Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Gargan.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, under our rules we cannot ask questions regarding motions. You can speak to the motion, that's the reason why I've been asking the questions the way I've been asking them, so it doesn't have an impact on whatever the motion is. I have not referred to the motion at all. I would like to ask the Minister whether the discussions in committee of the whole will be structured and limited to only those items that the Minister wishes to talk about, or can we ask questions following his presentation?

Mr. Gargan, just reviewing the motion placed on the order paper for today, in determining your question and I just want to indicate to the Members of the House that the motion does read: "Whereas the Legislative Assembly has requested the Premier and Minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs to follow up and seek clarification from the Prime Minister and DIAND Minister on federal policies and initiatives relating to division of the Northwest Territories public and aboriginal government and devolution."

It seems to me, Mr. Gargan, that within this particular paragraph there is a possibility to seek clarification from possibly the questions that you may be wanting to ask of the Minister today. So, anticipating that, I feel that your question may be answered within the motion that is being posed. Therefore, I would like to ask you to rephrase your question so that it does not reflect anticipated discussions that this motion is presenting to our House and being discussed today. Mr. Gargan.

Thank you. I'll rephrase my last question, then. Madam Speaker, in committee of the whole the rules are quite open with regard to asking questions back and forth between the witnesses in committee of the whole and Members here. I would like to ask the Minister whether that same type of arrangement is going to be used when Mr. Irwin appears as a witness.

Unfortunately, Mr. Gargan, I have to rule your question out of order. On the last portion of our motion it states "Now therefore I move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Nunakput, that the Speaker be authorized to invite the Honourable Ron Irwin, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, to appear before the Legislative Assembly in committee of the whole on a date certain convenient to the Minister and the Speaker."

In the event this motion passes in the House, it will allow the Minister to appear in committee of the whole. Therefore, your question is anticipating the same type of reply that this motion is on the order paper for today. Therefore, I have to rule your supplementary question out of order.

---Ruled Out Of Order

Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, on August 24, 1994, there was a joint news release issued by the federal Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Honourable Marcel Masse, and the Government of the Northwest Territories Finance Minister, John Pollard. It's a federal/territorial plan aimed at making government work better. Just listening to today's budget address, I didn't hear the Minister of Finance make any reference to this news release and to this initiative of improving the efficiency of government. My question to the Minister of Finance is can he briefly explain what this new arrangement is, which is aimed at making government work better.

Thank you. Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, for some years now the federal Finance Minister has been imparting to his provincial and territorial counterparts that there's a lot of overlap and duplication in Canada. I think it was estimated some years ago at some $5 billion. The Premiers, along with the Prime Minister of Canada looked at this situation and asked Ministers to start looking at the problem. When the new government came into place they really put some good store in this overlap and duplication area, and appointed Mr. Masse as their Minister for overlap and duplication.

Madam Premier asked me to look at this on behalf of the Northwest Territories. Consequently, the federal Minister has been making arrangements with different jurisdictions across Canada on how to look at overlap and duplication within our particular jurisdictions.

The agreement that we signed is the first step towards identifying areas where maybe the federal government and the territorial government are doing the same or similar things. It didn't go quite as far as we would have liked it to go, but certainly it's a move in the right direction. I'll be glad to provide a copy of the agreement to Members of the House, Madam Speaker. In fact, I'll table it in this House. Then Members can look at the fine print.

But, in general, it's to look at where there's overlap and duplication between the two governments in order to get some efficiency. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. What specific initiatives are being looked at currently?

Thank you. Mr. Pollard.

Madam Speaker, one of the areas that we've been suggesting is the environmental area; we've looked at regulation of industry, there have been complaints from the mining industry with regard to all the hoops they have to jump through from different areas of regulation. So we're continuing to look at those particular areas. As I say, I'll get a copy of the agreement and you can see specifically other areas where we've reached agreement. I'm sorry, I don't have the agreement with me, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. Who, specifically, in our government has been working on these initiatives, or is it a combination of people throughout the territories doing some of the specific things that are looking at improving the efficiency of government?

Thank you. Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Madam Speaker, it's been the deputy minister of Finance, Mr. Eric Nielsen, who has been heading up the negotiations and the discussions. And, as required, other members from the different departments have been involved. All of the departments were polled and asked for their input as to where they saw areas that we could examine and explore. As I say, Mr. Nielsen coordinated the effort and used whatever expertise from different departments that he required at particular times. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. There are obviously many different people and many departments involved in this initiative and I would hope they're all involved because they're all part of government. We all know that, in a lot of cases, we have to improve our efficiency and effectiveness in delivering programs. What time frame are you looking at in achieving some of these initiatives?

Thank you. Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Madam Speaker, Mr. Masse is anxious to move very quickly. They want to start out in small ways with small strides and conclude them as soon as possible. It may require us going outside of government to negotiate or to at least discuss with other people who may be affected by some of these moves. Depending on how much time we have to spend discussing it in the Northwest Territories, which I think is very important, I would say we should start to see some improvement within the next 12 months, Madam Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Aivilik, Mr. Arvaluk.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Housing. Earlier I spoke about the concern that has been expressed by the hamlet of Repulse Bay and the paediatric consultant who has been doing work in that area for the past 11 years, about the problem of alcohol and drugs being supplied by the outside building contractors.

Surely the Minister has been made aware of this, like the rest of us, in the past. My question is, what has the Minister found out about the situation?

Thank you. Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Morin.