Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we speak of changes to regulation, very often the discussions also centre around when they should come into effect. So I give assurance to the Member that we will provide for some reasonable input by the general public in this vicinity, in his case, to changes to regulation. That would also include suggestions as to when and if there will be changes to regulation and when they will take effect. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Justice and it's with regard to a company: Skyline Personal Cable Systems; a company of dubious character that came skulking into the North a number of months ago selling illegal cable systems to the people, about 120 or so who have been out of pocket now for a number of months, often to the tune of $2,000 each. Of course, this company has since gone back south from whence they came, unfortunately taking a bunch of money from unsuspecting northerners who acted in good faith. I appreciate the information the Minister has provided to date, but I would appreciate if the Minister could indicate to the House what could be done, what sort of redress do these northerners have in terms of possibly getting their money back and seeing justice done. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the suggestion is that there doesn't appear to be any wrongdoing on the part of this certain company; no criminal wrongdoing. However, there could be some suggestion that people who have come into contact with them and who have suffered as a result of any business they've done with them should get some advice from consumer and corporate affairs or else seek legal counsel. At this time, I would not be prepared as the Minister of Justice to provide any further direction other than that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The constituents who I've talked to find it very hard to understand why something that is if not illegal, so borderline illegal, would not be addressed. Whereas, we have no problem if somebody steals a can of tuna, we will send him to jail for 30 days. This kind of white collar activity cannot get prosecuted and people can't see justice done. I would ask the Minister if he would possibly reconsider asking his officials to be a little more enthusiastic in their attempt to contact officials in Calgary, where this company came from. If they have done it up here, they have done it to others. It just seems too easy to say we can't do anything. They can rob and pillage us within the fine line of the law and can get away with it. I would ask the Minister if he would reconsider asking his officials to contact the authorities to see whether they could coordinate an attempt to bring these individuals to some sort of justice. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure how much further we can go. The people of Smith are citizens of the Northwest Territories, the same as everyone else, and we do share a concern. Unscrupulous companies and business people are being perceived as going out to do some harm to the well-being of citizens. In this case, the business transactions are not of a criminal nature. It is more in the area of whether or not, as consumers, they have been sold a bag of goods that isn't worth the amount of money that has been transacted. Consumer affairs may be the best route to pursue because these are individual complaints about a business transaction. They should seek legal counsel. At this time, we do not perceive it as an interest of the Government of the Northwest Territories to engage the Department of Justice, besides the briefing note that we had shared with the Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the honourable Member has hit on an important aspect of my department's area of concern; that is, the total income support and development area. Employment insurance, as it is now called, is a federal program. We don't have a lot of input into that. In fact, the changes which were recently announced to that program were announced

unilaterally and without any consultation with any of the provinces or territories. UI hasn't had a great history in the Northwest Territories. It has been difficult for most of the people of the Territories to get into, as the Member mentioned, but it has gotten increasingly more difficult. The northerners accessed the program two years ago to the tune of about $40 million. This year it will be down to about $30 million. Given the changes that have been announced, I have no doubt that it will be further reduced significantly in the next year.

That means an increased amount of pressure is going to come on this government. I have written to the federal Minister about some of the changes and about the need for us to work together to address some of the unique problems we face in the North. I am planning to talk to the federal Minister by phone next week, again to try to address some of these issues. I took the opportunity when the Honourable Ethel Blondin-Andrew was here today to talk to her about whether or not we could get together to discuss some joint approaches to try to come up with a more streamlined and better way of dealing with the needs of her constituents.

The Member brings up a good point. Yes, I think it is an extremely important area in which we need to work given the federal cutbacks and our fiscal situation. We need to find ways to work together better. We are looking for those ways. For instance, in some places now, we are already collocating with the federal human resources people and our income support delivery people. There is room for lots more. We will be working very actively to streamline and cooperate better as we can, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Justice. I received a discussion paper from the Northwest Territories Architectural Society about the lack of territorial legislation for architectural practice. Unlike provincial jurisdictions which have regulated the architectural profession, the Northwest Territories has yet to enact legislation or set standards for training, skill qualifications and experience of building designers, except where the national building code requires fully-trained designers in engineering specialties.

Any person can provide building design services with no assurance to the public that he or she has the experience, training or skills in this highly technical area. I have been advised by the members of the Northwest Territories Architectural Society that the society has been seeking to have an act developed for several years. My question to the Minister is, could he please advise if the Department of Justice is working on drafting an architectural professional act.

Mr. Speaker, the answer is no.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister advise when this could be considered to be slotted in to be drafted and when work could start on drafting such legislation?

Mr. Speaker, the Government House Leader will be dealing with the appropriate committees of the Legislature to draft a legislative agenda on the type of legislation that should be drafted, reviewed and proposed by this government over the course of the next three years. That would probably be the best recourse in which to get some action. Thank you.