Thank you, Mr. Rabesca. Members' statements. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Picco. Members' statements. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On January 22nd, CBC Radio interviewed Mr. David Cohen, a third generation expert on diamonds. I listened with interest as Mr. Cohen endorsed the viability of the north and the diamond industry and, more importantly, northerners providing the necessary services for diamond valuation and sorting. Mr. Cohen indicated how well-suited many northern and aboriginal people would be to the various positions, given natural artistic abilities, as well as how this industry could be well-suited to seasonal work. Mr. Cohen has gone on record indicating his lobbying efforts for secondary diamond industries in the north. I would hope that Mr. Cohen's expertise, his statements and findings are consistent with the objectives with the Department of RWED relating to diamond valuation and sorting in the north. I hope the Minister will give consideration to adding Mr. Cohen's name onto the list of consultants assisting his department. Mr. Cohen's comments will, I hope, add credibility to what Members of this House have been saying for many months. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Henry. Members' statements. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this past weekend I had the privilege and honour along with some of the other Members from this House, both from the west and from the east, to attend a ceremony here in the Great Hall to honour the graduates from the Aurora College Northern Nursing Program, Class of 1997. The graduates received their pins in advance of the actual graduation ceremonies because many of them will not be able to attend graduation. At this ceremony I was proud to see one of the graduates was a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, Mary Jane Tsetta. She is one of the first members of the Yellowknives First Nation to achieve this.

Mary Jane is a wife and a mother of one son. She and her family live in Yellowknife. She has been totally committed to her studies. She, as an example, had to first take upgrading and then the nursing program which was a total of three and a half years. Also during her studies, she unfortunately lost her father and one of her brothers, but she continued in her commitment. I am pleased to announce also that she will be starting a job at Stanton Hospital very soon. Mary Jane is a non-drinker. She supports wellness and she is certainly a source of inspiration and good role model for her friends, her family and the rest of her people. I am sure we all wish her congratulations on a job well done and good luck in the new job. Thank you.

--Applause

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Members' statements. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you. Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Picco on January 22nd, with respect to transparency in Public/Private Partnerships. In response to Mr. Picco's question with regard to transparency in Public/Private Partnerships, I want to assure my colleagues once again, the government is committed to transparency as we proceed with implementation. That Members of this Assembly will have full opportunity to participate in finalizing the proposals as members of standing committees.

As promised, I am pleased to announce I am tabling the policy document, guidelines for implementing Public/Private Partnerships later today. Financing capital projects through partnership initiatives means the government will be able to accommodate more community priorities faster within existing spending limits. I have asked each Minister with responsibility for infrastructure to review his or her department's capital forecasts and to provide me with recommendations for priority projects that we would add to the 1998-99 capital plan, if additional funding were available.

This review will take into consideration the input that Mr. Morin received from the communities last summer in response to his request for the priority of capital requirements. The list of additional priorities will be reviewed to identify those that have the greatest potential for payback either in the social or economic terms.

When combined with the products already included in the 1998-99 capital plan, we will have a list of some $240 million worth of projects. We will review all of these projects to determine which would be most appropriate to apply P3 approaches.

We will also do extensive cost benefit analysis on each project and determine what level of overall investment will be affordable. I will be seeking the input of Members of this Assembly during this review process, through the standing committees.

In response to Mr. Picco's question, I will table the final list of P3 initiatives for 1998-99 in this Assembly, along with any changes to the current capital proposals that may require approval of the Assembly. Thank you.

Thank you. 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 Mr. Jeff Colburne, a local reporter with the Yellowknifer. I would like to point out that Jeff left Yellowknife prior to Christmas as a single man and returned married, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause

Welcome to the Assembly. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Welcome to the Assembly. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Mr. Enuaraq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize the other half of me, my wife, Elisapee and beside her is Sarah Kooneeliusie, originally from Broughton Island, now living in Yellowknife. Thank you.

--Applause

Welcome to the Assembly. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. Mrs. Groenewegen.

The Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the government has decided to shelve the privatization of the petroleum products division. However, we still have to do some work. At division time, we have to look at the petroleum

products division after division because at the present time, there is cross-subsidization between the east and west, and following division that will no longer be the case. We will have to continue to do further work and look at how these changes are going to affect this division. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the study that was done for the government in looking into the privatization of petroleum products contains a lot of information that is relevant to looking at the future plans of this division. Although we have shelved the initiative which privatizes this division, we are going to be having all these reports and recommendations that were coming out of these reports be available to the next governments for both east and the west, so they will look at this privatization after this government is finished. Thank you.