Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers' statement. Item 3, Members' statements. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, yesterday many of us welcomed in the gallery women from our ridings here in Yellowknife for a developmental conference. These women are on the front lines of working with child abuse, spousal assault and family breakdowns. Mr. Speaker, this is a very stressful work place at the best of times. Many of these women are working with few resources and our government, because of the fiscal climate, has had a hard time coming up with money to support professional development, training and resources for these workers and shelters.

Mr. Speaker, there are many people who believe these women are somehow responsible at times for accelerated family break-ups. Sometimes, the shelters are seen as foreign institutions. Mr. Speaker, I do not agree with that assessment. Last night, Mr. Erasmus and I visited the women at their open house. It was a short but very informative visit. We talked a little about their jobs and the fiscal situation and funding difficulties. Having been here since the 15th of January and venturing very little from the Legislature to home, we get caught up in government, budgets, cameras and legislation. Last night, after meeting with the ladies, it reminded me again why I ran for an election and what I had hoped to accomplish. I thank them for that.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the women for their kind invitation. I am sure that my colleagues here will join me in wishing them a very constructive session and informative meeting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Picco. Members' statements, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce the official opening of the Arviat Business Training Centre. The training centre is a result of a co-operative partnership entered into by the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Sakku Investments and the hamlet of Arviat. The centre is located in the former office of the Renewable Resources Building. It was purchased by the hamlet and now accommodates a

classroom, office space and will accommodate up to 14 students.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the hamlet of Arviat for its vision and enthusiasm in developing this northern training program that will prove beneficial to all the communities in Nunavut. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. Members' statements. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? No nays. Mr. Krutko, conclude your statement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Members' statements. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My statement today is on legal training in the Northwest Territories. Today, the court workers in the NWT do not have proper formal training. Usually the worker is a community person who gets trained through workshops and on-the-job training. This is not fair to the worker, particularly the worker who is alone in a community without a lawyer to consult whenever he or she wants. We require a method whereby all our court workers have a standard minimum training. Additionally, the GNWT is aggressively promoting community justices. Unfortunately, there is an acute shortage of community people with academic legal training. There are very few northern aboriginal lawyers and no aboriginal judges. There are aboriginal JPs but few of them have much legal training. I propose we initiate a one-year certificate and a two-year diploma program for legal assistants. All court workers will be required to take the certificate program. The program would have upgrading for six to 12 months for those who require academic preparation. That is because some of the people in the course may not be high school graduates and those out of school for a long time may require a refresher to get use to being in school again. This method has been used successfully in the community teacher education programs as well as the nursing program run by Aurora College. The program should be associated with our university so that it can be categorized as post-secondary education. This will mean that people could get student financial assistance. Also, people who finish this could be eligible to get directly into law school. The communities currently have training funding available for the next two years through a federal program called Pathways. The program could be funded through a combination of Pathways and GNWT dollars. For instance, student financial assistance could be used for allowances and Department of Education and the communities, through Pathways, could fund running the courses. Because of that, you would accept aboriginal people first, then non-aboriginal peoples if there was room. The result, you would have court workers with a minimum one-year academic legal training, communities with legally trained people to propel the community justice program, aboriginal JPs with legal training leading to aboriginal lawyers and finally, aboriginal judges. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during the last 18 months the people of the Northwest Territories have contributed to resolving this government's financial predicament. Employees have had pay and benefits cut, a significant number of people have been laid off and programs and facilities have been reduced and cut. Mr. Speaker, last May, I raised the possibility with the Minister of Finance, regarding giving discount rates at hotels, travel agencies and similar businesses to all residents of the NWT, in recognition of their sacrifices in achieving a balanced budget. Upon presentation of a valid NWT driver's licence or health care card at participating businesses, a person would receive a discount. The discount would be similar to reduced rates offered to GNWT employees, such as reduced rates at travel agencies, hotels and car rental agencies. Using identification cards issued regularly by this government means this program would not result in any additional costs. Presently, our government has standing orders with hotels and car rental agencies, so it would be relatively straightforward to advise these businesses to accept the card at their establishments.

Mr. Speaker, this arrangement would not discourage travel in the north or give an unfair advantage to southern destinations. Northern businesses may also attract more customers by accepting these cards. The discounts would give a well-deserved break to all NWT residents faced with the double burden of the higher cost of living than the rest of Canada and, in tough financial times, this action could potentially save money for the government, since higher volume of hotel and car rental services could mean better rates offered to our government.

