Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there were several options that were looked at as the honourable Member knows. I went before the Standing

Committee to discuss generally some of the alcohol and drug reforms and the possibility of anywhere from closure of two, possibly even three, facilities at one point. A decision was finalized in early to mid-December by myself but it was felt that with Christmas coming on that it was not an ideal situation to make that type of announcement at that time so I made a decision to wait until after the New Year as early as possible after the New Year to formalize any public announcements on the withdrawal of funds for the Delta House operation, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That shows us that the system does work. If you apply for a job and you feel that you have the right to appeal, you do appeal it. Then, you win the appeal. The system must work. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I see the Premier has his tap-dancing shoes on again today. Concerning the high rate of appeals, is Cabinet concerned about the inordinate amount of appeals that were actually upheld, because something was improperly done in the hiring process? Thank you.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Appeals are only a small part of the staffing process. There are many, many jobs that are filled in this government that are not appealed because people did not feel the need to appeal. So it is just a small part of it, and my understanding is that 69 appeals are very small, compared to the past. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Premier and the Finance Minister have both indicated that managers are now being allowed to manage and they are responsible for affirmative action and that there would be repercussions if the rate of affirmative action people within the civil service does not rise. Will this include loss of bonus money?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe I can take a moment to try to answer Mr. Erasmus' question in some detail, because we seem to keep coming back to it and I believe that we need to move on to other things. My friend, Mr. Erasmus, is right to be concerned about this issue. We all want to be satisfied that the interests of aboriginal people and others targeted by our affirmative action policy are adequately protected. The changes we have made, I believe, are the right ones. The bottom line is that we had to become a smaller and more efficient government, if we are to maintain acceptable levels of services to people in our community. Where Mr. Erasmus and I do not agree, is how to ensure that the objectives of the affirmative action are met on an ongoing basis. My approach, and the approach endorsed by Cabinet and this Legislative Assembly, is to put the onus of advancing the principles, square on the shoulder of the deputy ministers, who have the operational responsibility for the administration of this policy.

I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that this is a matter that I have specifically raised with the deputy ministers in the past. It was an issue I specifically raised with several of them during the course of my recent performance review process. They are on notice that it is an issue for which their performance will be specifically addressed in June when I meet with them again. If I was a deputy minister, I would be taking that quite seriously. Mr. Speaker, I realize that we need to revitalize the affirmative action policy of this government, that is why we have committed to bringing a paper forward for discussion by Members of this Assembly, where we can agree that appropriate changes should be made. We will do that. However, Mr. Speaker, once that is done, I will still be looking to the deputy ministers to make sure that the objectives of the policy are met. What it comes down to, Mr. Speaker, is whether we have confidence in our senior managers to manage the priorities we give them. Mr. Speaker, I do. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I would like thank the Premier for finally answering a question that I asked, although it was ten seconds out of his three minutes that he spoke for. While he is being so magnanimous, could he also answer the question that I asked five times on Friday, and which he refused to answer? Is Cabinet concerned that the current affirmative action policy is not being properly implemented? Thank you.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I have previously said, ourselves in Cabinet, as well as Members of this Legislative Assembly, are concerned about the numbers of aboriginal and long-term northerners working for this government. We have already made a commitment and we made it publicly, we made it in this Assembly, we have said it, if I said it once, I must have said it 10 times in responding to Mr. Erasmus, that we are concerned that the affirmative action policy is not increasing the long-term northerners and aboriginal people in the employment of this government. So that is how come we have made that commitment to bring a paper forward to this Legislative Assembly to discuss it with the Members of this Legislative Assembly and rework it and then implement a new policy. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Ningark. Oral questions. Mr. Miltenberger.

The Minister responsible for the N.W.T. Housing Corporation, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, the Rural and Remote Housing initiative was a program that was one of the first home ownership programs that was offered in the N.W.T. and since the days of that program, we have gone through the HAP program, the Access program, and other programs, but as it turns out the rural and remote clients, of which there are 39, and mostly in the western Arctic. There has been concern raised by these clients and MLAs that some of these clients may be treated unfairly compared to clients of later programs. I have taken a look at this issue. We have, or are in the process of, offering a package of refinancing to every one of those clients and I can provide an update to the Member when we have one available.