When does the Minister expect that process to continue and expect a mediator to be chosen?

Mr. Pollard.

I can't give a specific date, Mr. Speaker, but I would hope that it will be occurring very soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I commented earlier this morning in my Member's statement that many of my constituents in Fort Smith are

concerned about a matter involving a former government employee in Fort Smith. Public statements have been made suggesting that this individual falsely represented himself as having a higher education than he actually did. Since then, this employee has resigned from his position which is similar to a position of trust working with youth. Mr. Speaker, the seriousness of the matter is compounded by the fact he continues to retain a senior position on the union executive as the regional vice-president. My question to the Minister of Personnel is what policies and procedures are in place to verify the information that candidates for government employment provide with respect to their education and training, which will reflect their proper credentials? Thank you.

Minister of Personnel, Ms. Cournoyea.

Mr. Speaker, I will take the question as notice.

The question was taken as notice. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Ballantyne.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister of Finance. A number of months ago, the Minister of Finance had meetings with the federal Minister Masse. The meetings were regarding the reconciliation of federal, provincial and territorial bureaucracies to try to end duplication and overlapping. What impact did the last federal budget have on these discussions?

Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the responsibility for overlap and duplication rests with me, although the arrangements between governments are between the Prime Minister and the Premier across the country. The Premier assigned me to conclude the issue with Minister Masse and our first round has been concluded. Mr. Ballantyne raises a good point, Mr. Speaker. With the federal cutbacks that are going to occur in the federal government, already we have seen Mr. Todd suggest that there are some federal things that could be done to mitigate the effect of the cutback on the EDA.

There are all kinds of signs out there that we need to get together again with the federal government. Just last week, there was a letter from the Prime Minister to the Premier saying the first round was over. We will be now be looking at what we can suggest for the second round. I would like to get more information on the budget first, but sometime in the next 30 days, I will be drafting a letter for the Premier to send to the Prime Minister to instruct Minister Masse to get back to me, so we can look at the impact of the federal government cutbacks on the NWT and see if there are some efficiencies that we can gain. At the same time, we need to mitigate some of those cutbacks upon us.

We need to see if we have too much administration and whether we can cooperate with the federal government. That is what we intend to do. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that information. In the letter and subsequent discussion with Minister Masse, could the Minister outline the concern that if the federal government continues to cut back all their programs, at the end of the day, there is going to be nothing to harmonize. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Pollard.

Indeed, Mr. Speaker, those issues will be pointed out. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

Another area that I would ask the Minister and the Premier to explore -- and I would ask they include this area in the letter and discussion -- is DIAND. DIAND was relatively unscathed through the last budget. We are not sure over the next five or six years if the northern side of DIAND will remain unscathed. It seems that that is one area where there is a lot of duplication between what they do and what we do. Would the Minister specifically look at DIAND and see if there are areas in DIAND that could be better done by us or if there could be some harmonization between what DIAND does and what we do in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Pollard.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Koe.

Minister of Justice, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Koe.