Thank you, Madam Chair. I have listened to all the comments the Members had to make. I did

pick up some questions through their opening comments. I would like to respond to some of those questions.

I realize that some Members are saying we should try to eliminate the deficit we do have within one year. Some other Members are saying we should look at three years. Other Members are saying we shouldn't set any time at all and we should review it. We have taken direction and listened to the concerns Members have. Looking at the deficit and the problems we face we should fully understand that if we try to eliminate the deficit too quickly, we could create too much hardship on those people who desperately depend on social programs from this government. We have to take that into consideration. There are no hard numbers decided upon yet, but we do have general agreement to try to eliminate the majority of that deficit within the first year.

We also recognize that it is going to take longer. It will take time to put things into place and make changes. We have to give people time to adapt. That is the reason, through my Sessional Statement, I said two years was the majority.

We are also going to look at all avenues of government and we are going to try to do it in a fair manner and a compassionate manner. I would just like to assure the Members who raised the concern that it would be done on the backs of the capital and regional centres; that isn't so. It will be spread out. You also have to realize where the majority of dollars are being spent. We have to look at that in a fair and compassionate way, which we will, and make the adjustments accordingly. I fully agree that whatever we do, we not only look at direct but indirect spending of our dollars and that includes boards and agencies, housing authorities, et cetera.

Regarding the amalgamation of Renewable Resources, EM&PR and ED&T, I believe that is the proper choice to make. By that amalgamation, we will be able to have a more focused approach on resource development as well as economic development. That is the right move to make. We have directed the staff to begin to put together the plans to accomplish that.

The move of occupational health and safety to WCB isn't going to happen overnight, but we are building the plans to do that. A lot of these things need planning and it will take time. There will be concerns no matter what you do in this government, but if we are going to change, there will be problems. With every problem, there are opportunities and solutions as well. We have to take those into consideration. We will develop the business plans to accomplish this in an orderly manner that respects everyone's integrity in this amalgamation. We will not compromise anyone. I understand there will be problems specific to this amalgamation, but it has potential to save a lot of dollars and it is also my understanding that 10 or 11 other jurisdictions in Canada do the same thing. We just have to make sure that the problems that pop up have solutions and we move ahead.

Some Members raised some concerns about my intent to move quickly about establishing an independent panel on the economy. I fully realize that myself as a Member of my Assembly, my background is business and there are many people in this House who have business experience. I also know that there are many business people out there who have a lot to offer the Northwest Territories, and I'm not talking about consultants, and I'm not talking about paying anybody any money. What I'm talking about is independent advisors, independent business person advisors. I don't plan on paying anyone any amount of money to come and give us independent advice. We all have people we draw on, whether it's a respected elder, a community member, or a business person, for advice from time to time. I'm basically being right up front with people here saying that I would like advice on who you think are good-quality business people in the Northwest Territories that can offer us advice from time to time, and are willing to do that for the good of the Northwest Territories. People that live here, that retire here, and will be buried here, those are the people who are interested in the future of the Northwest Territories and I think we have to have the opportunity to hear from them as well. I would welcome Members' advice on that issue, as well.

As far as our protocol agreements with aboriginal governments, the First Nations and this government, that's basically what it is. We're going to attempt to enter into protocol agreements with them as well as all the bands and Metis locals at the community level. I think that's a step in the right direction. That's a step towards the future and the future means a partnership with aboriginal people and that we'll have a good working relationship with them. So far, the meetings we've had with them, I've been very impressed on their desire to work with us and ours to work with them. I believe that signing agreements with them, recognizing them, will go a long way in helping the North move in the right direction.

Why did the northern accord not succeed the last time? Because we didn't have good working relationships with aboriginal groups. It's as simple as that. Why do I think it's going to succeed this time? Because we will have good working relationships with aboriginal groups and we will strive to make sure that those relationships are built on trust and clear, open dialogue.

