Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for Division Planning. In response to my question on February 10th, concerning the decentralized model, the Government of Nunavut and the implementation schedule to put this model in place in the capital and in other communities. The Minister indicated that the Government of the NWT supported the decentralized model recommended by NIC and Footprints 2. The Minister also qualified his answer by saying. The support is there, subject to the dollars.

Mr. Speaker, I believe these one-time costs were outlined in the GNWT's document entitled "Creating Two New Governments, Transition Action Plan." Mr. Speaker, in response to an oral question from the honourable Member from Yellowknife South, Mr. Henry, on January 28th, on the transfer of GNWT employees to Nunavut, the Minister indicated that not one single response for the transition plan had been received to date from any of the parties. My question, Mr. Speaker, would the Minister confirm what importance, rather, the importance that has been paid to this one time transitional funding, necessary to implement the decentralized model? Mr. Speaker, I am asking how it is being addressed. This is the key to putting the decentralized model into place. Thank you.

The Minister responsible for the Division Secretariat, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I indicated in my ministerial speech earlier today, I am cautiously optimistic that in the formulas for the ongoing needs for both Nunavut and the west, we are going to come to an agreement fairly soon with the federal government and the parties and hopefully, a positive announcement within the next two or three months. On the other hand, my honourable colleague talks about the need for additional transitional dollars, in which, within that identification there were monies as it related directly to one-time monies as related to the decentralized model. I understand there is a working committee working with the Interim Commissioner's office and the federal government trying to identify or working toward identifying the additional dollars necessary to ensure that the implementation of a decentralized government happens as quickly and expeditiously as possible. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not quite sure if I heard the Minister say as to when we would hear the timing.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I indicated on the question earlier this week, I think it was asked by Mr. O'Brien with respect to division that the Interim Commissioner's office is going to provide to the working committee which is made up of all partners, NTI, GNWT, federal government, his pre-implementation plan. We are optimistic it will be at the end of March. In that implementation plan it will identify what he believes can be done and within the time it can be done, where it will be done and who will do it. He will also have to identify in there, who is going to pay. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following the same line of questioning regarding the setting up of offices in the capital and regional centres, these offices will need furniture and so on. My question to the Minister is, can the Minister confirm exactly whether the budget is for new furniture or furniture that will be moved from A to B?

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What I should do is try and refresh everyone's memory about what our creation of the two territories document was which I tabled in the House in October, 1997. In it we said, in an ideal world, if Nunavut were to occur April 1, 1999, there would be a requirement for an additional $136 million to meet all of the fiscal commitments of the transfer. If my memory serves me correctly, it was somewhere in the region of $7 million identified for furnishings that we identified as costs associated with the decentralized model. In terms of the one-time transition costs to move people, there was $18 million identified. There were a number of areas in that document which identified what we felt was a shortfall in the original Cabinet document that went to the federal government in March, 1996, in which the federal government approved $150 million. It is all in that document and in fairness to my colleague, I would suggest that come the end of March, when the Interim Commissioner's office provides his full implementation plan, I am assuming he will have to identify what he is going to do, as I said, when he is going to do it, who is going where and the costs associated with it. Any shortfall that he has within the $150 million, approved by the federal Cabinet in March, 1996, will have to be made up by the federal government's Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, more to the meat of my question, whether it is $7 million or $10 million, can the Minister advise this House what contracting policies will be in place to ensure that Nunavut based companies will have an opportunity to bid on these contracts for furniture and so on? Will there be a BIP?

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have been trying to say all week that the Interim Commissioner has the responsibility, both financially and legislatively, for putting into place the new government prior to April 1, 1999, when the new legislators are elected. I would hope he would incorporate policies that would reflect the needs and interests of northern business but I do not know that at this time. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Rabesca.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Finance, the Honourable John Todd. Mr. Speaker, I am quite disturbed with yesterday's report on CBC that as of August, 1998, NorthwesTel will be hiking phone rates by four dollars. This rate will increase again by six, the next year. All this is being done to prepare for the long distance competition. I am not sure I see the logic behind hiking rates and making customers angry just before competition arrives. Mr. Speaker, my concern is that this hike will make our rates some of the highest in Canada. On top of this, we also pay some of the highest rates for petroleum, rent and food. We even pay an extremely high price for things such as cigarettes and alcohol. Mr. Speaker, I understand that as of last Friday, February 17, 1998, the price of beer in bars had jumped to $30 a case. My question to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Speaker, is, the government going into the boot legging business?

--Laughter

Mr. Speaker, my question to the Finance Minister is, how does the government decide what the price will be for off sales in northern communities where there are bars? Are the prices the same across the NWT or is this at the discretion of the bar owners? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Finance, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wonder if my honourable colleague can just give me some clarity on the question. Was it in relationship to the cost of alcohol across the territories or was it in relationship to the cost of telephones? I was not quite sure, and I wonder if he could help me out? Thank you.

Thank you. The Member for North Slave, could you clarify your question?

Mr. Speaker, my concern was the price of all the things I have alluded to such as the phone hikes and the price of alcohol in the Northwest Territories. I am just trying to see how the prices have been levied throughout the territories. Has it been done on the discretion of the owners of the bars or does the hike have something to do with the government pricings? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the telephone situation, of course, NorthwesTel has to go before the CRTC, in any of the requests for telephone hikes. We did make a presentation to them. I believe my honourable colleague, Mr. Arlooktoo did, earlier in the year, indicate some support for some of their position. I think we could probably table in the House and provide my colleague with our submission to the NorthwesTel and CRTC hearings in an effort to...

The question was not on NorthwesTel's hike. It was on the hike of alcohol, I believe. Mr. Todd.