Mr. Speaker, this action would provide people of the NWT with a small, but well-deserved break at no expense to the government. I will be asking the Minister of Finance for some comments on this statement later on in question period. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Members' statements. The honourable Member for the High Arctic, Mr. Barnabas.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I want to support new businesses, in particular, the small businesses that are in the smaller communities. As they start to establish their own small businesses, they often have no place to turn to and, even if they get their supplies from the north, this continues to be higher because their businesses are smaller than other larger businesses. As well, the government has to give more support to the smaller businesses by way of having funding available to them. Regarding the government offices in communities, they have to do more to help the smaller businesses in those communities that run their own businesses. Regarding contracts, when they bid for certain contracts, because they are running on a smaller scale, they often are not given contracts. I will be asking a question regarding this later on. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (Translation ends)

Thank you, Mr. Barnabas. Members' statements. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Rabesca. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Upon reviewing the background information regarding the Housing Corporation's new initiative, Plan 2000, I feel it is only a start in providing affordable housing to those that are in need. However, Mr. Speaker, there are many positive aspects to Plan 2000. I do have some concerns about this program and feel it is necessary to address them. On a positive note, I believe this will be a much better program than is currently in place for those that are able to access this. It will allow this government to use its dollars more wisely and will also free up dollars that are currently targeted for housing to be used elsewhere. Getting the financial institutions involved in the smaller communities has been a need for many years. Until recently, it has been impossible to get a financial institution to venture into this area. There are numerous residents that could afford to purchase a unit but, because no lending institution would consider mortgages in small communities, it is not a reality. This program should provide for this. I believe this program would also encourage families to seek better employment as they will not be penalized for extra income earned as it is with today's rental scales program. This new housing program may allow three or four times as many units to be constructed than is currently done which will increase construction and employment throughout the north. It will also free up other units that will be able to be used for many more residents that currently do not have suitable housing.

Mr. Speaker, the potential benefits will be long-reaching for this government and for the residents in all communities, which is very good for those who will be able to access it and for those who will also be able to move into newly-vacated rental units, where they presently have none. However, I feel that this program does not go far enough to address the area of low income families, single parents or the elderly. It seems that many low income families, single parents and elderly may be destined to live in rental units for the rest of their lives. It appears to me those that have will benefit and those that have not will never progress in their housing situation.

Mr. Rabesca.

Mr. Speaker, may I have unanimous consent to conclude my statement, please?

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Mr. Rabesca, you have unanimous consent to conclude your statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We must find solutions for the poorer citizens. I would remind everyone that both our Premier and Finance Minister have stated on a number of occasions that we, as a government will not solve

our deficit problems on the backs of the poor. They deserve to have even stronger efforts on our part. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Rabesca. Members' statements. Item 4, return to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you. Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Right now, our policies do reflect the diversity of the Northwest Territories and we will continue to do that. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you. Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will do that. In the past, I have attempted to do that as well. I think we have done fairly well on that whole issue of policies addressing the Northwest Territories. Sometimes when you are developing a policy, it is fairly broad so that it does encompass the whole Northwest Territories, but we also try to include the uniqueness of the communities in the policy. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as qualifications go for jobs within the government, in some cases, we have to ask for certain qualifications whether it be in social care, corrections, justice, school teachers, doctors and lawyers. There are certain qualifications needed. In some cases in government, we can look at what qualifications are being asked for certain jobs. Maybe, from time to time, they are requesting too many qualifications on certain jobs. I will look into that and see if there is a way that we can make sure we have competent people getting those jobs but also we can do it in such a way that it would encourage northerners to be able to get those jobs. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. The Honourable Premier, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is very clear from the statistics that we do see that, in the lower parts of government and lower jobs, from the director level down, there are a lot more aboriginal people, affirmative action long-term northerners in those jobs, than from that director level up. There are less affirmative action candidates in those jobs. It is an issue that has to be addressed. As I have said previously in this House, Mr. Speaker, we will be writing to the deputies to have them come up with a plan on how to increase those numbers. Thank you.