Block funding for the communities. I was thinking back, I mentioned in this speech that eight years ago, when I ran for this Assembly, I had very clear intentions: to change government, change the way it operates. I'm sure that every Member of this Assembly ran basically on those fundamental principles: we're here to make change. Our voters didn't send us here to keep the status quo, they sent us here to make sure government changes and government becomes more responsive to the people it's to serve. Regardless of whether we have a $150 million deficit or not, I think block funding is the only way to go. That's the way to go into the future, it's the way of block funding the communities and empowering the communities so they make the decisions and set the priorities on how they would like to see their dollars spent. Ultimately, that's what we're all here for; we're here, we manage, we manage the dollars on behalf of our communities. People have been saying that for 20 years and it's about time we moved ahead and did it.

As far as the refocusing of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs into the Executive, I'm convinced that by doing this we will accomplish a higher degree of attention on aboriginal issues, First Nation issues, treaty rights, and I think that's a very important part of where we're going to go in the future. If we are to move ahead in the future with any amount of credibility or any amount of good faith amongst our aboriginal partners, we have to make sure that we give the right priorities to the issues that are at hand.

As far as rolling in Personnel into the Executive, that, too, is going to take some time and it cannot happen completely overnight. Once again, however, I believe, that we have all said and we have all heard that affirmative action does not work. We're still finding things that are happening to stop that. We have to ensure that people who are capable and willing to work and are from the Northwest Territories, get those jobs. By making managers, and I'll use myself as an example, as the Minister responsible for Economic Development: If I have 10 per cent aboriginal employment and my budget comes up, I can pass the buck to Personnel; Personnel can pass the buck back to me. We have to make managers manage, pay them accordingly, and hold them responsible. But we do need the watch-dog portion of Personnel to make sure that the things are happening. We have to make sure that we empower those managers and make them accountable so that if you don't see an increase in northern and affirmative action, then you hold them accountable.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you, Madam Chair. We should explore the idea, through the health boards, of the one-stop shopping for mental health, as well, brought up by Mr. Erasmus. That could be a money-saving exercise. Any advice we can get on how to save dollars is greatly appreciated.

I fully understand and will pay the most attention to our young people. Many people have brought it up that we not only have to be more aggressive with the mining companies, but by doing that, what we also mean is that we have to have a properly trained workforce for them to employ. Mr. Henry, you brought that issue up and that's a good issue because what we have to do is train our young people in partnership with the mining companies so that they end up with good employees in the end who are capable of doing the job.

I'm very supportive and a very strong advocate of northern control over northern resources. We have talked to the aboriginal groups and, as I mentioned earlier, we are going to proceed on that issue. We're going to proceed on it in partnership with our aboriginal partners to try our best to come to agreement so that when we go to deal with the federal government, we go with a united front. We'll go there to bring the control of northern resources home to the North where it belongs.

I've already addressed the time frame to deal with the $150 million deficit. Mr. O'Brien also brought up the issue of will Members be involved on this committee for rejuvenating the economy. As I previously mentioned, I will seek your advice; you know people who I don't know and other Members don't know but what we're looking for are very strong committed independent businessmen in the North who would like to volunteer their services to help this government through some hard times.

I've addressed the issue of fair cuts to Yellowknife. Like I said earlier, we have the fundamental belief that we have to balance the budget but we do not do it on the backs of only Yellowknife. We talked to our communities already and we've told our communities that you can expect to feel a portion of the reductions in this government. Let me say again that all sectors of the government will be touched by reductions of some sort once we work through that. So, with that, it will be done fairly and compassionately.

As far as the downsizing of the Housing Corporation, what we mean when we mention downsizing is so it becomes more in the community development mode; that's exactly what we mean. I am not talking about getting rid of the Housing Corporation totally. Because you have CMHC funding, you have to have a corporation, you have to have something to funnel that money through, but you also have to have less government, so we have to look at the role they play, the function they produce and whether or not it should continue the way it is. The communities are saying very clearly that they have the ability to run their own affairs and we have to work with them to develop their abilities so that they can make their own decisions at the community level, and I see the Housing Corporation playing a key part in that for the simple reason that they have presence in every community, houses in every community and housing is one of the highest priorities of this government because we have a great housing shortage in the North. So I can see that by block funding or doing community empowerment with the Housing Corporation, that would help the communities greatly in solving their own problems.

