Thank you. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

Thank you. I'm not sure, Madam Speaker, that exactly answers my question. Obviously, whatever the federal government does in this area is going to have significant impact on us because of our funding relationship with the federal government. My specific question is how are we organizing ourselves to work with the federal government so that we're not left moving in a direction while the federal government is bogged down somewhere else and we're financially exposed in a different area? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Minister of Education, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you. Madam Speaker, the problem is that the honourable Member should realize that we've already sent out the consultation document to the people of the Northwest Territories. That is before the federal government has even announced their document. It deals with all portions of our community, including youth and elders who were overlooked and aboriginal people who were divided and overlooked by the federal government.

We have established, in our government, the task force to develop the comprehensive position on the part of our government because we didn't want to in any way take a back seat to the processes that were to be established by the federal government. If anything, we would like to lead the federal government in solutions that would be proposed by the people of the Northwest Territories.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

Madam Speaker, that's well and good. Obviously we want made-in-the-north programs. But as the Minister is aware, this whole area of income support reform is an area that has been going on for many years. The major barriers to us making progress have been those financial barriers set up by the federal government. So my question to the Minister, Madam Speaker, is more specific. Are there specific federal, provincial, territorial task forces that we're involved with? I'll use that as my question, Madam Speaker.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. What we have done initially is to establish our own task force to review our own programs. We have $192 million worth of social program funding that is expended in the Northwest Territories. We have to get a handle, first of all, about the picture that we have and the expenditures that we're making. Secondly, we have to get an indication from the communities as to where their priorities are. And part of the task force responsibility is to bring some sense to that.

The second portion to our initiative is to bring the federal process north with the standing committee and, secondly, we're meeting on an ongoing basis with federal officials to review their position in conjunction to our position, and to try to bring some sense to the issues that are being brought forward. They are, as the honourable Member has pointed out, very complex and very divided in terms of the provinces. What we need to do is to try to get some sense of what we're trying to accomplish.

There are already divisions being brought about by the federal initiative where they are dividing the aboriginal community and non-aboriginal community, the north versus the south, provinces versus the territories and province versus province. It is a very complex issue. We've been trying to ensure that we have a collective position, rather than a divided position.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

Supplementary, Madam Speaker. I don't argue with that particular component of the approach. I think it's very, very important. My concern goes hand in hand with that. In the northern approach, there has to be the federal strategy. My question to the Minister is, is the Minister taking steps to ensure that the process which will take place in the north won't raise expectations to a point that whatever the federal government is prepared to do, those expectations won't be able to be met? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Minister of Education, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. No, we are not intending to raise expectations. What we are trying to do is to ensure that what people see as our social responsibility, that those dollars are presently in the programs in existence at this particular juncture.

The other point is we want to ensure that we use our money much better. The investing in people program, which deals with offering education and training, the building and learning strategy and our renewable resources development strategy are all components of a bigger picture. We are trying to bring them all together and use our resources more appropriately.

There are also initiatives being undertaken by the Minister of Economic Development and Tourism for creating new businesses and new jobs for the north.

Thank you. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Natilikmiot, Mr. Ningark.