Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I realize the Member is asking me for my personal opinion. I will give him my personal opinion. I believe that communities are best equipped to solve their own problems and make their own decisions at the community level. Thank you.

Again, just for clarification, Mr. Krutko. You cannot ask the Minister about his opinion on a certain issue, but you can ask the Minister about the policy governing a certain issue. Mr. Krutko. Supplementary.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That would be a question better put to the Minister of Health. With that I will take it as notice.

Your question is taken as notice. Oral questions, Mr. Henry.

Mr. Krutko, your point of order.

Again, on the point of order, Mr. Krutko, you do not have a point of order. The Premier or any other member of Cabinet has the right to take any question that the Member poses on notice and also, the Premier does also have the right to designate his question to other Ministers that are responsible in that area. So, you do not have a point of order, Mr. Krutko.

Oral questions, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question will be directed to Mr. Antoine, the Minister of Safety and Public Service, who also has responsibility for the Liquor Act.

Last Thursday the Minister was part of a joint Members' statement on fetal alcohol syndrome awareness. Being the Minister responsible for the NWT Liquor Commission, could you please advise this House what the Commission is presently doing, if anything, to promote awareness of the dangers of drinking especially for a pregnant woman? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister responsible for Safety and Public Services, Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Safety and Public Services responsible for liquor control in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker, we take the responsibility for the regulation of liquor very seriously and recognize that some northerners have made a personal choice to use liquor as part of their lifestyle.

However, we are committed to ensure that when liquor is sold people are aware of the health risks associated with these products and in many ways, our Liquor Commission does as much, if not more, to encourage awareness of FAS/FAE than any other liquor distribution agency in Canada.

Liquor stores also dispense booklets, available both in English and Inuktitut, about the responsible use of alcohol. We have the bags we put the liquor bottles in that have the warnings, we also have warning labels on the bottle itself. In addition, our liquor licensing office in Hay River is working with the operators of bars and dining lounges and other licensed premises to ensure that posters are in place in locations where people go to drink outside the home.

As well, the liquor licensing office makes staff available under any requests from licensees to conduct server intervention training, so that bar managers, doormen, bouncers, waiters, waitresses and other personnel in licensed premises are themselves aware of the risks associated with the use of alcohol. Part of the server intervention training program includes information about the risks associated with drinking during pregnancy, so that bar staff can encourage their clientele to use alcohol in a responsible manner.

Thank you, I understand that there is at three o'clock a literacy award that is going to be taken in the Great Hall, so we will stop the clock and invite Members to go and participate in the awards.

We will take a fifteen minute break.

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Oral questions, item 6. With Mr. Henry. Oral question, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance, John Todd, I would like to know exactly how much the current deficit is of the government of the NWT? Thank you.

Mr. Todd.

I would not know how to answer that question, Mr. Speaker, as of today. I could advise the Member what the projected deficit is, but I can not tell today what the deficit is. Be about a million billion dollars worth of money, changes by the hour, the day or the week. Thank you.

Oral questions supplementary, Mr. Picco.

No, I did not expect Mr. Todd to come back, Mr. Speaker with the exact dollar figure right down to the last cent, but I did expect him to know an approximate term for the people of the Northwest Territories, the public debt of this government at this present time, the accumulated deficit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate the clarification from Mr. Picco, I

believe as I said earlier to this question that we are going to meet our targets and we may in fact, with a little luck and a lot of luck, even surpass them. So, the targets set for the last year. I believe we are hoping to have an accumulated debt of somewhere around 40-43 million. It will either be close to that or under that. Thank you.

Oral questions supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I know reading in the media that the honourable Member spends an inordinate amount of time trying to explain things to me and giving me the big picture as it were, I read in the media. My question, supplementary question to the honourable Member, the honourable Minister, the honourable knowledgable person, is the exact amount of the deficit is proposed to be about 46 million in the deficit. Is that for the current year, '96/'97, is that upcoming or is that the deficit for '95/'96? Maybe you could just qualify that so I can come back with my next supplementary question.

Thank you. Mr. Todd.