Item 5, oral questions. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Renewable Resources. Mr. Speaker, in reviewing the minutes of the South Slave divisional board meeting of Friday, February 5, there was a concern expressed to the South Slave divisional board. The concern was about a charter to send students back to Lutsel K'e to attend a funeral for two community members who had died in an accident. The minutes reveal that the charter was donated by the Department of Renewable Resources, no board funds were expended for this. I would like to ask the Minister, what is the policy of the Department of Renewable Resources in respect to donation of charters? Thank you.

Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have to take the question as notice.

The question has been taken as notice. Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Gargan.

Thank you. My question, Mr. Speaker, will be to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Mr. Speaker, I have been a Member now for nearly ten years and I am starting to catch onto the process. Spring is around the corner and we anticipate we will be having floods in my area. I am sure the Minister must have had some ministerial briefings with regard to anticipated problems during the spring thaw. One of the things I have continuously tried to address is with regard to emergency community equipment. The former Minister indicated that there was a cost-sharing program with the federal and territorial governments, I think by the federal government providing 75 per cent. The former Minister also said that they were working with the Hay River reserve to come up with a plan to address that issue. I would like to ask the Minister whether -- this letter is one year old, March 29 -- a meeting has been held to discuss emergency communication equipment with the Hay River reserve?

Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct, there is a joint federal and territorial emergency preparedness program. To the Member's question, the officials of my department have been meeting with the people of the Hay River reserve with respect to emergency preparedness, in the event of an emergency, to come up with a plan. Thank you.

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

I realize there have been meetings with the department regarding the emergency procedures. The reserve has specifically asked for assistance in purchasing emergency communication equipment. Has this been addressed?

Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not know if the community has been assisted in obtaining emergency equipment. If not, I will look into this matter right away for the Member. Thank you.

Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Finance. Mr. Speaker, on February 22, I asked the Minister of Finance some questions about the proposed payroll tax. I asked the Minister if anyone had been hired to work specifically on the Payroll Tax Act, and the Minister answered that not to his knowledge had anyone been hired. I then asked if he would find out for sure if anyone had been hired and he said he would do that. I am still waiting for the response, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister again, does the Minister know if anyone has been hired to work specifically on the Payroll Tax Act?

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Finance incurred costs in the development of the Payroll Tax Act prior to Committee Motion 47-12(3) on December 8, 1992. Details of these costs were provided to the Standing Committee on Finance on January 12, 1993. These costs were absorbed within the Department of Finance and no supplementary estimate was required. A supplementary appropriation was requested in November, 1992, to provide funding for the development of systems and regulations and for a payroll tax information officer. Coincidentally, an employee of the Department of Finance in Inuvik returned to work on November 30, 1992, from secondment to the Union of Northern Workers. A transfer agreement was executed transferring the employee from Inuvik to headquarters to work in the tax administration division. For the first several days of her employment, this employee was provided with the training required to enable her to answer technical questions on the payroll tax and to support work on the development of regulations, forms and administrative procedures. With the deletion of the payroll tax supplementary estimate on December 8, 1992, this employee was reassigned to other responsibilities. Since mid-December she has been working on tobacco tax inventory declarations, the review of the petroleum product tax regulations and property taxes.

In early December the department also had a toll free telephone tax information line installed, the cost of which has been approximately $1,080 to date. Although the payroll tax has not proceeded as scheduled, continued tax administration related to the tax has been necessary in order to respond to questions from the Standing Committee on Finance and from others, and to undertake related research. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Koe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister indicate that the amounts of money which have been incurred against this payroll tax, are those funds coming out of the general pot of the Department of Finance or are there specific amounts allocated for these tasks?

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, with regard to the property tax and tobacco tax, these are ongoing and that would be coming out of that area of our budget. We have been responding on the payroll tax to either the Standing Committee on Finance, Cabinet or researchers, and we have been responding to staff as required. The director of fiscal policy has been involved. The deputy minister has been involved. We have been spreading it around the department as the requests for information came in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Premier. On September 30, 1992 I asked her what this government has done with respect to the request made by Arctic Co-operatives Ltd. to develop credit unions in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, the Premier said she wanted to give my question credit. She took it as notice. I think she was trying to make a little joke with those words. Mr. Speaker, I think it is called a "pun."

Mr. Speaker, I still have an interest in this issue. I have noted my earlier question has not been paid "dividends" so far.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, I wonder when the Premier might be able to provide me with a return on my earlier "investment" and bring an answer to this House? Thank you.

Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, I am sad to hear that the investment has not been returned. Mr. Speaker, regarding the issue of credit unions, I asked the Minister of Finance to follow through on this issue regarding requests from credit unions and the development of a process to deal with them. The only reason I did not respond to the oral question was I said I had referred it to the Minister of Finance to carry through with his ongoing financial responsibilities. I would request that questions of that nature be referred, as they have

been in the last couple of weeks, to the Minister of Finance, and Economic Development and Tourism. Thank you.