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.

Thank you. The honourable Minister, Mr. Todd.

One short answer to that one is yes, we would do that. I think it is incumbent of me to say, I am hoping that once we get into a discussion with the federal government there will be a recognition that there are going to be some costs associated with, if you want, pre-implementation of division. Again, I go back to my argument. You cannot simply turn the lights on April 1 and not have, for example, a fiscal regime in place. As my colleague just said, we have to make sure the cheques are written and the bank account has money in it. If I can simplify it, it would be our intent to keep them separate but at the same time it would be my intention, in my discussion with the Finance Minister, to get him to recognize that some of this pre-implementation will be fundamentally necessary. This is not political, this is just administratively necessary for a government to function, is going to be paid for. Absolutely. Yes.

Qujannamiik. Mr. Barnabas.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the past ten years divisional boards have been working on Inuktitut curriculums from kindergarten to grade 12. I would like to ask the Minister how this process is doing. To the Honourable Charles Dent. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. The honourable Minister, Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Barnabas.