Question has been called. All those in favour of the motion? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

--- Carried

Culture and careers, operations and maintenance, total operations and maintenance, $104.13 million. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Picco. Minister Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm having some difficulty answering the Member's specific question because under the language bureau, in this budget, in comparison to the 1995-96 main estimates, there has been no reduction of a French translator. We have deleted two PYs in the language bureau: one was a clerk typist position and the other two were .5 PYs, one in the Dene language and one in Inuktitut. So I am at a loss to answer the Member's question,

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Picco. Minister Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The budget before you right now doesn't show any cuts to positions like the one the Member is referring to. This cut may have happened in the previous year and it would have been a result of vote 4/5 funding being reduced through the official languages agreement with Canada. Those positions that were reduced were 100 per cent funded by Canada and were not cost shared by this government. So it isn't a reduction that falls under this budget. There is no reduction planned under this budget for that type of position.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Picco. Does the Minister wish to respond to that?

Madam Chair, the cut the Member is referring to may be a result of earlier cuts. It isn't one that we show in this budget or in the lay-off list that I have for people who would be on the payroll for this budget. We will have to look into it and get back to the Member as to the specific position he is referring to.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I have the same problem as Mr. Picco. I had a person laid off in my region and I think that was the only translator we had for the Inuvialuktun language working for the government. People were very concerned as to the indication this suggested on support to keep the aboriginal languages going. As you know, Madam Chair, in my region, the languages have been fairly slaughtered in the past 20 or 30 years by the school systems. People have been hoping that the government

would support the people in renewing this language, so it doesn't die. I think an indication from the department to lay off the only translator suggests lack of support from the department and from this government.

The other thing is we have a number of old people who can't read English. I believe this person played an important part in translating many government documents. I would like the department to reconsider, if not this year, at least next year, reinstating that position.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. In looking at the budget book, the answer to Mr. Picco's question may lie on page 14-33, which is work performed on behalf of third parties. You will notice under official languages, French, there has been a significant drop in the funding the federal government is providing for French language services. That would more than likely be where the cut that Mr. Picco is referring to would have come.

As I said, that is completely funded by the federal government and not by the Government of the Northwest Territories. So what you are seeing on page 14-33 is money that comes from the federal government and is administered by this government.

In response to Mr. Steen's question, I think that we do have a priority to try to preserve the languages and cultures of the North. Members need to remember that the previous agreement with Canada for official languages totalled $38 million over three years. The current agreement is for $18 million over three years. That is $20 million we lost in that agreement over three years. Because of the timing when that agreement was reached, it was more than half-way through the first year. So a good portion of that $18 million was used up in the first year of the agreement and in years two and three, we are having to take significantly bigger cuts because the previous government was not prepared for the magnitude of the cuts that were to come. As it stands, today we have far less money that is coming to us for official languages from the federal government. Given that, I would note the efforts the department has gone through to take person year cuts at the administration level and the efforts we have done to try to minimize the numbers of teaching positions across the North being cut.

You will see that in the language bureau, the effort is to make as few cuts as possible. Unfortunately, we have very limited funds for official languages in comparison to previous years. Regarding the two half positions that were eliminated, we didn't have much in the way of a choice. I recognize the Member's concern and we will do what we can to re-examine the situation but we are facing some real difficulty delivering services in the way that we did, given the funding that is available. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Picco. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't have the answer the Member wants and the detail with me at this time. I will have to get back to the Member with the answer.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Picco. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We will have a look at where the person-year cuts were made and the reasons for the locations that were chosen.