Thank you. Second supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that is exactly what I am talking about, employee plans and how to increase the affirmative action candidates at the higher end of government and to develop a plan to make that happen. That will also be part of the deputy's evaluation when I evaluate them every year. Thank you.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. The Honourable Premier, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to talk to Cabinet about this to get Cabinet direction but I do not see any reason why the departments, when they present the budget to the committee next year, should not have an employment strategy plan in every individual department. There is ample time. There is ample warning. We as a Cabinet are going to talk about it and then give the direction, but I am sure we can work that out so that by the time you review the next year's budget, they should have a strategy in place for increasing those numbers. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Member for Hay River, Madam Groenewegen.

Thank you. The honourable Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Supplementary, Madam Groenewegen.

Mr. Minister, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Madam Groenewegen, second supplementary.

Thank you. The honourable Minister, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Oral questions. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Ms. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have had correspondence from Aklavik and the community transfer initiative that is happening there seems to be doing very well. If my budget is passed soon, there will be money in there to help communities with community empowerment. We will be able to help the communities with the resources after my budget is passed because in my last budget I did not have anything for community empowerment. We had to find it from within. We are working with Aklavik and we have good results with them. We have good reports from them that everything seems to be going well. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. The honourable Minister, Madame Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have a person in Inuvik. I believe Lisa McPherson is working with the community. She is the link between the community and the GNWT for community empowerment in that region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko. Second supplementary.

Thank you. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Madame Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Lisa McPherson is quite capable of doing her job and that is why we have her in that position. She is doing a great job with the community. She is doing everything she can to help the community of Aklavik. So far we have heard good reports on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. The honourable Minister, Madame Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We want the communities to succeed, that is our priority in community empowerment. We will be available to the communities as long as GNWT exists to make sure the communities are successful in the transfer. Thank you.

Thank you, Madame Thompson. Oral questions. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for FMBS, Mr. Todd. In my Member's statement today I talked about the sacrifices that all residents of the NWT have made to ensure the Minister of Finance can balance the budget. As a little reward, I proposed that all residents receive, through their health card or a valid driver's license, the same discounts at hotels and car rental agencies that would be available to government employees presently. One of the stipulating factors was that it would not cost the government any money. I asked the Minister about this last May and I would like the Minister now to tell me what he has done about this and when we can expect this type of program to be put in place. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Minister for FMBS, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me first of all say, it is an excellent idea by my colleague that he brought up in early May and I apologize for the delay in response but I want to assure him that we are pursuing the idea aggressively. We have been in touch with travel agencies, hotels, car rentals, to see if there is a receptive audience out there. I am confident that once we have concluded our discussions with the industry at large, we will put forward and applaud our colleague for his initiative that will cost this government no money. Is that a good answer? Thank you.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister responsible for FMBS has told us that he has contacted the travel agencies, hotels, and so forth. Can the Minister tell us when he contacted these agencies and what response they gave him initially? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. The honourable Minister, Mr. Todd.

I had a note on this yesterday because I thought my colleague was going to ask me yesterday. I seem to have inadvertently lost it. I want to assure him, seriously, that we have contacted these associations. We think it is a reasonable request. I do not have the details at my fingertips, but I will get it and report to my colleague tomorrow or before he goes on vacation, so he can take advantage of these initiatives. No, Mr. Speaker, I do not have the details of it. I do want to assure my colleague that we have done what I have said we have done. I will move quickly to try and get resolved to it and report back to him. Thank you.

Thank you. Second supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister, seeing as he does believe this is a good idea and worthwhile for all residents of the NWT. Normally parents like to take their children on summer vacation. Can I ask the Minister if he would support families in that regard by ensuring this program will be in place before the end of June? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. The honourable Minister for FMBS, Mr. Todd.

I think my colleague thinks I am not dealing with this issue seriously, that is why I was looking for the notes. I am dealing with it seriously. I cannot commit today whether we would have it in place by June. I know, in my discussions with Mr. Voytilla, that we have been communicating with the industry at large outside of the north of 60, in an effort to see if they would co-operate with us in providing this initiative incentive for northern people. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions concern the budget. Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Federation of Business did an assessment of the territorial budget. Overall, their assessment of the budget delivered by Mr. Todd was favourable. However, they did make some good points like regulatory reform and economic development issues. My question for Mr. Todd is, will he be following up or contacting the federation and taking up their offer on the experience they have gleaned from their extensive regulatory reform and ask them for some logistical information or help?

