Thank you. Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, as the Member is aware, all across the Northwest Territories, this has been an unusually dry season. To my knowledge, there haven't been any accidental water spills that would have contributed to the requirement of extra charges to provide power to this region. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

Supplementary, I didn't hear a definitive yes or no. I'll ask then that the Minister make that information available to this House.

Thank you. Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, I did reply that, to my knowledge, there wasn't a release of water by

accident to contribute to the lack of water for the provision of hydro to this area.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

Supplementary. I remember it was just yesterday when the Premier didn't have that knowledge and actually took the question as notice. It seems like just yesterday that she wasn't able to answer that question. So, I'll rephrase my question, Madam Speaker. Can the Minister make available a report from the Power Corporation that will answer my question? Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, yes, I'll do that. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Lewis.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to ask the Government Leader, since we discussed the issue of recall in our strategic meeting in Fort Smith and since there was some support to have the government prepare a legislative proposal in this area, has the government yet looked at this issue?

Thank you. Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, no.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Lewis.

Since this was one of the issues that we spent some time on in Fort Smith, and because it was a strategic session which dealt with important issues of our times, and since the decision was made in Fort Smith, does the Minister intend to direct her staff to develop such a legislative proposal?

Thank you. Madam Premier.

Madam Speaker, I will commit myself to take a look at that. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral question. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Whitford.

Ohh.

Thank you. Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board, Mr. Todd.

Well, it is not often that you are compared to Albert Schweitzer, so I'll take the compliment as a serious one. My understanding is that the Department of Health sends out a list of contagious diseases every month and I would like to add a new one to it, when it comes to WCB. I would like to define it as whining. Because no matter what you do in this arena, when you have bad news, they're not happy and when you have good news, they're not happy.

The fact of the matter is, the appointment of the new board two years ago -- which I hand picked, in consultation with people across the territories...

---Applause

Thank you, thank you. The appointment of the new chairman and the general manager are the primary reason we're in the position we are in today. Specifically, though, since the Member is concerned about the $13.3 million turnaround -- which we should all be grateful for, by the way -- it occurred because one, the assessment revenues were increased; two, we developed a new rehabilitation program. Instead of sending people to school, we sent them to train on the job which enabled them to go into the workforce far sooner than would normally be the case.

There was a reduction, thank goodness, in the cost of fatalities. And, there was decrease in the supplementary pensions that we had in 1992-93 and 1993-94. There were also a number of administrative tightening-up items that occurred in the Workers' Compensation Board.

As a whole, I'm told by the people across the territories that they're very happy about this. The recent announcement about some of the rates coming down and a few going up has added to their happiness. I hope that, in my small and simple way, I've managed to accommodate the Member and the press who like to write whining things.