Thank you Mr. Rabesca. Good morning. Orders of the Day. Ministers' statement, Mr. Kakfwi.

Just for the record, this was an emergency statement and we did not have the translation quite completed for it. Ministers' statement. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ministers' statement. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Wednesday I made a statement in this House concerning staff housing. This statement contained some inaccurate information regarding or concerning the new deadlines we have established for our employees to take part of this program. I would like to correct that statement, if I may, Mr. Speaker, for the record.

We are extending the deadline for current tenants to submit an offer to purchase a single detached unit to November 30, 1996. The date to receive an expression of interest on multiplex units is extended to November 30, and on multiplex offers to purchase until January 31, 1997.

I apologize to my colleagues for any confusion that resulted from my previous statement and would ask for Members' assistance in providing their constituents with the correct information.

Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Todd. Ministers' Statement. Ms. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last May, I advised you that the Status of Women Council holds a vision that womens' equality can be achieved through developing healthy families and communities -- where womens' roles as nurturers, healers, leaders, advisors and teachers is respected and honoured.

The council's vision is in keeping with both this government's community wellness and community empowerment strategies.

The council has advised me that women are very concerned about the social issues that are seriously affecting our communities-suicide, depression, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, child neglect and sexual abuse, family violence and sexual assault. I share their concern.

The council believes that its expertise in community development and wellness is a tool that can be used to foster and support community wellness and empowerment initiatives and economic development.

Full scale economic development and job creation will not bring benefits to the north unless we have a healthy, educated labour force.

Looking ahead to division and beyond, we need to develop our young people so they are capable of taking on leadership in the future. But this will not happen if too many of our children and their children are incapacitated or ruined by the effects of alcohol, drugs, child abuse and violence.

The Status of Women met last week with officials from MACA and Health and Social Services to begin exploring ways the council's expertise could be used to assist in the implementation of community empowerment and community wellness strategies.

Mr. Speaker, I commend the council on its efforts to support the development of strong, healthy families and communities. I urge this Legislature's support for the valuable contribution the council can make to community wellness and empowerment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you. Ministers' statement. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Ministers' statement. Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a data base of the consolidated Statutes of the Northwest Territories is on line and available on the Internet. The consolidated statutes are located within the Access to Justice Network, also called ACJNet, which is sponsored in part by the federal Department of Justice.

The statutes data base is a joint venture of the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal Department of Justice, with the latter having agreed to bear the costs of creating and maintaining the data base.

The data base was set up in February, 1996. Since that time, users have been accessing NWT Statutes an average of 1500 times per month. These numbers should increase as the statutes data base and the GNWT web site are being hot linked together. A user will be able to travel either way between the sites at the click of a mouse.

The statutes data base will only be truly useful if it is kept current. To this end, the statutes will be updated twice yearly. The material necessary to update the statutes to October 1, 1996, has been submitted to the ACJNet manager. The data base will be next updated in the spring.

The statutes themselves and all the on-line tools that assist in accessing the statutes are fully bilingual in English and French. I can report, Mr. Speaker, that consolidations of the Rules of the Territorial Court, Supreme Court, and Court of Appeal will also be made available on the ACJNet as the next phase of the project, which will culminate with the eventual expansion of the data base to include consolidations of territorial regulations.

The on-line availability of the statutes enhances the public's access to the laws of the Northwest Territories. ACJNet is a free service and for Internet users our statutes are only a few keystrokes away. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Ministers Statement. Members' Statement. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Members' statement. Mr. Ootes.

Shame, shame.

Shame, shame.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Members' Statement. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know that all of us who have been elected to the Assembly are proud of our constituencies. We all feel a sense of pride in our home communities and regions, and appreciate the unique benefits that each different part of the Northwest Territories brings to the whole picture.

I must confess I feel a special pride in my riding. Of course, I think it is the best place in the north to live. For that matter, it is the most heavily populated riding in the Northwest Territories, so I am glad to see that so many northerners agree with me.

Hear, hear!

But the source of my greatest pride, Mr. Speaker, is seeing how many of my honourable colleagues in this assembly have chosen to live in Yellowknife South, when they are in the capital doing business. The honourable Members from Baffin South, Kitikmeot, North Slave, Inuvik, and Keewatin Central have all shown impeccable taste in their choice of Yellowknife residence.

Bravo, Bravo!

