Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I think the purpose of the bill and the consultations with the government and Standing Committee on Finance was not to allow deficits to keep climbing and climbing and climbing. I think what we're looking at right now: if there is an accumulated deficit, a debt at the time of division, then that debt would be divided up along with the assets of the Northwest Territories. That's the way that would be dealt with. But the purpose was not to allow that to grow any larger than it is at the present time, Mr. Chairman.

With regard to accountability, I think the government does recognize that we are accountable to this Legislative Assembly, but at the same time we also recognize that we're a minority government.

I think Members have to realize that each time we have tried to cut and we have tried to do something serious about reducing certain areas of the budget, the first thing we know, people are on their feet saying, no, you can't do that; we don't want that to happen. So it makes it very difficult for us to make those tough decisions simply because, as I've been told many times and understand, 15 out-vote eight just about every time.

So I think there was an honest effort by the government and the Standing Committee on Finance to start to recognize that we're in this thing together and to draw our attention to this issue by saying there is a law on the books that says that we can't do this. It would work equally well for Ministers as well as Members, and there would at least be some document that you can point to and say, we're not allowed to do that; we should be acting responsibly and we shouldn't be getting ourselves into these situations.

As far as Members of the House being accountable as well, I think their accountability will be on the day they pass the budget. In other words, presumably they would not pass a budget that was outside the parameters of this particular bill, and of course, Ministers then would be accountable between sessions or between budget sessions simply because they would know that they could not go outside the parameters of this bill. They would be accountable to the Legislative Assembly at the earliest opportunity after the Speaker had received the year-end accounts.

Again, Mr. Speaker, with regard to accountability, I think the bill is fair. It recognizes that if there was a serious epidemic and the government had to spend millions of dollars on a particular issue...Let's say the city of Yellowknife was threatened by fire and we had to spend millions of dollars protecting Yellowknife, that would be seen to be something out of the norm and the Legislative Assembly would be able to recognize that and say that's an abnormal occurrence and there's not a question of confidence in the government.

So I think it's as close as we can get, although Mr. Koe is correct. It does not recognize the accumulated debt, and as I said before, I think the feeling there is if it's as small as it is right now, it would be divided up by some method at the time of division. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Because acts of God are always the exception to the rule in this case. Clause 3. Agreed?

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you. Clause 4. Mr. Koe.

This clause, Clause 4(1), states that the Minister shall provide the interim public accounts. Is that realistic, six months after year-end? I guess it's got to be. It's going to be in law. But currently you can't do it.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Yes, we believe that's possible, Mr. Chairman. In fact, the interim public accounts will be the non-consolidated financial statements of the Government of the Northwest Territories, and we believe it is possible to lay that before the Speaker within 180 days of the end of the fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Clause 4.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you. Clause 5 of Bill 30. Agreed?

Agreed.

---Agreed

Qujannamiik. Yes, Mr. Koe.

Clause 5, what does that mean? Clause 4 states the Speaker shall receive the accounts and lay them before the Assembly, then the Assembly shall consider within five sitting days. Does that mean the Speaker tables them in the House or does that mean the committee has to deal with them and report them within five days? What, specifically, does that clause mean?

Thank you. Mr. Minister, I will allow you, at your discretion, if you want to assign the response to your staff. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. Within 180 days, the Minister of Finance will provide to the Speaker the interim public accounts and the Speaker shall lay those accounts before the Legislative Assembly as soon as reasonably practical; and I view that in the form of tabling, Mr. Chairman. Immediately after they're tabled, they would be moved to committee of the whole and the Legislative Assembly shall then consider the interim public accounts within five sitting days.

So once they're in the House and into committee of the whole, the Legislative Assembly committee of the whole will deliberate on the public accounts within five days after they're laid before the Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Qujannamiik. Clause 5. Mr. Koe.

There is a process now, because they are interim public accounts, where they should be referred to the Public Accounts committee, wouldn't they? Wouldn't they get to deal with it, or which committee deals with it within that five days? You are putting the onus on a standing committee which has to deal with it within five days and report, and then the Assembly has to deal with it. So I am just trying to get clear in my head which committees we are talking about. Who is the onus on? Is it on the Standing Committee on Finance or the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, and how does that then tie in to our current process for dealing with these reports?

I believe there are financial implications here. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This does not take away from any of the committee duties that are there at the present time. The committee I was referring to was committee of the whole; in other words, the whole of the Legislative Assembly.

The issue that they would address, Mr. Chairman, is whether or not the public accounts exceeded, or there was a deficit indicated in the public accounts that exceeded the amount of this bill. Presumably, if it was within the targets, then the committee would dispense with it immediately.

So all the committee of this Legislative Assembly, which is committee of the whole, would be dealing with is whether or not the Public Accounts indicated that there was a deficit, and if it was within the parameters of this particular bill. As far as all the other issues are concerned with the public accounts and the public accounts committee, they would still do their work in the regular manner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Clause 5. Do we agree with Clause 5?

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you very much. Clause 6 of Bill 30. I have Mr. Antoine.

Mr. Chairman, if Clause 6 been agreed upon, I...Did we agree to Clause 6?

No.