Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I was saying, we do have a lot of competitive people. I just wanted to tell you a little bit about some of them. Of course, first of all we have Mr. Hamilton, the Clerk, who is very competitive. He played every game that was played. Because, as I said, there were too many teams to play all at once, so the teams would alternate. One set of teams would play a game, and another set of teams would play a game while the previous ones had a rest. Anyway, David played on his own team and then he played on my team. He told me confidentially that playing on two teams increases the chances of winning.

-- Laughter

I could not substantiate it, but rumour is that he tried to play on a third team. But he could not figure out a way to play two games at the same time. So, he played twice as many games as anybody else. On Monday morning, I saw him coming around the corner clutching his prize, all curled up like an "S" limping. As soon as he saw me, he just straightened up and said, "Good morning, Roy. How are you?" and went around the corner and started limping again. Then, of course, there was a well known MLA, Ed Picco. He also played on two teams. Played on his own team and when they were knocked out and they lost the A division semifinal, he then played as a spare for Team B and they won that division.

-- Applause

At the end of the tournament, they gave out some prizes. The winning teams of each division would go up and choose a prize. A division went first, B division, C division, like that. Then, the semi-final winners. Instead of waiting for his team to go up, when the B team went up, Ed went up with them even though he only played one game for them, and he took the best prize there. It was a nice phone, everybody was trying to get it. Ten teams later when his team went up for a prize, he went up again, took another prize. Someone said they heard him mumbling under his breath, "All those mental midgets want to know I won a place."

-- Laughter

Then, there was Ernie Comerford. Ernie asked me before we started, he said, "Is one team supposed to be at one end and another team at the other end, and we throw rocks back and forth at each other?" So, I thought this guy does not know how to play. I was trying to explain things to him, you know, in turn, out turn. I found out later that he coaches the NWT junior girls team.

-- Laughter

And of course, Minister Antoine also played. We all know how competitive Jim is. I really did not believe him when he said that he never played before. Knowing how competitive he is, I thought he must have played. That was until they said it was time to start, when he pulled his skates out and started to put them on.

-- Applause

Mike Miltenberger is also very competitive. He is so competitive that he thought curling was too slow for him. He went to Fort Smith to play hockey.

-- Applause

He wanted to play in an old timers' hockey tournament but he was very surprised when his team would not let him play because they did not want him to ruin their chances of winning.

-- Laughter

Mr. Roland is also a very competitive man and was also the biggest guy out there. You never see anybody arguing with him. You should see him sweep. You do not want to get in his way. That is dangerous.

-- Laughter

Somehow, he seemed to lose his strength when it was time to throw rocks. There is a line down at the other end, and if your rock does not go over it, they take your rock out of play. It does not count. They call it a hog line. I do not know how it ever got that name. But anyway, in the tournament if your rock did not go over the hog line, someone would give you a little pink pig. I guess it is a hog. But at the end of the day, you could hardly see Floyd's jacket. It was just pink. He had so many pink pigs.

-- Laughter

Apparently, when he found out that you win a prize for getting the most pigs, he played on two teams too. Some guys are so competitive, they will do anything to win a prize. Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if I did not say something about my curling prowess. I had never curled before this tournament, but luckily Mr. Hamilton curled with me and we were on the C side, but prior to that in preparation I had ordered some tapes from the Labatts' Brier. I also ordered some tapes called, Curling with Linda and Ray. Linda and Ray are former world champion curlers and they analyze the brier on TSN. I watched these tapes for weeks. I learned all the terminology, strategy, how to sweep, how to throw rocks, throwing in turn, out turn, all that, about the hog line too, of course. It worked, when we started playing I could not miss a shot. But, I do not know what happened, when it was time to play the first the game, the rest of my team must have heard that I had never curled before because none of them showed up.

-- Applause

It was a good thing that Mr. Hamilton wanted to increase his chances of winning because he came and played for my team. It must have rubbed off on him because he could not miss either. The only time we missed was when Ed stood behind us when we were shooting, yelling as loud as he could, "Shoot hard, shoot soft. You are nervous." I think he must have looked at the prizes in advance. He wanted to get that phone. Anyway, Mr. Speaker, I have made copies of my curling tapes. I am giving a copy to Floyd, and I am also leaving a copy in the library for next year so that all other beginners can become as good as Mr. Hamilton and I.

-- Applause

Actually, Mr. Speaker, it really was a wonderful tournament and we have a lot of people to thank. I would first of all, of course, want to thank Linda and Ray for sending me their tapes. But it was great fun, I would like to thank the organizers Brian Menton and Ronna worked very hard ...

-- Applause

They twisted a lot of arms getting some gifts donated. I would also like to thank Wesmac for donating the free curling time, paying for the rink time. Of course, all the agencies that donated, News/North, Inkit, CIBC, CJCD, NorthwesTel, MicroAge, Mack Travel, and also Matco Transportation, NTPC, NWT Housing Corporation, and RWED. I would also like to thank Ernie Comerford who helped with the scheduling and with the draws. I would also like to thank Vera Raschke who also worked very hard twisting a lot of arms for gifts. In fact, she was the main organizer and someone mentioned it was a fix because she won the tournament. In fact, I loaned her my tapes as well. Thank you.

-- Applause

Are there further Members' statements? Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Picco.

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the privatization initiative of POL, it is an initiative of this government and it is handled jointly by the Minister of DPW as well as the Minister of Economic Development, now known as RWED. This has been in place since the beginning of this initiative and it has been brought forward as such. Whenever Mr. Arlooktoo made a presentation to the committee, there was always economic development staff with him. So that is

how that privatization was carried out. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I called you Mr. Chairman, I am sorry about that.

Oral questions. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when we privatized property management services, the contracts are now being let, Mr. Kakfwi was not involved. Is there a level of privatization? For example, if it is a major initiative like POL then the Minister for privatization is involved? The Minister did not answer my question. What is the level of privatization? If we are contracting information services, does the Minister for privatization or DPW do that, or is it Mr. Kakfwi? Is there a level of privatization where one Minister takes it?

Thank you. Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of RWED will be involved in all privatization as it has in the past. It is economic development, part of that department, that has assisted this government in putting together the plans of privatization. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Regarding the ongoing privatization of property management services, Mr. Kakfwi is not involved with that right now. Is the Premier telling me that he is going to get involved tout suite, right away?

Mr. Morin.