Even the honourable Member from Yellowknife Frame Lake is a resident of Yellowknife South. I am honoured that such an impressive list of distinguished Members, including half of the cabinet, have chosen to join me in the best riding in the north, and I look forward to representing all of you to the best of my ability as elected member for my constituency. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Laughter and applause

Thank you Mr. Henry. Members' statement, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recently we had heard about the crisis in Great Britain. No, I am not referring to the continuing saga of the Royal Family, or the continued activities of the IRA. Mr. Speaker, I am referring to the outbreak of mad cow disease. Yes, Mr. Speaker, mad cow disease. Now it would seem that this most vicious and virulent strain has appeared in the NWT. It has taken on a new form and now is referred to as sacred cow disease.

Mr. Speaker, sacred cow disease is in evidence in the way this government continues to deny access to public information on all negotiated and sole-source contracts entered into by the government. Repeated attempts by yours truly to have this information available have been stifled at each request. My motion that requested the government to table the information has been ignored.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kingsley may not be affiliated with a clandestine agency, but the Premier in his teflon and espionage-like way, must have had training at the Mondeno Top Secret facility for covert operations, the way he keeps ducking and diving on my questions concerning disclosure.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier said there were no sacred cows, but covertly, he did not mean public information.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to wish the residents of Iqaluit, Apex, and Burwell very happy Thanksgiving, and thank the good Lord for his blessing and support.

As for the continued fight to eradicate mad cow disease, I will be asking, Premier Morin, later today about publishing the sole-sourced and negotiated contracts for the umpteenth time. I hope that Mr. J. Edgar Hoover is listening. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Members' Statement. Mr. Krutko.

The Member for Mackenzie Delta is seeking unanimous consent to complete his statement. Do we have any nays? There are no nays. You have unanimous consent, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. Thank you Mr. Krutko. And just to remind the Members, under the rules, there is a section in there regarding, referring to an issue that has been decided during the current session. I believe in this case the subsidy for fuel has been referred to a committee for discussion and should not be brought up while that discussion is still being decided. Members' statement, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you. Members' statement. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, although I have many reservations and concerns about the serious budget cutting course that we are on, as I have mentioned on many occasions in this House, before we continue with this exercise, we should be able to demonstrate and also be able to measure the beneficial results of this process. To speak on a positive note, we should also be thankful for what we do have.

With that, I wish a very pleasant Thanksgiving to all the residents in Arviat and Baker Lake, especially the seniors and the children. Thank you.

Thank you. Members' Statement. Returns to Oral Questions Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Picco on October the fourth, 1996, in respect to the registration process in the nursing profession in the NWT. The nursing profession in the Northwest Territories is a self-governing profession.

The registration process is done by the Northwest Territories Registered Nurses Association's Registration Committee. The Committee meets every three weeks to review applications. The NWTRNA at their biannual general meeting this summer revised the bylaws related to the registration committee to appoint more members to the Committee.

These changes have improved the review process. The expectation is that it should be easier to obtain a quorum to consider applications. Delays in registration are often due to missing documentation that needs to be provided by the applicant.

Registration cannot be taken lightly, as the primary purpose is to ensure protection of the public; therefore, documentation must be complete. The operations process has been improved by notifying applicants of what documentation is missing from the applicant's file.

A survey of the turnaround time of other Canadian licensing jurisdictions conducted by the NWTRNA shows that the time it takes for registration in the NWT is reasonable. In the 1996 year, 789 registrations were completed by the registration committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Returns to Oral questions. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have two returns to oral questions. One asked by Mr. Ootes and one by Mr. Krutko on October 3 and 4 with respect to position reductions and layoffs. A number of questions have been asked in the past regarding position reductions and layoffs within the GNWT as a result of the Deficit Recovery Plan. In the fiscal year 1996/97, to date there has been an overall reduction of 345 positions. This figure includes positions reduced debt, pardon me, includes position reductions made by all government departments, divisional boards of education and colleges, but does not include position reductions made by health boards. Information on health board reductions is being gathered, and I will update this figure when the information becomes available.

Every effort has been made within the government to minimize the impact of the budget reductions on employees by wherever possible eliminating positions that are vacant or redeploying staff.

As a result of these efforts in 1996/97 to date, a total of 207 GNWT employees have been laid off, of whom 22 have been rehired and redeployed. We do anticipate further position reductions and possible layoffs in 1997/98 as we implement year two of our Deficit Recovery Plan.

Departments are finalizing business plans for next year, and are in the early stages of preparing the 1997/98 budgets. However, we will not know the full extent of potential reductions; that will be Main Estimates tabled in the House next January.

If I may Mr. Speaker, I have another one asked by Mr. Ootes on October 10, 1996, again specifically with respect to staff reductions in Yellowknife. In the fiscal year 1996/97, to date there has been an overall reduction of 175 positions in Yellowknife, out of a total of 345 within the government system. During this year 90 people have received lay-off notices in Yellowknife. Three of these people were redeployed, and one lay-off notice rescinded, leaving a total of 86 people laid off. Thank you.

