The Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Kakfwi.

Your first question Mr. Barnabas.

Yes, for clarification, have there been any concerns from the residents of the high Arctic on the issue of salvaging the Peary caribou? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Kakfwi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, is the Department of Renewable Resources in favour of this proposal to move the Peary caribou from high Arctic to Calgary? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Kakfwi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for Division, Mr. Todd. In watching the debate last night regarding the budget on Northbeat, Mr. Todd indicated he felt fairly confident that the money was in the federal budget for division and hopefully for the decentralized model, including the transition cost. I realize the Commissioner has not provided his plan yet, but can the Minister provide at least a small level of comfort to the people Arviat and Baker Lake as to when some of the jobs will be moved out to the smaller communities. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I did say in my comments to the federal budget, I felt that no matter how small, the fact that there was some specifics in the fine print to the north, I think that was a credit to our MPs and of course, to the active work of this Legislature. One of the important components of the fine print, of course, was that the federal government was committed clearly to the fiscal resources necessary in division and the implementing costs attached to it. That is true.

On the job aspect of the decentralization, as I said to my colleague on a number of occasions and I will say again, I hope he can get clarity on it. I did have a discussion with Mr. Anawak earlier yesterday. I am optimistic that his plan for implementation will be with us very shortly and we will be able to move, I would hope, and support, his initiative quickly to move people into the decentralized communities. At the same time, we have to make sure the facilities are there, the housing, et cetera. I was in Arviat as late as two and a half weeks ago and their houses looked well underway there. My guess would be that if they start those housing units in the spring, they could be finished by late August or September and hopefully, by that time we will be able to work in conjunction with the Interim Commissioner to move some people into those communities. We certainly need the facilities like housing and office facilities to be able to move people, but I am optimistic. Maybe that is just my personal opinion, but in this game, you have to be optimistic and I am optimistic we can move, but it will be subject, to some extent, to the infrastructure completion and of course, the implementation plan that the Interim Commissioner is going to provide to all three parties sometime in March. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I realize the fact that the infrastructure is not fully in place yet in most of the communities, and as a result that will hamper the transfer of jobs. Can the Minister tell me whether or not there is any change in the schedule or if there are any plans to try and speed up the construction of the various office space and housing units in order to facilitate this transfer? Thank you.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I cannot speak for the other players, but certainly in my one-on-one discussions with the different players, there is a desire to try to move reasonably quickly to get the infrastructure in place. There is a desire to move as quickly as they can on some of the office facilities. The idea which was brought forward by my honourable colleague about finding temporary office space, I am sure with a pragmatic approach to this decentralization, we can accommodate that. The main thing right now is housing. I would suggest that once the housing is completed, I would think it would be in everybody's interests, the Interim Commissioner's, our own, et cetera, to give him and his office as much support as possible to get moving on this decentralization. My feeling is, and it is partly personal and partly professional, it really all depends on the completion of the housing units. I think offices are a secondary thing, we could probably find some temporary accommodation if there is a desire to do it. Again, that will be subject to the Interim Commissioner and we are prepared to provide as much support to him as we can to move on these issues. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would it be fair to assume the parties will not wait until all the construction is finished, that they can move on some of these transfers as housing and office space becomes available, rather than wait for the total completion of all the units?

Mr. Todd

Certainly, Mr. Speaker, I would hope so. I would hope that in the Interim Commissioner's pre-implementation plan, it is there. It is a possibility, but I caution my colleague by saying that we have a limited involvement on the infrastructure side and our desire is to move forward, provide support. I would think that the decentralization of the new government would be a phased-in approach and the sooner facilities are available, I would hope that there would be a staged plan which shows where people can move and when they can move, based upon the final completion of the infrastructure that the Nunavut Construction Company has embarked upon in Arviat and other communities across the Nunavut area. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Rabesca.