Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good morning. Mr. Speaker, in his budget address, the Minister of Finance announced yesterday the new Northwest Territories Child Benefit, which will come into effect this July.

Ensuring that all our children have a strong start in life is critical to the future of the Northwest Territories. By making children everybody's priority, we can help build a better future for our children and for our society.

Recognizing this, federal, provincial and territorial governments came together to work on behalf of Canada's children. At the First Ministers' Meeting in June, 1996, the Prime Minister and Premiers made tackling child poverty a collective priority. They identified support for low-income families as critical in helping parents to better meet their children's needs. In 1997, the federal government announced the National Child Benefit.

This is an innovative and progressive approach for investing in children, designed by federal/provincial/territorial Ministers responsible for Social Services and coordinated by the Council on Social Policy Renewal.

The National Child Benefit requires the participation of both the federal government and provincial/territorial governments. As its initial contribution to this initiative, the federal government will provide an additional $850 million per year to enhance the National Child Benefit as a common income platform across the country. This commitment, which takes effect in July, 1998, will increase income support benefits for all low-income families with children. The territorial government is obliged to reduce income support payments equal to the amount paid by the federal government.

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Finance indicated in his budget address, this saving of income support money and $2 million additional monies from the territorial government will be invested in additional benefits to children in the north. With this funding, nearly 60 percent of NWT children will receive some benefits under the joint program. For example, a working family with four children and an annual income under $20,921 will receive $5,900 per year or almost $500 per month in addition to their regular income.

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This program, a joint initiative of the Departments of Finance and Education, Culture and Employment, is an initial step towards a more comprehensive agenda for children and youth that will be developed over the coming year.

The National Child Benefit, together with the reinvestment of income support funds, which are freed up, as well as additional monies from the territorial government, represents a substantial attack on child poverty in the north. Mr. Speaker, it is critical that we continue to place the highest priority on improving living conditions - now and in the future - for our children who are, indeed, our future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday a former Yellowknife resident and Mayor, Fred Henne passed away. Fred Henne first came to Yellowknife in 1947. He arrived in the city as a mine union organizer. Later, he bought Frame and Perkins - a local bussing company which is now known as Arctic Frontier Carriers - and, with his partner Mike Piro, expanded operations to include a Ford dealership, an Imperial Oil dealership, a car wash and a number of other enterprises. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Henne was an active entrepreneur, but he was also very involved in municipal politics. He served as mayor of the City of Yellowknife several times, from 1956 to 1957, again from 1968 to 1973, and finally from 1976 to 1979. Fred hired me to work for the city in 1976, so I got to know him pretty well over the three years that I worked for him.

Mr. Speaker, Fred was a colourful character - like many successful people in a booming frontier town - and you either loved him or you hated him. Fred had a vision of where the city should be headed. He was quick to look at an issue or a situation, choose a position and then work his heart out to achieve what he thought to be the best solution. He was blunt and straightforward and very effective in arguing a case whether it was with a contractor, planner or someone from the territorial Department of Local Government.

Fred used to talk about the early days of municipal government in the north and how tough they had to be with Ottawa early on. He was particularly proud of the role he played in the early days of the first elected government north of 60 - since the Town of Yellowknife had an elected mayor and council way before the territorial government was elected. He also contributed to the development of our city through his dedication and commitment to the community. He was an active volunteer and a charter member of the Yellowknife Rotary Club. Fred was particularly supportive of sports in Yellowknife and fought hard for new facilities. It is appropriate that the Fred Henne Territorial Park, located within the City of Yellowknife, is named after him in honour of his contributions and service to the city.

Mr. Speaker, after Fred retired to Peachland, British Columbia, he continued to come back to Yellowknife for several years to run charters with his beloved boat the Nauti-Gal. Because of the small population of the territories and the role he played in the capital city, Fred was well known to many northerners. Mr. Speaker, I am sure they join me in extending deepest sympathy to his wife Helen and his family. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last year in Fort Smith, the local hotel, the Pelican Rapids Inn was destroyed by fire and since that time it put a very serious damper on the town's capability to host conferences and meetings. I am glad to be able to stand up today and announce that, in fact, the Pelican Rapids Inn, under the ownership of Don Ferguson has been rebuilt and is now open for business. It has many new well appointed rooms, air conditioned, all the amenities that discriminating travellers are used to. I would like to encourage all my colleagues and Cabinet to make sure that they let their departments know that Fort Smith is back in business in the hotel sector, and we look forward to many more conferences and government people coming to town, along with any other folks to take advantage of the fine services we have to offer. I would like to congratulate Mr. Ferguson for his involvement and commitment to the Town of Fort Smith. Thank you very much.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members will recall that on the opening day of this session I made a Member's statement on the absolute need for the MLAs of this Legislature to conduct themselves in accordance with the highest standards of integrity. Mr. Speaker, I have sat in this House and listened to the various Ministers talk about the need for transparency in all government dealings and I strongly agree with this need of transparency at all levels. However, Mr. Speaker, this transparency must also be apparent to the people of the Northwest Territories. I have listened over the Christmas break to concerns from my constituents about the issue of government officials allegedly being investigated by the RCMP Commercial Crime Division and the circumstances surrounding the sale and leasing of the Lahm Ridge Tower by this government. Mr. Speaker, the RCMP have to complete their investigation into the alleged transgressions before I would comment on that. I do, however, Mr. Speaker, have serious concerns about the perception of transparency with regard to the Lahm Ridge Tower deal. Given the well-known public perception problem and difficulties with this particular transaction; it alludes me why this government has not taken the initiative on their own to clarify the issues surrounding this deal without having to be asked to do so. The circumstances leading up to the sale and lease renewal present a picture to the average person who could hardly be blamed for making the assumption of collusion at the highest levels of this government.