Thank you. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Marie Coe, who is a long-time employee of this Legislative Assembly and did Hansard for previous Legislative Assemblies. She is a long time friend of many of the older sitting Members; not older sitting, any of the Members that sat here for more than one term. Thank you.

Welcome to the Assembly. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Oral questions. Mr. Evaloarjuk.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services concerning suicide. Suicide is an issue of great concern to me; I see so many people lose relatives to suicide nowadays. It is something that has not been part of traditional Inuit ways.

I am looking for answers. I wonder why some people seem to fear death. I wonder how alcohol and drugs affect people's fear of death, or their decisions to attempt suicide. I wonder how much of an effect violence on television or violent music or lyrics has on suicide attempts. I wonder how the availability of shelters has affected the suicide rate.

Can the Minister tell me whether his department has done any studies on these issues, and can he provide us with any answers those studies may have found? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a serious issue that is of major concern to many of us. The department has not done any formal studies on suicide. What we have done is held our sponsored regional and Territorial forums in the past, with community agencies and community leaders and interested individuals, to try to come to an understanding of some of the causes of suicide, and to try to formulate suggestions on how to tackle this significant issue, Mr. Speaker.

What those forums did identify were that some of the issues relating to suicidal behaviours were indicated to be: abuse, whether it was sexual abuse, spousal abuse, alcohol and drug substance abuse; conditions in housing; personal conditions of whether you were employed, what your personal relationships were with your peers and your family members, the past loss of maybe close family or friends. There are a whole multitude of factors that come into consideration in leading an individual to try to move to the drastic step of attempting to take their own lives, Mr. Speaker.

So what we found also, Mr. Speaker, from these discussions that were held, these issues that were brought up as possible causes or contributors to the possibility of suicide, they were very consistent with other studies that have been done by other jurisdictions, and nationally, for groups and formal studies that had taken place. We recognize that our circumstances are certainly no different except for the fact that our rates, Mr. Speaker, are significantly higher than the national standards. In fact, anywhere from 2 1/2 to 5 times the national average, depending on which year you compare suicide rates to. It continues to be an issue of great concern, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this government does list all contracts entered into. That is true. But this voluminous book does not indicate what is negotiated or what is sole-sourced. Can the Premier indicate when he will provide that information?

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We continue to provide this information to the Standing Committee on Government Operations on an annual basis and on a quarterly basis. So it is provided to Members. Thank you.

Oral question. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the list provided to the Government Operations Committee is not a complete list. For example, it does not give you what has been sole-sourced. It is provided to the Government Operations Committee but it is not provided to the public at large. So when will the Premier be allowing this government to table sole-source and negotiated contracts entered into by this government on an annual basis for public review? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This fine document here, which is a contract report for the fiscal year ended March 31, 1995, is provided to the public in general, and it is available to the public. All Members of this Assembly receive this report, and they receive it at no charge, because we believe in sharing information.

The public is asked in the spirit of cooperation and user pay, that they pay nine dollars for that document, and it is available to all public that want to pay that price. We, as Members of this Assembly, all of us have to watch how we produce paper. We as politicians seem to produce a lot of paper, and there is a cost associated to that. I know that we are all on restraint budgets, so the public will continue to pay nine dollars, and they can get the information. I am sure that if the press wants that information, they can pay the nine dollars as well. Thank you.

Oral question. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not have a copy of the voluminous book. I am glad to see the Premier has a copy of it, and as we know, it does list all contracts entered into by this government, that is true. But it does not specify what contracts were negotiated, or what contracts were sole-sourced. A simple asterisk on the listed contract -- two for sole- sourced, and one for negotiated -- will tell you that information.

So, indeed, the contracts are listed, but it does not specify what I have been requesting for the last six months, and what the public want. So, my question again is to the Minister -- to the Premier -- when will that information will be available? When do you actually break it down into what is negotiated and what is sole-sourced? I cannot make it any clearer than that, Mr. Speaker. I have tried, I have tried, I have tried. And I am sure the Premier has tried and tried and tried.

Maybe the Minister could give us an example out of the book of a contract that has been negotiated. Could he find one? I do not think he could, because it is not listed as such. So when will he list the contracts as negotiated or sole-sourced? Thank you.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My understanding from the Minister responsible for putting that document together is that it took approximately five PYs approximately two months to put this document together for public information.

Like I have told Members, and I continue to tell Members, if you have an issue to raise, get to the point, get directly to that point. You can ask a question in a broad statement if you want to find out information. But if you have a specific contract you are interested in, we will be happy to answer those questions, or the Minister responsible would be happy to answer any questions any Member of the Legislative Assembly has with any contract this government has.

