Yes thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know, I would be the first to admit that perhaps the system may appear on the surface to be a bit cumbersome, but I am telling you right now that the fact of the matter is, the expectation out there for students has been reduced because we do not have

the fiscal resources. I do not want to get back into that story, but that is the reality. One of the reasons that we announced early the new initiative is because we have tried to find a way in which to lever our dollars to get more students to work. That is really what we are trying to do here. Now, I will examine the concern raised by Mr. Ootes. It could very well be a legitimate one. I will assume it is at this point in time, and see if there is some way in which we can provide students with the form of information that he has from the federal government.

What we will not examine though, in fairness to him, I am not prepared to look at a centralized model at this time because accountability and responsibility has been placed on the Ministers and placed on the deputy ministers et cetera. That is all the way through our program since we started. I will try to find a way to examine how we can provide the necessary information for the students but if we are heading towards whether we are going to have a centralized kind of clearing house, at this time I do not think it would be fair to give any indication to Mr. Ootes that we would be prepared to do that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Todd. Second supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you. The honourable Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, this question has been raised on a number of occasions by my honourable colleague, but the fact of the matter is, we have signed a legal collective agreement with our colleagues in the union which commits us to certain wage rates for certain jobs for certain periods of time. I would be prepared, if I was given direction, to perhaps communicate with the union to see if they would consider it. But they have got an obligation and responsibility to the membership. I cannot speak for them, Mr. MacDonald and others are around and I am sure they can talk to you directly, but I do not think there is room right now considering that we have signed off an agreement which was difficult enough to get. Let us be candid, it was a tough time, the last little while.

We did indicate on the front end that we would have preferred to try to get a student rate, to ensure more students would be recruited because we knew the fiscal position we would be in. For one reason or another, and I am not making any judgement on it, we could not accomplish that in the bargaining process. I will talk to my department and see if they are prepared to communicate with the president and see if they wish to re-examine it. To be candid, I very much doubt it at this time, hence the reason we brought in the private sector initiative for the recruitment of students that Mr. Dent announced earlier this year. Thank you.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you. I would like to remind all Members when asking questions, the initial question allows for the preamble and supplementaries are there to seek clarification from the Minister on the questions. In some cases, we have had a number of Members asking more than one question at the same time. Those kinds of questions could be asked in terms of written questions. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would be prepared to ask the departments if they can identify and provide me with a complete data list of how many students they are prepared to recruit this year based on the fiscal dollars they have available. I can tell you, unequivocally, that we are not in the same position we were over a year ago. There is, unfortunately, less opportunity hence the reason why we came forward with what we believe is a creative way to lever both private sector and government dollars to bring about new opportunities for our students. But I would certainly be prepared to coordinate and seek input from the departments as to how many students they intend to hire within the fiscal frameworks and we have set targets with respect to our budgets. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Finance responsible for the Division Secretariat. I think it is fair to say that there has been some confusion and misunderstanding regarding formula financing for the two new territories. I wonder if the Minister could make it clear as to what the government and the Western Coalition and the interim commissioner will be negotiating as far as formula financing agreements for the two new territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let us make it clear, there should be no confusion as it relates to this government's position as we move forward to negotiate the formula arrangements. We see clearly that there is a requirement for two new formula gross expenditure bases for both the western government and the eastern government. It is clear with respect to the federal government's position as it relates to Footprints in the Snow 2, they have indicated support for it, both through the Minister of DIAND and the Minister of Finance. This government's position is also to support the Footprints in the Snow 2 report, along with NTI. Therefore, we are currently costing, in an orderly way, that blueprint and model that is in place. In that costing, we will identify the incremental side of it. With respect to the western government, we are costing right now the government that is in place. Once we have that costing in place, with our partners in the process we will then move forward to the federal government and see if they are prepared to pay the price.

I have to remind everybody, especially the audience out there, that the fact of the matter is, the current levels of funding that we receive from the federal government is somewhere between 76 to 80 percent of the monies we receive. Our capacity to generate revenues is very limited. We are somewhere in the region of 20 to 24 percent capacity to generate revenues. When you look at two new territories, the capacity to generate revenues, the requirement for the gross expenditure base, will change significantly, hence the reason for what I have been saying for weeks. There is clearly a requirement to identify two new formulas, with two new expenditure bases, based upon two models. The models are Footprints in the Snow 2 and the western government as we currently see it. We then move that forward with our partners to the federal government and ask are you going to pay the bill? Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have heard the Minister break that down very well. I was wondering if he would also confirm to me or reject, has the federal government bought into the process that the GNWT will be negotiating two separate formula financing agreements? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Todd.

The reality, Mr. Speaker, is that I did speak to Mr. Martin in January about this whole issue. At that time, I did not get clarity as to what his political position would be in relationship to ours, and that it is the negotiation of two new formulas. I believe we have a common bond and understanding by all northern representatives. I think it would be fair to say that, without contradiction, the Western Coalition, NTI and the interim Commissioner have agreed that this is a logical approach to seeking the kinds of dollars required for the two new governments. I think it will become clearer after the officials meeting that it is going to be undertaken this Friday, I believe, as to whether the federal government is going to be receptive to that position.

I personally, as the Finance Minister, cannot see doing it any other way. If we do it any other way, we are going to get into convoluted political arguing about taking from Peter to give to Paul and from Paul to give to Peter. It does not make any sense to me to take that approach. We must cost the funding required for two new governments. We have got to have a strong, credible argument as to why there is a requirement for it. We have to recognize, not just in this Legislature, but out there, that we are extremely vulnerable in our ability to generate revenues. There is no point in hiding that. Our capacity to do that is very limited. Therefore, we require a sympathetic federal government. That is what I believe we have. I believe that a constructive, well laid out argument will hopefully be able to get the levels of funding necessary, so that as Mr. Morin has said frequently April 1, 1999 can be a reason to celebrate. Thank you.

Thank you. Second supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you. Mr. Todd.

Well, let me say at the outset, Mr. Speaker, that I do recognize and appreciate my colleague's questions. I recognize the unease that is out there, particularly when you consider some of the difficult decisions we have had to make in the last 18 months. It is a difficult time. People are a little bit uneasy, whether you are living in Yellowknife or Grise Fiord. There is the same unease out there. We need to bring some stability to this issue, some confidence to the issue, some equity and fairness to the way we approach it. That is what we are trying to accomplish here. Contrary to some out there, that is what we are trying to accomplish. Fairness, equity, calm, orderly, this is the way in which we have to approach this formula arrangement.

I am not sure when we will get the kind of clarity necessary to be clear to my colleague about whether the federal government is prepared to accept the principles about how we would like to approach formula financing. Certainly, from a northern perspective, I will repeat that there is a common understanding that it is the approach we should take. I appreciate my colleague saying he concurs with that. As soon as we get some clarity on the federal government side, I will advise this House and committees. In the meantime, we know there is an election which closes on June 2nd. I cannot predict how that election is going to unfold. I will tell you that the Cabinet is preparing a 30, 60 and 90 day strategy as it relates to our relationship with the new federal government, whoever they may be. The priority in terms of the strategy is the two new formulas necessary to bring this whole division issue to rest and to get some clarity, as I said earlier, on the approach we wish to take with respect to fairness, equity and the fact that we are going to divide the territories, and have two new formulas, not one divided up. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister responsible for DPW. Mr. Speaker, recently the tenders were opened for the school extension in Baker Lake. Can the Minister advise me as to what the status of this opening was? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Arlooktoo.