Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment with regard to the statement that he made in the House earlier in regards to the loss of the duplexes in Fort McPherson. With that I would also like to send my regrets out to the students and teachers and people of Fort McPherson. One of the things that we do not realize is that, a lot of the questions I was asking with regard to insurance and policies, such as (inaudible), was leading up to exactly what has happened here again this weekend and the whole thing about coverage that is in place for teachers, students and also the infrastructure itself.

My question to the Minister is in regards to the fire that just occurred, does he know, in regards to the policy, why are teachers not covered under the policy when they lose goods in fires, yet students are?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can only assume that this government insures those articles which it owns and insurance companies typically expect the owner of an article to insure them. I suppose it comes back to the same situation as a tenant. As I understand the situation now, a landlord insures the basic structure of a house and whoever is renting that house, is responsible for obtaining insurance for any of the contents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regards to the policy and the insurance itself and also regards to the students, you can lose a home, or a loved one, or a dog. There is some feeling of loss there which people ... you cannot replace that. I think that, in the case of the teachers to whom I have spoken, said they have spent a lot of years getting into the teaching profession, where they get a lot of reports and also studies that they have put together so that they can present these in classes to the students. A lot of this loss that they have is that you cannot replace that. I would like to ask the Minister if he could seriously look at the policy to ensure there is protection there for the teachers and their goods and services that they do leave within those classrooms. So, when there is an instance like this weekend, there is coverage there for them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can suggest that the Department of Finance take a look at whether or not that sort of coverage would be expensive and we can examine it. As I said, I know that, for instance, in my personal home owner's insurance, if I lose my camera, no matter the circumstances, I have insured my personal property to be covered, whether it is in my house, in my car, in a hotel or in some other location. I believe that it is up to an individual to ensure that they have adequate insurance coverage for their own personal property. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not think it is practical for the teachers to take all their books home every night when they go home, just to ensure that they are not destroyed in a fire, in the case of a school, or whatever burns down. I think the point I am trying to make is that, presently, there is no coverage for that and, in the case of Fort McPherson, we have had two fires in the last year in which these teachers have gone through one loss and now have to go through another one. You talk about your camera having to be insured, I think that is a different matter, it is a personal item. I think when you are talking about materials that are used on a day to day basis by teachers to teach the class, that should be covered by that department. I would like to tell the Minister again, if he can give me a copy and go through the policy to ensure that is there and, if it is not, then make an attempt to ensure that coverage is there for the teachers. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I previously indicated to the Member, I will be happy to pass that suggestion on to the Department of Finance and ask that they have a look at it. I cannot commit that they will necessarily confirm it. I do know, Mr. Speaker that, for instance, in our insurance policy, there has to be a total of $1 million in losses before any claim can be submitted. So, what was lost in this fire most recently in Fort McPherson, because it will probably not be over $400,000, we will not be able to submit a claim for it. So, it will be a total loss to this government and to the department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In regards to the comments by the Minister, it seemed like there is possibly nothing that he can do from the department's perspective but I believe that if he would like to carry out an initiative to put a call out there to other teachers or other professional institutions to see if there is a possibility of compensating these individuals for their loss, by donations or whatever, in regards to this system because I think it is not a fair system having to go through this twice in one year. I would like to ask the Minister if he would put out a call for donations to those teachers and their students for the losses they have had in the fire over the weekend. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe, in the past, there have been a number of public donations to assist the community of Fort McPherson because of the loss of the Chief Julius School and I expect that northerners will respond as necessary to ensure that classes can continue in the Grade 7 to 9 facilities that burned down over the weekend. I understand that the Education Council will be coordinating what is needed and, once we hear from them, I would be happy to respond with a public call, if that is what is needed. However, I suspect that we will hear directly from the Beaufort-Delta Education Council regarding what they see as necessary. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is in regards to privatization. Mr. Speaker, over the past week, there have been many questions raised by Members in the House as to this government's privatization initiative, including POL services and property management. Mr. Speaker, the Premier has responded by stating that Mr. Kakfwi, Minister of Economic Development, is responsible for coordinating privatization initiatives. Therefore, I would like to ask Mr. Kakfwi, Minister responsible for Economic Development if, indeed, he has an established privatization policy that would apply to POL services and property management? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as the Premier indicated, there is a need for overall government coordination of the privatization initiatives that we have decided to advance. Petroleum products, to look at privatization of that particular division; to look at privatization in the area of computer services, maintenance and also to look at housing, government properties, buildings. Because they were initiatives that were the responsibility of different departments, the Cabinet felt that perhaps this ministry, because our expertise in looking at business initiatives and the capacity to provide an analysis on a business basis, we would be in the best position to look at the viability of these initiatives that would come forward from the individual departments. Cabinet set out certain criteria that they wanted to look at in regard to these different initiatives and we have tried to make sure that we work with the different departments to ensure that these were met. So, there is no specific policy in place but we did have a general basis on which to look at the merits and viability of privatizing these different initiatives. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since there is no policy in place, I wonder if the Minister could give me an indication of when they may be through considering whether or not they are going to privatize POL and when the public may expect to see a decision in this regard? Thank you.