(Translation) Thank you, Madam Speaker. There was an election held recently, as my colleague mentioned earlier. I would also like to mention some results. I won't be naming specific names, but there was a hamlet council election and I want to thank those people who got elected. I also thank the people who ran, even though they didn't get re-elected. To them, I extend my thanks.

Also, Madam Chair, I want to thank the people who were members of hamlet councils who weren't re-elected. I am sure they will continue to contribute. The elections of the education councils were also done at the same time. We thank them for their interest and I am sure they will take their job seriously. I want to extend a very special thank you to all those people who took the time to run, who have interest. I say thank you to all of the people who were elected. We look forward to your help in the coming year. Thank you, Madam Chair.

---Applause

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Whitford.

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Gargan.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, it has been a little over a year since the Member for Nahendeh has updated us on the shenanigans in the fictional community of Lynx River on the television show, North of 60. Madam Speaker, I must say I certainly admire the chief of Lynx River for his accomplishments over the last year. So far, I have seen at least four new houses...

---Laughter

---Applause

...and a town recreation centre built. He even convinced a couple of crazy Italians to build a tannery to provide employment for the community. Madam Speaker, I mean no offence to Italians by calling the two of them in the show crazy. But I do think anyone who builds a factory in a town with no transportation infrastructure is crazy.

---Laughter

Madam Speaker, I again mean no offence to the Member for Nahendeh when I say Italians would be much better off building a tannery in Fort Providence. The community at least has a road in and out of it. We can offer cheap land and a trained and willing workforce. Did I leave some of my notes somewhere?

---Laughter

Madam Speaker, wouldn't it be great if we did have people from Italy and Japan coming to our doorstep and begging us to start business in our communities.

Madam Speaker, the mountie is no longer going with the nurse. And the nurse is no longer going with reality.

---Laughter

I may be pursuing a line of questioning in question period as to why the nurse was sent to Edmonton for psychiatric observation, instead of to the fine facility we have in Yellowknife.

---Laughter

---Applause

I believe this may have been a waste of taxpayers' money. Madam Speaker, is this why some of our smaller communities cannot keep a nurse? We may have to enact legislation to keep the mounties away from the nurses, so neither one of them ends up getting...(inaudible)...after their relationship falls apart.

Mr. Gargan, your time has expired.

Madam Speaker, I would like unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Please proceed, Mr. Gargan.

Madam Speaker, I have missed a couple of episodes, so I really don't know where TV, the young man who is always getting into trouble, is. I might venture to guess that he is in the River Ridge facility contemplating an escape.

---Laughter

---Applause

Finally, Madam Speaker, on a serious note, in the last episode there was an idea that I would like to apply to all companies doing business in the north. Companies that might be shy or hesitant about entering in a deal with native development boards. Jerry, the store owner, was kind of encouraged by the residents of Lynx River to invest in their tannery, along with the band and the Government of the Northwest Territories. He was feeling quite unsure about his investment and threatened to pull out of this scam until a bit of friendly economic blackmail on the part of the residents of Lynx River persuaded him to do otherwise. Madam Speaker, this idea came from the Dene women who work with Jerry and is the same one I would like to apply to all businesses involved with native development boards in the Northwest Territories -- stick around, who knows, you just might get rich along with the rest of us. Thank you, Madam Speaker and seasons greetings.

---Applause

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Kivallivik, Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I was very proud and happy to hear that on December 6, a young lady by the name of Yvonne Niego accomplished a feat that no other had completed to date. She was the first Inuk to graduate from the regular RCMP basic recruit training program in Regina, as all other Inuit who join our distinguished police force become special constables.

Yvonne was born in Toronto in 1971. She was raised in Baker Lake the first 13 years of her life. She then moved to Rankin Inlet for a year when her father, who was originally from Baker Lake, was transferred there. She moved, once again, with her parents to Fort Smith, where her father completed the renewable resource officer program. Yvonne moved, yet again, to Baker Lake and undertook a year of correspondence courses to do her grade ten and 11. She graduated in 1989 from the Maani Ulujuk High School, the second year of the grade 12 program in the Keewatin Region. She then went to the University of Calgary for a year.

Her interests in the RCMP started with the aboriginal constable development program, as a summer student for two months in Baker Lake. She then went on to the regular RCMP program this past summer. Her graduation on December 6, was attended by her father Joseph Niego and her grandmother on her mother's side of the family. Yvonne will be starting her new career in the town of Iqaluit where she hopes to live for the next few years.

