Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Here in the north, the majority of the people come from small communities. So, it must be realized how important a community hall is; important to the social aspect of a community the size of Fort Liard. Once again, Mr. Speaker, efforts made by communities in taking steps to achieve community wellness should not be impeded by government, but rather encouraged by government cooperation. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Nerysoo.

The Member for Mackenzie Delta is seeking unanimous consent. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Mr. Nerysoo, conclude your statement.

Mr. Speaker, the suggestion that is being made by the Gwich'in leadership is that any monies that are so-called "identified for their purposes," for servicing their community and clients in their community, in fact be directed to their organization, not to any other territorial organizations, or not to any other community organizations that are providing that particular service.

Mr. Speaker, I want to say -- and I am going to provide a copy of the proposal to all my colleagues in this House because I believe, Mr. Speaker, this is the first program which an aboriginal organization has...This organization has spent $800,000 developing the facilities for this particular program. There is no other community, no other organization that has taken the time to spend their own money for a program of this particular type that includes a total program that deals with all aspects of the community. They do not want inmates to be removed from their families. Of those situations where there is family violence, it should be dealt with between the community and within the family because a lot of the issues that deal with that violence, whether it's abuse, physical abuse or sexual abuse, have to be dealt with in the context of the family addressing those issues.

The family, the community and the individual; those are all important components. And they truly think that this is an important initiative and they want this government and, of course, my colleagues, to see the importance of not finding new money but rather taking advantage of existing money that is in our programs to support this particular important initiative. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. Whitford.

Thank you, Mr. Whitford. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on my Member's statement that I made earlier, my

question is to the Premier of this government. We all know the Premier of this government is a very, very hard working person.

Hear! Hear!

In fact, I think she works too hard at times; a workaholic. She needs a little time to do other things for herself. I think the Member's statement was warranted. I think the questions that are to come out of this are warranted. My question, Mr. Speaker, is, since February 15, 1995, the Premier has answered many questions about her numerous portfolios. We appreciate that very much. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, more than half of these questions have been taken as notice or required further follow-up with more complete answers. My question to the honourable Premier is has the number of portfolios being carried by the Premier impacted on her ability to answer questions in the House when they are asked? Thank you.

Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, from my own assessment and from the questions, some questions are very easy to respond to; other questions are of a nature that would not be necessarily part of the daily knowledge of a Minister responsible because it's within the department; other questions, I think, should be given a more thoughtful approach to answering. I don't recall any question that I've taken as notice because I did know the answer or I didn't know part of the answer but had taken it as notice, mainly because I had thought that there were other issues that should be looked at so when the answer came forth it would be a thoughtful one. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today, my colleague, Mr. Ningark, made a Member's statement with regard to the Premier's role. He stated that currently we have two competent Cabinet Ministers with only one portfolio each, and that the Premier has six portfolios out of a possible 22. Mr. Speaker, both Mr. Ng and Mr. Arngna'naaq are capable Ministers and seem to be handling their single departments well. Can the Premier explain why more responsibility has not been shared with these Ministers, such as Personnel or even the Status of Women portfolio or even official languages? Thank you.

Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, as the Members know, these Ministers are relatively new to Cabinet and it was my opinion that it would not be fair, since we are in the preparation of the budget from February to this point in time,

to ask them to take on responsibilities on a last minute basis. So two areas that are important were assigned to the two Ministers. I didn't intend to reassess further changes until after the budget had been considered. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Antoine, supplementary.

Supplementary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the Premier for her response. I take it from the response that the Premier will be considering redistribution of the portfolios, perhaps increasing and sharing her workload with Mr. Ng and Mr. Arngna'naaq. Thank you.

Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, like I stated before, because of the budget preparation and the work that was already in progress I did not feel, as Premier, to make those changes during the deliberations of the budget would be proper, and that I would be looking at some redistribution after the session. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Premier.

(Microphone turned off)