Thank you. The honourable Minister responsible for Financial Management Board, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe I received the same letter from the federation. They have a great deal of experience in that, both in Alberta, and I know there is a considerable amount of experience in regulatory reform in Mr. Picco's former province, Newfoundland. We would take that all into consideration as we move forward in an orderly way to determine what regulatory reform will be necessary to provide the more open balanced approach for business in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Iqaluit, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Newfoundland comes a poor second to Scotland in regulatory reform as we all know. Mr. Brad Wright will be coming to Yellowknife from the Canadian Federation of Business next month. Is Mr. Todd meeting with him at that time?

Thank you. The honourable Minister, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is important to point out that both Mr. Kakfwi and myself have co-sponsored the paper on regulatory reform and Mr. Kakfwi will take the lead on it because he is intimately involved, being the Minister of RWED. It is our intent to meet with Mr. Wright either here or in Edmonton or Calgary, but we intend to meet with him. As I indicated, while it was co-sponsored, Mr. Kakfwi will be taking the lead on this important issue. Thank you.

Thank you. Second supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last year Mr. Todd was able to travel around the territories explaining the major aspects of his budget. I have not seen a travel itinerary for Mr. Todd that he will be doing that this year. Concerning the budget again, will Mr. Todd be travelling around this time? If so, when? If not, why?

Thank you, Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will take this question because it is for all Ministers of where they will be travelling and when they will be travelling. We will let the Members know when we can make ourselves available to be in your riding. Myself, I think I will plan on doing the Baffin and some of the Ministers may come along. We are going to be going out having town hall meetings with the people of the Northwest Territories. Some of the Ministers, as well as myself, have been in some of the ridings already. We have to try to spread ourselves out as much as possible. Thank you.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, regarding these town hall meetings, this is the first time I heard of this. As the Premier knows and the Finance Minister, when you are coming to a riding we have to book space, get translators and, in my case, we ask for French translation at times too. I would appreciate as early as possible the Premier or the Finance Minister, whichever one is speaking to this today, to inform the Members of this House and the public at large, when these town hall meetings, these explanations of the budgets, will be occurring outside the capital of Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is just the proper way of doing business and we do business properly. I

have talked to the Member about this. I did mention I was thinking of going to his riding before. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you. The honourable Minister, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it is important and I believe all Ministers have said this and the Premier has said this, that we need to develop a transition plan prior to April 1, 1999, for the development of two territories, not just the Nunavut one. In consultation with my Cabinet colleagues, we are going to move fairly quickly in the coming weeks to develop that. That is that you want, a pre-implementation plan that is necessary to get some of the basic framework for two new governments in place prior to April 1, 1999. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you. The honourable Minister, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think what is important here is that we do move forward in an orderly way. We take a hard look at what we think we can realistically accomplish. Some time lines are attached to it. Mr. Henry and others have spoken to it before. I have just sent out what they call a "call letter" to the Ministers and to deputy ministers, that we start to take a look at how we develop that as quickly as we can. I have spoken to Mr. Hamilton today and I did not get an opportunity to speak to you as Chair of the Caucus. I would like to be able to bring the Caucus up-to-date on what we are doing internally, to try to message what I call an "interim step." What can we accomplish in the time lines that we have left? I have said before that you cannot wait until April 1, 1999, and suddenly turn on the light switch. We need to move as quickly as we can. Realistically, if we have the political support out there, I am fairly confident we could actually move in the fall of 1997 with some things, but it is going to require Cabinet, legislative approval, et cetera, and is going to require the support of all Members. The intent is to move with my Cabinet colleagues and the deputies to develop a plan. I would like to present the framework for that plan to Caucus next week to see if there is some general support for it. Then to move as quickly as we can to implement it, assuming there is continuing political support. Thank you.

Thank you. Second supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you. The Minister responsible for FMBS, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are two components to this thing. We have already committed to costing the NIC model with NIC and NTI, our partners to cost that model. They had to move forward with the costing of that model as well as the costing of the status quo in the west to negotiate to formula arrangements. That is the first step that we are doing now. The second step, with relationship to Nunavut which you specifically asked about, is that we need to put into place an interim step based upon a headquarters model that can then be decentralized once the fiscal money and the infrastructure is in place and agreed to under Nunavut. I hope I have been clear there. Thank you.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.