speaker, it could pose a danger to us if it is not clear who is in charge of giving a clear answer to the people of the Northwest Territories before we have to make final decisions about winter roads and sea lifts.

The Minister of DIAND has, I believe, a major role in the formula financing arrangements with the Northwest Territories. I know Mr. Irwin was briefed when he was here for the opening and I know he's going to be briefed while he is in Rankin Inlet for the Tunngavik annual general meeting. Will Mr. Pollard commit that a meeting should be sought with Mr. Irwin, in the presence of his senior staff, to ensure that the critical importance of this issue and the critical briefing materials are given, not only to the Minister, but to those senior departmental officials who also need to be part of the solution? Will that meeting be sought? Thank you.

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, the first thing that we're saying to those federal ministers is that Mr. Morin only has a certain window of time to deliver many of those housing units in the Northwest Territories. We are making them aware of that critical time frame that we're working in. Mr. Irwin is coming up to speed very quickly on this issue because of the work that was done previously with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs in this regard. The senior bureaucrats in that particular department are aware of it.

When we had last talked to him, he had been in the position ten days, I believe. I'm sure that when we alert his office, Mr. Todd will be raising this critical issue with him in Rankin Inlet next Monday. He will have that information at his disposal. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 5, oral questions. Item 6, written questions. That concludes written questions. We'll take a short recess.

---SHORT RECESS