Oral questions, supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So as the Premier said, substantial amounts of money have been transferred out of the budget of DPW to allow for the user pay/user say initiative and thus, they are left with very little, in the way of O & M or capital dollars, as indicated by the Premier. So, my supplementary question then is, what is the plan now for the Department of Public Works with 90 percent of its money gone? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Public Works will stay the same until we have amalgamation in the three departments and it will carry out its function, what its mandate is and possibly through management buying services of that department that will supplement its budget. Thank you.

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

No, Mr. Speaker. it is not a supplementary question, it is a point of clarification. Did the minister say that, indeed, Public Works would be an entity unto itself until the amalgamation or after amalgamation?

With regard to your supplementary, you did indicate that it was not a supplementary and it was a point of clarification, it was still a question, Mr. Picco. I should be the one to ask members for a point of clarification when it is required, in this case there is. So could you clarify your question?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am having a problem with my hearing thing so I could not quite hear the honourable member's answer and that was the point. My supplementary, my final supplementary question then, to the Premier is, because we are on that slippery slope of downsizing, user pay/user say, the Department of Public Works and Services lost 90 percent of its funding. Because of user pay/user say it would seem that there is nothing left for it but to be amalgamated.

So thus, my question is to the Premier, will the Department of Public Works and Services be amalgamated because of the lack of funds that it currently holds because it cannot stand alone now with 10 percent of the funding it has left?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through the user say/user say service the departments now have the ability to go out and buy the services whether it be from the private sector or the Department of Public Works. In some cases the departments will be able to buy their services off the Department of Public Works and in some cases off the private sector.

I do not think that by saying that it has been reduced by 90 percent, I am not sure if it has been reduced by that much, but my understanding is that until we take a look at amalgamation, the Department of Public Works will be a department of this government. Thank you.

Thank you. Again just to remind the members that, when the members are asking a question and the question has been asked that they sit down after a question because, sometimes after a question is asked, the Hansard will shut off your mike and you do not get the added additions that you wanted to say in your preamble. Oral questions, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Yes, the rule of the House is that if the member requests to return to an item then the rule applies to that one hour question period. If, during the question period, the member requests unanimous consent to extend question period, then there are not time limits. Yes, we will stop the clock if we have unanimous consent to take a fifteen minute recess.

There is a request by the member for Hay River, she is requesting unanimous consent to take a fifteen minute recess, do we have any nays? There are no nays, Mrs. Groenewegen...

Nay.

You do not have unanimous consent. So the clock continues to tick and we are still on question period. Oral question, Mr. Rabesca.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. can I ask for unanimous consent to go back to recognition of visitors in the gallery?

The member for North Slave is seeking unanimous consent to go back to Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery, but before I seek unanimous consent, I have already made rulings on this on previous occasions. While the clock is ticking for question period, if a member wishes to do that and it is the will of the House, then I cannot stop it from happening but to remind the members that when they do that, the clock will continue to run and you have, perhaps, not given the other members an opportunity to ask additional questions once question period is concluded. The member for North Slave is seeking unanimous consent. Do we have unanimous consent? Are there any nays? Mr. Rabesca, you have unanimous consent.

Yes, thank you Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the students from Rae-Edzo who are here this afternoon in the visitors' gallery. Their teachers are Mona Matthews and Rosa Ring, parent volunteer is Madeline Zoe and their bus driver is Michele Rabesca. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Welcome to the Assembly. We are back to Question Period. Oral questions. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. The Minister of Resources, Wildlife & Economic Development, Mr. Kakfwi.

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