Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think there is probably quite a bit of anxiety out there now, especially in my community and many communities affected by this shortfall. I think we all understand that the federal government has come up with the money. I wonder if the Finance Minister would be able to tell us today in this House if the federal Cabinet actually has to agree to meet to make up, to approve the extra funding of $100 million, $120 million, $136 million or whatever these transition costs are. Is that a federal government decision to come up with that, from the federal Cabinet itself? Thank you.

Mr. Todd

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to put it into a bit of historical context. The Premier actually wrote to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in March, 1996 and indicated in the original Cabinet submission of $150 million. We fundamentally believed that there were significant gaps in the transitional costs. That is clear, well documented. Our position is unequivocal. That is what we said at the time. We have now identified, as I said, what we believe are some of the shortfalls of the original document and identified what we think is now required to move forward in an orderly way towards division. I cannot determine yet whether or not Ms. Stewart will decide to seek a new Cabinet document to find this money or some of this money or whether in fact whether she will find it inside. I can commit to you publicly in discussions with her is she has committed to put a table together to assess the shortfall of funding and the additional requirements of transitional dollars with all the parties at the table hopefully in the not too distant future. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Enuaraq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, decentralization of future government has always been a concern to me with this Nunavut government to be. I have a question for the Minister responsible for Nunavut Transition Planning, Mr. Arlooktoo, regarding Mr. Todd's statement earlier today on the government's Transition Action Plan. One issue that Mr. Todd made mention in his statement is decentralization. As the Deputy Premier is well aware, this is a very big issue in Nunavut, particularly for communities such as Pangnirtung, in my riding. Could he explain how this report impacts on decentralization given its importance to the people of Nunavut? Thank you.

The Deputy Premier, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct that decentralization is critical and an important issue to the people of Nunavut, to the Members of the Nunavut Caucus and for specific MLA's especially. For example, in my constituency, Cape Dorset is slated to be one of the recipients of some regional offices. It is still an important issue, as Mr. Todd indicated earlier. The government is very committed to decentralization going ahead. I think I can clearly say that we will be pushing all parties to make decentralization happen. What we have done is identify how much it would cost to decentralize, and I believe the numbers are around $18 million. I certainly see this as a step towards decentralization. That is, we have taken a further step by identifying how much it will cost.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Enuaraq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that Mr. Todd stated that we are committed to the principle of

decentralization, and that is all well and good. However, Mr. Speaker, for the people in the communities, the issue of decentralization is more than a concept which means jobs and economic opportunities. What I would like to know from Mr. Arlooktoo, is when and how this will occur? Thank you.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Once again, the message is very clear, that we are in support of decentralization. The Government of the Northwest Territories wants to see it happen, and we will be there assisting the federal government and the Interim Commissioner to making it happen, once a couple of conditions are met. Those are somewhat outside our control. One is the government of the Northwest Territories is not responsible for the construction of infrastructure, the Nunavut Construction Corporation is. I understand that they are several months behind schedule. The other is the federal government coming up with the funding for decentralization. So, once we have those, the GNWT will be there doing whatever it can to make sure decentralization happens.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand in order to decentralize the Nunavut government would cost about $18 million. We know we have been to speak to the federal government to get the $18 million to make sure that decentralization goes ahead. Thank you.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it is important to clarify that the $18 million that we have identified is a one time cost for the movement of bodies, severance pay and whatever needs to by paid out for decentralization. Mr. Todd and his officials have had some meetings with the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and her staff, and our own dividend secretariat staff and members of our division planning committee. Members have met with other federal government representatives, and there are other meetings scheduled in the next few weeks.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Ootes.

The Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of the government support for the YWCA and the Northern United Place is one that has been ongoing for quite a long time. I am aware that all of the Yellowknife MLAs have had input in the work that has gone on to try to solve some of the problems over the last few months. I do not have the exact numbers, but originally the YWCA was subsidized by the government through the Housing Corporation to the tune of about $320,000. We have made different arrangements where, rather than subsidize them directly with money, we now instead, give them access to an apartment building at no cost.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it is important to remember in this case the fact that the subsidy was originally to allow the YWCA to house its clients. The new arrangement that we have still allows them to achieve that goal. The long term commitment that the GNWT had that the Member speaks of, has been converted, in a sense, to assist Aurora College in renovating Northern United Place for Aurora College functions and students residences. So, in effect we have done both. We have made sure that the YWCA has the space it needs for its clients and the long term commitment that the GNWT had is still being followed.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.