Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not trying to debate the Minister. I am just trying to follow on the questions. We have been asking these questions for two years, and we always keep hearing the same thing, negotiations, negotiations, negotiations. The agreement, like I said before, was signed in 1988. My final supplementary question, Mr. Speaker, is when would the negotiations be finalized and when does the Minister expect to be able to tell this House and this Member, when these dollar values and the completion of these negotiations will be able to come forward in this House and let the people know? That is a legitimate question. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. I will rule the question out of order. The question has already been repeated and has been answered.

--Applause

Oral questions. Mr. Roland.

The Minister of Finance, Mr. Todd.

Mr. Speaker, I think I have tried on numerous occasions to reassure people across the territories, that as Finance Minister, I was reasonably confident that we are going to get the levels of funding we would require to deliver the current levels of service. The executive director of the NWT Construction Association was on the radio this morning indicating this fear about the lack of funding, et cetera. I simply do not know where that kind of nonsensical rhetoric comes from. The reality is, we are in sensitive negotiations with respect to formula financing. I have tried to assure this House and everybody else that we are fairly confident it is going reasonably well. I have full confidence we are going to get adequate levels of funding east and west, based upon the status quo in the west that we all agreed to and based upon Footprints in the Snow in the east. At the officials level, there is a meeting being held either this week or next week in Rankin Inlet. I appreciate the fact they want my home riding and I thank them for that. We are close, as they say in the round numbers, achieving the goal that all parties can sign on to and, hopefully, be able to make a statement in April or May to reassure the east and west that adequate funding will be there. Thank you.

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

Mr. Todd.

If everybody will remember, it was at my insistence as the Finance Minister, that we do not do exactly that, split the existing budget, that we cost two new governments. The federal Finance Minister, the Honourable Paul Martin, agreed to that and I thank him for that. That is the process we have underway. We are very close to making an arrangement that all parties will be able to sign on to. I want to remind the people of the territories out there and those advocacy groups who are listening, especially the ones who occasionally do not appear to be, all parties are at the table, the western coalition, the GNWT, the Interim Commissioner and our colleagues at the federal level, the federal government. All parties will have to sign off on the two new formulas. I am confident that all parties are representing our interests to the best of their ability and we will have adequate funding for two new territories as I outlined in my previous answer to my honourable colleague's questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Miltenberger.

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would believe that the department and boards would continue to have ongoing dialogue enhancing their working relationship with those non-profit organizations as we do recognize how important they are in our health and social services system throughout the territories, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

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

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, consistent with all our other programs and services, and giving board empowerment and autonomy, we have given all the boards the funding for the programs, including the contributions for these types of nonprofit agencies and organizations, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

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

Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, I can commit to that. I am sure the boards recognize the importance of these agencies as well and will continue to work in a spirit of cooperation with them. Thank you.

Thank you. We seem to be limited on the questions we can direct to the Ministers. We will take a ten-minute break.

--Break

We are on question period. We have 13 more minutes. Oral questions. Mr. Krutko.