When I asked her if there was anything she would like to pass on to other people, she said that she hopes more people will become involved in furthering their education, exactly the same sentiment this Legislative Assembly has stated.

She came to Yellowknife on Tuesday of last week to visit with her family until Friday, when she will leave for Iqaluit. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Iqaluit, Mr. Patterson.

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. The honourable Member for Keewatin Central, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have two returns to oral questions. One asked by Mr. Antoine on December 13, with respect to the hunting corridor along the Ingraham Trail. The Ingraham Trail development areas firearms regulations were made under the Area Development Act, rather than the Wildlife Act because the Wildlife Act is designed to deal primarily with wildlife management, not with public safety issues. Under the Area Development Act, a development area may be designated in order to regulate the orderly development of an area. Section 6 of the Area Development Act provides authority for the Commissioner, on the recommendation of the Minister of MACA, to make regulations respecting "the regulation or the prohibition of the discharge of guns or other firearms within the development area."

Secondly, I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Whitford on December 13, with respect to the control of sales of low alcohol beer to children.

The Department of Safety and Public Services has received a number of concerns from parents and educators that beer and wine products containing .5 per cent alcohol by volume are presently being sold in confectionaries, grocery stores and convenience stores across the territories. We have received a small number of reports of instances where these products have been purchased by children or teens. Although the risk that youngsters may become intoxicated after consuming these drinks is almost negligible, there is always a possibility that their ready availability will convey the incorrect message that there are no hazards associated with the use of alcohol.

Safety and Public Works is developing policy that will restrict youth access to these products. At the same time, it is recognized that, since the proliferation of these products in the Canadian marketplace, many adult consumers have begun using them as substitutes for more potent varieties of beer and wine. Since quantities of these products can be consumed without causing intoxication, they can be a factor in reducing the incidence of impaired driving and are a favoured alternative for moderate drinkers who want the taste of beer or wine but not the alcohol content or the calories of more traditional brands.

The department is looking to work together with the storekeepers across the territories to implement a series of guidelines that will prevent the sale of these products to young people, while still allowing their availability for adult consumers.

Guidelines will include requirements that stores will not sell low alcohol beverages to customers under the age of nineteen years and that they not offer sales promotions or display in-store advertising. There will also be a requirement that stores make product advisory information available. Wording and translation of the guidelines are now being finalized and will be distributed to sellers of non-alcoholic beverages before the end of January 1994.

Plans for our policy development in this area have been communicated to the parents' organization and school officials who raised these concerns in the first place and there seems to be general support for this approach. The department is now in the process of advising Chambers of Commerce of the directions we will be taking.

The effectiveness of these guidelines will be evaluated following six and 12 month intervals. If it is found that this approach has not been sufficient to stop the sale of low alcohol beer and wine to youngsters, then legislative action will be taken to fully regulate the products so they can only be sold in liquor stores and licensed premises. Unfortunately, this would mean that all adult consumers in many small communities would not be able to access them as easily, when they want an alternative to drinking full-strength beer and wine. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, oral questions. The honourable Member for Aivilik, Mr. Arvaluk.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Programs. Has the Minister reviewed the petition that was presented by the people of Chesterfield Inlet regarding the overcrowding of their Victor Sammurtok School?

Thank you. Minister of Education, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have reviewed the petition. I've got additional information with regard to that particular matter. The information that I received comes from the board. The manner in which the school is occupied, suggests that the occupancy is about 68.3 per cent. In other words, the occupancy rate for a student population there is about 132 and the present population, I believe, is about 95 students. That is the information I have received.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Arvaluk.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Then, can the Minister explain to me, or Chesterfield Inlet, why there are classes in the hallways, in the industrial arts section and in the home economics area when there is only a 68.3 per cent occupancy rate?

Thank you. Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is difficult for me to explain. The petition indicated that there was not enough space. The information I have received from the board, that takes care of that particular school, suggests to me that there is space available. I would presume there needs to be a bit more planning. I am not, personally, opposed to finding additional methods of responding to the situation, if the board and community have agreed on the solution. That is the only suggestion I would make at this particular juncture. As soon as I hear that, I would be prepared to deal with that particular matter.