Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I sometimes wonder why we have a budgetary process. Mr. Speaker, we only finished our budget, as you know, two or three months ago. All Members were actively involved through the committee process. Budgets were allocated then and approved. There were concerns raised then about education as there was about health care, as with pay equity, with housing, with economic development and child welfare. There are a variety of issues out there, with all due respect to my colleague, that everybody sees as a priority.

We have a process in place that is all-encompassing, that involves all of this Assembly in determining targets and determining where we spend money. This is what we have done. I have said out of the House and I will say in the House, if there is a ground swell of support and concern that we reallocate money from one envelope to another, and there is support for it out there, then we would look forward to those recommendations, but ultimately, the Cabinet and the FMB have to make the decision. If there is a concern, and I am talking about the passed budget, talking about the new budget is a different issue. If there is a concern about the existing one, there is a requirement for additional dollars in there, in education, and nobody disputes that, by the way, including the Minister of Education, Mr. Dent. He understands that, but he is working under difficult constraints that I have had to place on him, my Cabinet colleagues, in relationship to our overall fiscal position. If there is support out there, then we would look forward to the recommendation from the House bearing in mind, that we would get recommendations from where we should take it. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Todd.

We need to put it in some context. The Department of Education, while we all acknowledge we could put more money into it, it is no different from the Department of Economic Development. We all acknowledge we would like to put more money into it. It is no different from the Department

of Health, we all acknowledge we need to put more money into it. The threshold is, the overall fiscal framework that we have in this government is, we have x-amount of dollars to spend. I am not making those numbers up. Everybody has access to that. These are the numbers we get from the benevolence of the federal government and from the taxpayers of the Northwest Territories that is the threshold.

What we do is work it out in partnership with yourselves and the Cabinet Ministers as to what levels of financing each envelope and each department gets. There is $303 million currently being spent on education. This is a significant amount of our overall budget. I am not suggesting that it is enough. There is never enough money in politics, but there are some fiscal realities that we all have to look toward. The threshold is, and the way we have to approach this, you cannot isolate education out and say, that has a greater priority than health care, if you are prepared to say that, let me hear that. You cannot isolate education and say it has a greater priority than job creation. They all have priorities.

We all have to reach reasonable compromises. The budgets we develop should not be developed because of minority groups out there lobbying for one point of view, which I have no problem with. I have a responsibility as the Finance Minister, as Cabinet colleagues and you do, to look at the overall impact the budget has on the territorial populace, and to treat it in a fair and reasonable way and to reach the compromises that are necessary to provide the level and standards of service that our constituencies come to expect.

You cannot look at increasing the budget in education in isolation of the other components that make up the services that we provide to territorial residents. This is the point I was trying to make. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Todd.

There is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, otherwise, we would be spending it. The reality is, we are back to where we are talking about the last two years. I am not trying to be disrespectful to my colleague. I think this is an important serious issue. What I am trying to tell you is the Minister responsible for Education has worked extremely hard to get his fair share of the budget in consultation with the Ordinary Members. Everybody has the capacity, if they have the time to attend committee meetings, everybody has that ability. I, as an Ordinary Member, attended most of those meetings and tried to influence what I believe was the right thing to do.

The point I am trying to make here is, and I think it is an important one, it is no different from the organized labour, the UNW, the other day lobbying for their point of view. This is a legitimate lobbying entity out there saying, this is what we want. It is no different from my honourable colleague lobbying on behalf of education. I am not questioning that.

Mr. Speaker, I wonder if I could have some order from my colleague across from the far left.

Could we have some order please, and allow the Ministers to respond to the questions? I would also like to ask the Ministers to answer the questions.

--Applause

I was taking the lengthy reply to the question, Mr. Speaker, because of the importance of the issue and trying to put it into some context and seriousness of the issue, of which my honourable colleague across the floor spoke about yesterday. His disparaging comments to my response, I find that a little disappointing. What I am trying to explain to my colleagues is, when you say, where are we going to reallocate money from one envelope to another, there has to be a spirit of compromise in that discussion. There has to be an acceptance which has ramifications for the other envelopes, and there has to be a consensus if that is what you want to do. She is asking me for advice and I am trying to give it to her. If there is a consensus amongst the Ordinary Members that you want to reallocate the existing budget, then come forward with some recommendations, and we will see what the Cabinet and the FMBS can do, but it has to have a consensus, and we need some direction in the spirit of cooperation as to where we think it should come from. Thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Todd.

I am well aware that my honourable colleague is the elected voice of Hay River and has spoken passionately about issues in this House. I would not want there to be any misunderstanding. My only point I was trying to make is, people have the right to lobby. We have the responsibility to analyse overall, what is the best interest of the territorial peoples that we represent. I believe the Auditor General reviews all of our fiscal arrangements on a year-to-year basis.

Oral questions. Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is Friday, and to make a point, my question is directed to the Premier. I want to draw the attention of Members to an article in the Yellowknifer, page A17, Friday, May 22, 1998. The heading is, A Wing and a Prayer and a Premier. Mr. Speaker, I want to make a quotation:

A one-winged raven is heading south to an Alberta bird sanctuary thanks to Premier Don Morin.

My question is, Mr. Speaker, did the raven fall under the compassionate travel budget?

--Applause

I am sorry, the question is out of order. The Premier cannot confirm any articles which are not within the knowledge of this House. Oral questions. Mr. Steen.

The Minister of Finance, Mr. Todd.

Mr. Speaker, the policy of the government is to get out of housing and as I have said on a number of occasions in the last two and a half years, I think we have done that very successfully. We have created the Home Ownership Program in the Arctic that some of us believed was not possible a number of years ago. We are continuing to lease housing, and I have a policy in place which makes sure that housing is affordable, et cetera. Now, if there is a specific issue in relationship to my honourable colleague's constituency, I would be prepared to deal with that, but from a policy perspective, we believe we are on the right track. There are obviously glitches within that, but we believe we are in the right track. Thank you.