Mr. Speaker, this is my understanding of the facts. We start with the previous owner who is attempting to secure refinancing for his property and is encountering difficulty because he only has month to month leases. The owner is approached by a local real estate agent saying they have an interested buyer for the Lahm Ridge Tower. The owner for whatever reasons decides to sell his building for almost $2 million less than the appraised value to a numbered company controlled by a former senior bureaucrat of this government and a local businessman with known ties to our Premier. The government signs leases for a total gross revenue of $1.2 million per year. The sale goes through and the new owners have a lease extension for eight years with a total revenue from that lease extension of almost $9.5 million. At the very least, Mr. Speaker, the circumstances are one of more incredible string of coincidences than I have ever seen, but if there is more to the story or a perfectly reasonable explanation why this government has not publicly come forward with it to clear suspicion, Mr. Speaker, I would like to know what it is and, Mr. Speaker, I intend to seek specific answers to these questions regarding the Lahm Ridge Tower in question period. Thank you.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as leaders we always speak to the people we represent on the value and importance of education, achieving a higher degree of education in regard to post secondary education and university degrees. However, Mr. Speaker, this vehicle that we have in place in regard to education system of supporting our students seems to always find itself running into road blocks in regard to the organization and the process that students find themselves in when trying to achieve those goals.

I would like to elaborate on some of these road blocks from one of my constituents who is attending the Teacher Access Program at Aurora College here in Yellowknife. She has barely made it through the Christmas season to start. When she first applied to the Nurses Program her forms and money orders were lost or misplaced. Then she had to find her own accommodation as the college was unable to provide one. After paying for her damage deposit, bills and buying furniture; most of her savings have been used up. Mr. Speaker, in January after arriving back in Yellowknife to continue her education, she was told that the financial assistance for January would be postponed because the position of the Department of Education was they did not know which students would return in the New Year so there was a hold back. She was also told by the Department of Education to go to the food bank or apply for a funding loan.

Mr. Speaker, this is unacceptable in regard to the credibility and the high priority we put on education. I think it is critical when students do arrive for school from the outlying communities... Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to send greetings back to my wife and children.

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Mr. Speaker, being Friday, I would like to do something a little different and speak of an issue that I am fairly familiar with. Mr. Speaker, I think many people in the north are familiar with the game of hockey. I have played this for quite a few years now. At times I am accused by certain Members that I give the game away, but the issue in a game of hockey, there are certain things that you learn to do or you try to do better than others. I have seen many games and I have seen many players. I have seen some who can mesmerize us on the ice. One of the things of this game is stick handling. The better you can control that puck on the end of your stick, the more you are able to go through the opponents team and possibly score a winning goal. If it so happens that members of the other team have a better player than you and they can take control of that puck, you are sometimes left standing and wondering where were you when he scored the goal.

I will refer to a specific game sometime maybe another Friday in the future, but I wanted to make reference to stick handling. Some of the best stick handling I have seen recently comes in a different arena than I was accustomed to. The arena I refer to is this Legislative Assembly. The stick handling I have seen done has been superior. I must say Mr. Todd would win a number of awards for his ability to manoeuvre and get by the defence of others. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak today on Public/Private Partnerships. This is a great idea and I think it is worthwhile for us all to consider. There are many examples regionally, nationally and internationally of such projects, City of Toronto, British Columbia, United Kingdom, Australia, California, Toronto. I just mentioned Toronto twice there. In order for us to undertake this expenditure a lot of homework must be done by all of us. We need time to ensure that we study the policies, the legislative and regulatory issues in detail. We must also ensure that projects must irrevocably benefit the public at large. We must review in detail the decision making process to ensure maximum competition with the lowest cost possible to this government. Rather than relying on just the Coles report which is just one of such many documents available, we should have a task force to investigate the P3s.

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In BC just such a task force was formed and released in October, 1986. Included on the task force were members of industry, union, government and academia. The task force was established to assess the feasibility and applicability, select a few projects that could be used on a pilot basis, offer strategic advice on critical factors that create barriers, review national and international experiences with P3s, commission a study on the risk analysis, review public sector versus private sector financing. All northerners would benefit if we had such a task force.

Some of the recommendations of the BC task force were the establishment of a public/private partnership advisory board, pilot projects, comprehensive framework to guide implementation, guidelines to use in planning and budgeting capital projects, development of detailed project action plans and procurement guidelines, a review and assessment of legislation such as the Municipal Act. The above would be a worthwhile endeavour for us to consider. There are many strengths and there are limitations and risks attached to these P3s. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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