Thank you. To the motion, Mr. Ballantyne.

I'm not quite sure what the confusion is about. It seems very, very straightforward to me what the standing committee is asking for here. We have been quite consistent and have been quite strong with this and it is going to be a big issue during the next budget session.

Basically, what we are saying is, one, we fully support the government's zero tolerance to violence policy, but we want to see some teeth in it and we want to see something concrete and tangible in the next budget. If that costs money, that costs money. The second thing we are saying is we think the only real, long-term way to deal with many of the social problems of the Northwest Territories is to intervene with kids, intervene with the young and intervene quite aggressively. We think those two issues are very important and we want the government to make those two issues priorities of the government in the next year.

The wellness strategy, the anti-violence strategy, we are actually giving recommendations which are fine-tuning your very own policies and your very own philosophies. I don't see that there is any confusion here. I don't see that there should be any problem with it at all. The Premier talks about bringing it down to the community level; we don't have a problem with that. That is obviously, ultimately, how the issues have to be addressed, at the community level. You address them at the community level, but we want to see violence addressed and early intervention with youth addressed.

The other recommendation to the Ministers of Education and Social Services is to at least try, in a couple of regions, a model of the school-based system. There may be other models. What we are saying, though, is that this one has proved itself, so let's try it. It is one tool of many. The committee doesn't see any confusion and it shouldn't cause any problem, whatsoever, for the government. We were very careful about how we did this and how we brought it forward. So, we are very strongly supporting this and looking for tangible results in the budget session. That is why these recommendations are being made now, so that there is fair warning to the government that this is the direction we want to see the government go. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Chairman, I have no problem with supporting the recommendation. The only problem I have is making it a priority. I have talked with some Members about the whole issue of salaries and benefits for care givers, alcohol and drug treatment workers, home makers, even people who work in family violence shelters. What does this do to those

kinds of initiatives we want to see go ahead? My concern is what we give in some areas, we take away from other areas.

I just want to make sure that when it comes time to bring these issues forward, we don't say that we already have given priority to other areas and that we should stick to those first. It takes away the priorities that other Members may have. I can tell you right now, Mr. Chairman, that as far as youth programs going to Providence, things are going well there already. They are organizing a trip to Edmonton for a youth conference on dream capture, for example. They are doing a lot of fund raising and so on, to do these kinds of things. I don't know whether that is more positive than trying to come up with new dollars and give it to them outright, without a second thought about what it might do to them in the future.

Thank you. To the motion.

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you. The motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Ballantyne.

One quick comment on this, Mr. Chairman. The thinking here was, because there were a number of unexpected developments during the past year which made it impossible for the government to come up with a balanced budget, and because of the uncertainty of the next year as we negotiate formula financing and try to work out the various disagreements we have with the federal government, it would be unrealistic to expect the government to come up with a balanced budget in this fiscal year.

But, we think that, in the longer term, between now and 1988, that they should put a plan into place so that we can make sure that, by 1988, we don't have any accumulated debt.

1998.

Bravo? Thank you.

Bravo.

---Laughter

Thank you. To the motion.

Question.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion is carried.

---Carried

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That concludes the report Investing in Our Future.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, having learned from the last time when we were late producing information for the committee with regard to recommendations that they had made, I would just caution Members of the House that we have looked at the amount of work that is required to respond by December 23rd. We will make every effort to make those responses and have them available for the committee, but some of them may be pretty skinny, Mr. Chairman. There is a lot of work there and, presently, the staff who does this kind of stuff are tied up responding to this House.

I don't have to tell Members the amount of time our staff spends responding to questions made in the House, or preparing documents, budgets, et cetera. We will try to make the deadline, but some of the information may be a little thin, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Do we agree that this report is concluded?

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you. Mr. Koe.

Mr. Chairman, I move that we report progress.

The motion to report progress is not debatable. All those in favour of the motion to report progress, please signify. All those opposed? Motion is carried.

---Carried I will report progress.

I will call the House back to order. Item 21, report of committee of the whole. The honourable Member for Natilikmiot, Mr. Ningark.