Thank you, Mr. Picco. The honourable Member for Kivallivik, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once again today I rise on a sad note. Mr. Speaker, over the past ten years, dental therapists have been working, educating and caring for students in the Keewatin schools. Mr. Speaker, at the end of this month, it is the intention of the Keewatin Health Board to terminate the dental therapists and replace them with a dentist. Mr. Speaker, I do not know the details as to what services will be delivered, how many hours the dentist will serve. I can tell you that most of the communities do not want this change. They are happy with the level of service that they presently enjoy. Most of these individuals, these therapists, have worked for the past ten to 12 years in the school system with the children. The parents and the teaching staff are very happy with them. They would like to see the system stay as it is.

Mr. Speaker, the concerns of the communities, the hamlets have been made known to the health boards. This week we received letters from the hamlets and the hamlet councils stating that they did not want this system changed. They want it left the way it presently is. Up to this point, Mr. Speaker, there has been no change in the direction of the decision by the health board. They are still forging on with their decision to impose this new concept.

Mr. Speaker, it was only eight months ago that this government tried to impose a new Keewatin resupply system on the Keewatin people. The response by the mayors and the hamlets was that they did not agree with the new proposal. They felt it was not feasible. They did not want it to go ahead. Still, Mr. Speaker, the government forged on with this proposal. After eight months of meetings and a $100,000 study, the proposal was killed. Mr. Speaker, once again the people want to be heard. They do not agree with this new proposal. In the end, Mr. Speaker, we do not want to see another David and Goliath story. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife North, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak about partnerships. Mr. Speaker, one of the current buzz words everyone hears is partnerships. Although it may seem like jargon, the 13th Assembly is committed to the idea behind the word. Committed to finding ways to let the various parties, the GNWT, the municipalities and the aboriginal governments have a voice and a role to work together rather than against each other, to recognize current and future common interests. Historically, government has not been great about bringing all parties to the table. In Yellowknife, government has often talked to the Yellowknives Dene First Nation or to the municipality, but seldom to both. Decisions were made which made some people unhappy or left them in the dark.

Mr. Speaker, the big push of this Assembly has been to recognize the need for partnerships, to encourage greater sharing of authority and responsibility through community empowerment. One of the first steps was to get public government and self-government working together on the Western Constitutional Process. There is a more local and a more recent example of how this could work in Yellowknife. I am talking about the process to appoint an administrator for the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Board. I am pleased to see both Yellowknife City Council and the Yellowknives Dene First Nation were consulted. Mr. Speaker, nothing was imposed. The territorial government, the municipality and the first nation reached agreement on how to get the work done and who should be hired to do it. Everyone was involved and a good decision was made. This is one small but important step in building the kinds of partnerships we need, partnerships based on trust and working together. I hope this will serve as an example for other departments and communities. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Michael Adam. He has been a GNWT employee for the past 12 years. He is a technical consultant with Systems and Computer Services. He is taking some time off and visiting us in the Legislative Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you. Welcome to the Assembly. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Enuaraq.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker and honourable colleagues. Today, I would like to a question to the Minister of Transportation, Honourable Jim Antoine. It is in regards to the airstrip that should be moved to another location. I just wonder whether it has been considered by the Department of Transportation whether the airstrip could be moved to another location from its present location. (Translation ends)

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and good afternoon colleagues. Mr. Speaker, the Pangnirtung airport, there was a study done by the Department of Transportation on this airport in 1993. As a result of that study, the cost of relocating the airstrip was very expensive. I think it was estimated at about $11 million to relocate, the least cost of relocation. As a result, the department had concluded that kind of expenditure could not be justified at that time. At the present time, the department's position is that we cannot afford to relocate the airstrip at this time. However, because of the numerous requests from other communities for work on their airstrip and because of the outstanding requests of residents of Pangnirtung, which are very expensive, and the current level does not allow us to program these projects at this time. As a department we have been trying to undertake a full review of the existing airports to determine long term improvement plans which can be supported with the existing funds that we have. At the same time, carriers and communities such as Pangnirtung are being directly involved in these studies. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Enuaraq.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wrote a letter to the Minister of Transportation recently and asked him whether he could provide some partial funding for the transfer or the moving of the airstrip. I wonder if he could provide some partial funding for the relocation of the airstrip in Pangnirtung? Thank you. (Translation ends)

(Translation) Mr. Antoine. (Translation ends)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the airport in Pangnirtung has been studied, like I said, there was an intensive study done in 1993 which looked at the options for relocating and upgrading the airport. During the study, the department identified about five alternative airport sites and we also compared the cost of a new airport at these sites, upgrading the existing airport. Like I said, the cost to relocate is more than what we have. As we know, in the last 18 months we went through a very intensive cost cutting exercise. The Department of Transportation took a very big cut in our existing capital money. It is very impossible to commit to funding any part of relocating this airport project. However, the department is looking at long term plans. We cannot afford it now, but we could at least look at long term plans on how something like this could be achieved in the future. Thank you.

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

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

Yes, Mr. Speaker. I can appreciate my honourable colleagues concern and the concern of some of the constituents he represents, but I am not really in a position to make any comment on that. I mean, it is before arbitration. It would be inappropriate for me to make any comment. We

have to let due process take its course and I will do what I can to encourage a speedy resolve, one way or the other, to this outstanding issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Todd. Mr. Miltenberger, supplementary.

Thank you. Mr. Todd.

It is not uncommon for the honourable Members to know more than I do in this job, and I say that in all seriousness, but my to understanding it is. As I said, I think it would be unfair of me at this time to make any comment. We are going to have to let due process take its course and my notes say that it was referred to arbitration. I will double check on that, but I am not prepared to answer any other questions on this issue at this time. Thank you.

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