Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is no finished document yet, but there will be one. Thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, we have not. If we had, for example, someone saying to us from the federal government or mining industry, that the very most you can expect is to be revenue neutral, then those diamonds may as well stay in the ground because we have to benefit as northerners. We have to benefit from the development of our resources. Those are our diamonds and we have to benefit in order for the future to be better for our children. We have to think of the children ahead. We cannot just think of today and what job spinoffs we get from a diamond mine. We have to think more long range. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Rabesca.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, as we heard, was budget day for the federal government. Although, it was somewhat a good news budget, with the news having the budget balanced, by providing students with adequate funds for them to continue their education. My question to the Finance Minister would be regarding the funding support for students. Would this program be available to our residents, as currently, our students are not funded under the Canadian Program, as is the case in other jurisdictions across Canada? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Finance, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and thank you, honourable colleagues. As I said the other day, and again, I am not trying to avoid the questions on the budget, I am trying to answer them to the best of my ability. First of all, we were encouraged by the fact the federal government has placed a great deal of emphasis on education at all levels, whether it is post secondary or whether it is for grants to students and scholarships. What I have learned so far, late last night and early this morning, I am optimistic there will be some benefits

for northern students. Certainly, if you watched Mr. Martin earlier today, in his comments on the early morning news show, he indicated monies will be provided. For example, in post secondary education, he talked about it being provided to NAIT in Alberta, to Dalhousie in Halifax and to the different institutions across the country. I am assuming this will include, for example, our Arctic College, et cetera. I have spoken to Mr. Dent as late as yesterday afternoon, and as you know, he is down there right now and, hopefully, he is going to come back with more detail.

One of the areas that may be advantageous to us is, student grants where it indicates that 100,000 students will be given scholarships over the next ten years. These scholarships will be based on need, merit and mobility. Mobility to me means the cost of moving from point A to point B. Many of our students who choose not to use Arctic College or go to university or whatever, there is a significant cost attached to that. I am hoping this will be part of the benefit for the north, but as I said, Mr. Dent will be able to speak to that later next week. He is trying, as we speak, to get a more detailed interpretation of how these significant educational initiatives affect us. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Barnabas.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recently the Minister of Justice had been attending a meeting in Ottawa. I understand that the Minister had a meeting with the federal Minister of Justice and the Minister of DIAND. I understand that some of the discussions were on Nunavut commitments. Can the Minister give a status report on this? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Justice, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Nunavut Act Amendments are scheduled to be introduced in the House by the Honourable Jane Stewart in the next week or so. As such, because of protocol, it is improper for me to get into the specific details, but what I can say is, the work on the bill has been done in a cooperative effort by a working group of officials from the Government of the Northwest Territories, from NTI and from the federal government. I am fairly assured that our views will be reflected in much of the bill. I can also tell the House, standing the bill, we are relatively pleased with what is proposed. We did have some concerns, however, which hence the reason why I went down to Ottawa, met with the Minister and was assured they would look at our concerns and do one of two things. One, either they could make the changes before it is introduced; or two, that we would work together with the Standing Committee on Legislation in putting together the required changes. In a nutshell, we will see soon enough the result of the proposed bill. At that point in time, it will be important for the government and the Ordinary Members, especially the Nunavut Caucus Members, to work together to ensure that our views are reflected in the bill. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs and it concerns with the Keewatin pilot project. Mr. Speaker, I am sure the Minister can understand the difficult situation I am in with one of my communities supporting the project and one, not. Mr. Speaker, the fact that the community of Baker Lake is not supporting the project was made very clear this week by the mayor of Baker Lake. I have to respect their views on this as their MLA, and I do, as well the wishes of the mayor of Arviat in his strong support for the project. Having said that, Mr. Speaker, after discussions this week with Baker Lake, an issue arose and I was asked to bring it forward in the House. The question, Mr. Speaker, I would like to pose to the Minister is, will the Minister consider block funding to the community of Baker Lake in the same manner, same magnitude, as she is proposing for the Keewatin pilot project that will be overseen by the Keewatin people? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have my staff go up to Baker Lake to do presentations on options for the community. I will consider that request. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell me exactly when she is going to be visiting Baker Lake to discuss these options and if this, indeed, will be one of the options that she will bring forward for discussion with the community?

Ms. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have asked my staff to go there as soon as possible to do presentations, but the Member has to realize this government supports the decentralized model. Those communities will have to be part of the Nunavut Territory, so we have to be careful that they do not start isolating themselves. If they are going to be sharing facilities with the other part of the territory, we have to think of that because the Member, and also the community, would like departments moved into their communities. If they are supporting a decentralized model, then they have to be willing to share their resources with the other part of the region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not quite sure how that would affect the pilot project proposal. My question to the Minister would be, would the Minister consider the fact that Baker Lake is looking for block funding on its own, so they can be empowered closer to their own region or their own community, as opposed to having other communities decide as to what their needs are, how money will be spent, where it will be shifted around and what their priorities are? Would the Minister consider this, true community empowerment, as opposed to having somebody else decide on what their priorities will be? Thank you.

Thank you. Ms. Thompson.