Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the only highway system that we have in Nunavut is between Nanisivik and Arctic Bay. It is a 36-kilometre road. This department has been maintaining it. We also have some capital improvements for the airport and the highway at Nanisivik and Arctic Bay. This department has been negotiating with the owners of the mine there. The honourable Member is aware there are discussions between Nanisivik Mines and this department to see if the mine would be interested in taking over the responsibility of that roadway from the dock to the airport and taking over the airport. This department will continue to maintain that road. At the present time, we are still in negotiation with Breakwater Resources, the owner of Nanisivik Mine. We should come to some conclusion in this discussion sometime in the next few months, but at the present time, we are still maintaining the road and the airport. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Barnabas.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the mine is trying to make money like any other business. I have talked to the mine manager have the concurrence that they are not planning to maintain the road. There are some people from Arctic Bay that are working, going back and forth, and the people of Arctic Bay are using the road to the airport. What will happen if the mine does not want to maintain the road? Will this government still maintain the road? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Antoine.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. In our discussions with the mine owners and with the municipality in Arctic Bay last year, we covered this area. This department will continue to maintain that section of road. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for FMBS, Mr. Todd. Last week, the Minister announced in regard to the pay equity issue, talks had broken off with the UNW. The Minister at that time had also committed to providing information to the House regarding how the make-up or break-up of the pay equity would be regarding employees living in the Northwest Territories or living in southern Canada. My question to the Minister is, does he have that information available at this time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Finance, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. While I do have some preliminary numbers which I am prepared to share with the House, I would add the caveat that we do not have it finalized right now, but those people who are on the retroactivity side, approximately 50 percent of the employees who were there then, are no longer there. In other words, they have gone somewhere else in terms of employment opportunities. I am advised and I caution everybody, I am advised because I want to get it very accurate, approximately 70 percent of them have moved south. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister had indicated previously that there was a percentage of these people who were no longer residents of the Northwest Territories. I did not anticipate it was going to be to that degree. I did not quite hear the Minister. I think he said it rather low at the end, but could the Minister confirm the actual percentage of people living in Southern Canada? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Todd.

As my colleague knows, this is a highly sensitive and political issue right now, so I am a little reticent in giving defined numbers. We are working very hard to try to get that for our own benefit. When we make an agreement, which I am still optimistic, we can, we can get the cheques in the hands of the people, whether they live in Toronto or Whale Cove. But, my understanding is, in the preliminary review my staff had done with respect to the retroactivity side, in other words, what we owe people who were originally there, half of these people have now terminated their employment. I am advised, again, I qualify it by saying, I need to see the numbers clearly, I am advised it seems that about 70 percent of these people now reside somewhere besides the territories. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Still on the issue of pay equity. It is my understanding, Mr. Speaker, at one point, there were representatives of the GNWT and the UNW who came together in a joint equity pay study, known as JEPS. Subsequently, the Government of the Northwest Territories employed the services of Hay and Associates in determining a settlement. Can the Minister please advise the House why there was a change in the GNWT's position in employing the organization called Hay and Associates? Why was there a difference in amounts at that time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will try to answer that question. The JEPS system was a research committee which relied solely on employee questionnaires to evaluate sample positions in the government. We believe the quality and the rate of responses to the questionnaires varied considerably. There was not an in-depth evaluation of job by job. The Hay Plan Associates is a system we have been using for the past 20 years. We asked them, because of their Canada-wide experience, if they could do a position by position evaluation. We now have that and that is how we determined the retroactivity in terms of pay equity. The ongoing costs, I think we identified them as $9 million, I believe. It was a question of accuracy and taking the time to do, not just a sample view of jobs in the government, but to do each and every one of the individual jobs, with an organization that has the credible, professional standing in the job evaluation business and who have done numerous job evaluations for other provincial jurisdictions. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Ootes.

The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Ms. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will answer all of the questions. I thought we had answered them. We will go through the Hansards and answer the questions which were asked. If they felt they did not receive enough information from the department, we always provide that. We will do that for the Member.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Ms. Thompson.