Thank you. The honourable Minister for Municipal and Community Affairs, Ms. Thompson.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Just to correct the Member that I did not say that the communities are uneducated, I said that is the feeling I am getting from the regular Members that they are scared that these communities are going to fail with their finances. To me, everybody is able to take care of their own finances in the community so everybody in the territories with proper training, with proper resources and the tools, can look after themselves.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions, supplementary, Mr. Steen.

Thank you. Point of order, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Krutko, would you please stand and make your point.

Thank you. I am informed that you have no point of order because I have not responded to Mr. Steen's question.

I believe there was no question raised. If honourable Mr. Steen wants to raise an issue he will have to raise the point of order. Or wait until tomorrow when the Hansard is ready for Members' reading.

Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Madam Minister for Municipal and Community Affairs, Ms. Thompson.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. As one of the Members from Iqaluit said he does not accept community empowerment in principle, but we do not have a word for principle in Inuktitut, so I do not know where principle begins or ends in his case. It might be that he does not agree with community empowerment. I cannot tell the member the communities have not accepted community empowerment initiatives. I just know that for a long time, the past 100 years, community people have been saying they want to take on more

control of their lives, and the programs in their communities, and that is community empowerment. I could not say which ones did not want community empowerment at this time. Thank you.

Thank you. The honourable member for Iqaluit, point of privilege, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my members talked about community empowerment, but the question from the honourable Member from Nunakput had nothing to do with what I had to say. It was a direct question to the Minister. My point of privilege is that she used me as an example and I had no chance to recourse her reply.

Thank you, I am informed that there is no point of privilege in this case because the honourable Member's right has not been infringed upon by other Members. It is more or less a point of debate.

Oral questions, final supplementary, Mr. Steen.

Thank you. The honourable Minister for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mrs. Thompson.

I can say that in the Baffin region, with the fifteen communities at the regional leadership meeting there was a motion passed that they would like community empowerment to proceed. The motion was moved by Joe Kunuk the mayor of Iqaluit.

I have been to the Keewatin region leadership meeting where there are seven communities and they have said to proceed with the presentations on community empowerment and they have asked me and the department that they would like programs to be transferred under the municipal government and I have had communities from the west asking for more block funding and also, transfer of programs.

In the Inuvik region, the regional organization is looking at transfer of programs also. I can find the information out for the member, from the department and I will get back to him. Thank you Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Minister. Oral question Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you. The Honourable member..Minister for Financial Management Board, Mr. Todd.

I am going to say that

he is not a damsel in distress but that is the wrong term. Mr. Speaker, I would think it would be fair to say from the time this Assembly was elected that there were four key priorities. One was balancing the budget, one was the division and constitutional development of the Territories in particular the Western Constitutional Development, and of course an accord on economic action plan that we needed.

So, I think, to answer my honourable colleague clearly and unequivocally, we place an inordinate amount of priority on division and also on the fact that there has been significant movement with respect to the development of a constitution in the Western territory, and that I would suggest to my colleagues in the House here that, as we move forward on this initiative aggressively, I think there is going to be an inordinate amount of work to be done. An inordinate amount of leadership is going to have to be provided as we move forward with the difficult questions and issues that are going to unfold as division and as a Western constitution is debated. Thank you.

Thank you. I have to correct myself - Chairman of Financial Management Board. Mr. Miltenberger, supplementary.

Thank you. Chairman of the Financial Management Board, Mr. Todd.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Well, the short answer to that, although I do not like to give short answers, obviously, is that yes, we would be prepared to give consideration to that, subject to Cabinet approval.

I mean, the whole concept and logic behind this is to involve as many members as possible as we move forward, as I said, on the difficult issues that division and constitutional development as it unfolds and as it takes place. So the desire of myself as Chair of the Division committee along with my colleague, Mr. Arlooktoo and others, is that we try to bring as many people into the decision making as possible in the early stages, and I would take it under consideration to discuss this matter with the Premier and the Cabinet and report back to my colleague as quickly as I can on expansion of the, of the division committee.

I think it is also important to say, and I have been corresponding with Mr. Antoine who is the chair of the Constitutional Development Committee, that we need some linkages between those two committees as well, because as we have said on a consistent basis, it is the dividing of two territories, not one. Thank you.