We also have to look very seriously at the whole issue of renewable resources and how the development of the renewable resource economy can help our people and how it can put jobs in the communities. So I completely agree with Mr. Ningark when he says that we have to look at it seriously and try to help the communities develop.

So that basically covers off pretty well all the points that I believe Members have raised. I will also read Hansard tomorrow to find out if I missed anything. I always appreciate Members' advice, and we have to work on this together. We have a great opportunity to change the way we do business. We have a great opportunity to make a government that is more in tune with what the people of the Northwest Territories would like to do, and that is control their own futures at the community level. With that, Madam Chair, I would like to thank you. Mahsi cho.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a specific question, Mr. Premier, concerning the Northwest Territories parks system and the privatization as mentioned in the sessional statement. What are the time lines that we are looking at here, and what does that specifically entail? There is an NWT park in my riding and several people working for it. I have some concerns with the privatization that were raised by my constituents after the sessional speech yesterday.

I would also like to add my voice to Mr. Erasmus's with regard to the situation with Personnel amalgamation. I think it is a serious concern, as is the amalgamation of Finance.

Thank you, Madam Chair. At the present time, we do not have the time lines in place for petroleum products division, property management, computer system services, community resupply operations and the NWT parks system privatization initiatives. We will be going back to the committees on February 22nd, and by that time we should have the time lines in place of how and when that should happen.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I know through the previous privatization initiatives of this government that we always took into account employees and how they could be involved. I will make a commitment to the Member today that any privatization operation that we do, as we move ahead with it, we will involve the employees so that they fully understand what is happening and if they can be involved in working in the private sector at the end, then we will try our best to accomplish that.

We also have to take into consideration aboriginal groups. For example, the petroleum products division services certain areas, so we have to take into consideration aboriginal groups in that area, as well.

Thank you, Madam Chair. On the refocusing of IAA, we are looking at enhancing Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs by bringing it into the Executive and refocusing it so that it is there to assist aboriginal groups in the Northwest Territories. It is also very important that we have that department's advice on the things that this government does and how it affects the aboriginal people. So it will be refocused and integrated more within the Executive. The possible time line on that is that we should have business plans developed and brought back to the Cabinet by this month. Members will then have an opportunity to look at it to see whether they agree to it or not.

Through the privatization of petroleum products, yes, we are looking at complete ownership of tank farms and the delivery systems and fuel in there as well. I know an issue that we have to address is fuel and liability. I know that is going to be one of the issues of it, so we will have to address that, as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We're talking about partnerships within the jurisdiction of the NWT, but partnerships with other jurisdictions are equally important. Having a dialogue with a federal counterpart is one of the most important items that we should be looking at. By that I mean, do the honourable Premier of this government and the honourable Minister of Finance have any plans to meet with the federal Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister or other Premiers of the jurisdictions within the country in the near future? Are any meetings going to be attended by the representatives of the governments of the other jurisdictions in terms of talking about the economy of the country, et cetera?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do have a meeting with the Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein, next week. We are trying to find the time to meet with the Premier of Saskatchewan, Mr. Romanow, as well. We have a meeting scheduled for the beginning of June, the Western Premiers' meeting, as well. We do have agreements with Ron Irwin, the Minister of Indian Affairs, to meet with him four times a year, and any time items pop-up or issues need to be discussed, he's just a phone call away. I believe Mr. Todd has already developed a working relationship with the federal Minister of Finance. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. In recent years, there have been some outstanding financial disputes with the federal government with regard to health billings and also in the area of having extra manpower coming in from other jurisdictions during a dispute at a certain mine in Yellowknife. Are there any accounts receivables that haven't been collected from the federal government? Thank you.