We have already been advised by Justice that the way we are doing business right now, by sharing the information with the Standing Committee on Government Operations, is the right way to do business. That leaves us with enough flexibility so that we give them all the information, and if the general public want the information, they can pay the nine dollars for this document. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Picco.

This is like pulling teeth, Mr. Speaker. That is true, the document is available, and it is true that the contracts are all in there, and it is true that it has been given to the Government Operations Committee. The cost associated with putting in a couple of stars..

Every other jurisdiction in this country publishes in the public accounts copies of the negotiated and sole-sourced contracts. If I wanted to know about a contract in Fort Smith -- I do not live in Fort Smith, so I would not know what was negotiated in Fort Smith and how many contracts were going in there. I do not live in Paulatuk so I would not know what was negotiated or sole-sourced in Paulatuk.

I am not on a witch hunt, I am not on a vendetta, I do not like to go to the Minister and ask, can I find out about the negotiated contract in Toughluck Bay? That is not my point.

My point is, when it is listed as to what is sole-sourced and negotiated, when I see a line in there, Len Flett, Len Flett, Len Flett, Len Flett, then I can ask a question. Why is Len Flett getting 15 sole-source contracts making a living in Resolution, or making a living in Toughluck Bay? I do not know where he lives. But when you see that.. So my question again is, will that information be made available so that the public can look and see what has been negotiated and what has been sole-sourced? When? When? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Again, just a friendly reminder to our Members. In question period, your preamble explains the intention of your question. I think the first time the Minister hears it, and understands where the Member is coming from; your supplementary should be a response to the Minister's question. Members do waste quite a bit of time if you continuously repeat your preamble to the question. So just to remind the Members to try to put your preamble across and then ask for Supplementary questions. Again, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member asks, when, when, when will the information will become public? The information is public, it is public, it is public, and the public will pay $9.00 for that information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Health and Social Services. I

understand that 4 therapists employed in the Employee Assistance Program in Yellowknife have resigned. I believe these therapists had a large workload. My question to the Minister is, if this information is correct, what provisions has he put in place to indeed take care of the large workload that the government employees here in Yellowknife may require services on? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the honourable Member referring to the Family Assistance Program for our employees? Thank you. Then if that is the case, Mr. Speaker, that service is provided under contract with the NWT Family Services local group here in Yellowknife. They have the responsibility for providing the counsellors for that service.

I am aware that there is some staffing turnover with the NWT Family Services. I am not aware at this time whether or not the positions are vacant. Certainly I can check into the matter and follow up on it to see if the services continue to be provided. To my understanding right now, I have not heard any information that would suggest otherwise, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. It is in reference to a statement earlier today regarding the NWT school relationships survey. The Minister indicated that the results show that in schools with a positive climate there is teamwork and an effective discipline policy that is applied consistently. Can we take it to mean that where there is not a positive climate there is no teamwork, and that discipline policies are applied inconsistently?

The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Two questions.

Thank you. Oral question. Supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, did the survey indicate whether a low or a high student-teacher ratio affects a positive climate in the schools?

Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Oral question, final supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Mr. Speaker, could the Minister indicate how our current student teacher ratio compares to the provinces' ratios?

Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Krutko.

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is the intent, as we move towards reforming our health and social services system, to work with all organizations that will be impacted by these changes, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated in the past, we will try to do all we can to assist the Tl'oondih operation and other operations to make them viable and assist in trying to enable them to provide programs for people throughout the Territories, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is this government's position, and mine is included in there, that we are fully supportive of community empowerment initiatives and giving the decision making authority down to the local community level. So in answer to that question the answer is yes, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Oral questions, Oral questions, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Ng

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, those amounts, depending on the programs and how the funding and the resources for these programs are put out into the communities will come at a later date. I can't at this time commit to any dollars or figures or numbers, because of the fact that there is a vast array of programs out there, there are different communities at different levels of empowerment, of asking for and receiving responsibilities for deliveries on these programs.

So it is something that is an issue, and a number that will continue to be amended as different programs come on line and as the restructuring of the health and social services system takes place in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Miltenberger.

The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Dent.

Oral questions. Supplementary. Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Dent, I would ask you to just clarify your last response first.

Thank you. Oral questions, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday I spoke in recognition of national firefighting week. In reference to my statement, I would like to ask The Minister of MACA if there have been any cuts to the budget regarding the volunteer fire fighters, with regard to their training. Thank you.

The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Ms. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The funding for the program in 1996/97 is $200,000, and the scope of the program for this year will be to concentrate on training, along with additional basic fire training as requested by the communities so we are doing some training work with the volunteers at the community level. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.