To the motion. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to the motion, on establishing an Electoral District Boundaries Commission, looking at the west. There are merits to both sides of the argument. After division, we are going to be in our own new territory. That is where our focus in the west will be is how we are going to govern ourselves. This is an exercise we have been working on in the west here to the Constitutional Working Group process. There are land claims arrangements made in the west. Self-government negotiations are going on. We are all looking at how western governance is going to look here in the west. There is ongoing process and things are evolving, changing as we go through these discussions. Generally, on this issue there is a need to focus on how we are going to do the work after division. This is what we are looking at in this process. The Electoral District Boundaries Commission will be a commission of three people who will go into the communities and listen to what people are saying in the communities, about this issue. Whether we set it up or not, I guess is the subject of debate here today. In a sense, I think it will be good to go into the communities to listen to what they have to say.

Mr. Speaker, I have made a presentation to the Deh Cho First Nations leadership meeting, last week, in Fort Simpson. I expressed the direction that this may be a possibility during this sitting, that this debate will occur. I did not receive any response from my presentation. Maybe they did respond, but I have not received anything official, yet. Again, the timing is that we knew this might be a possibility for this sitting. We were not too sure until the honourable Member for Inuvik made a motion late last week that he was intending to put this motion on the floor. We did have discussions in the past, while we were at the workshop, at the ski lodge. We mentioned this might be a possibility. I did mention it to different people in the communities. However, the community leaders, the community people are very busy as well. They are doing their own community government issues they have to deal with, land claims issues and discussions of this nature so perhaps they did not have the time to think about it. I have not received any comments for or against it from my communities. The timing is a concern here.

On a personal note, as an MLA for the Nahendeh area, I represent six communities. I represent the most communities in this Legislative Assembly. It covers a really beautiful part of the Northwest Territories. It is quite a large distance between the communities. It takes time to go to all these communities. It is not like a Member from Yellowknife where they could walk around their whole constituency in an hour. Mr. Henry could jog around his constituency in less than that, maybe. You compare the size of the territory you represent and the number of people. There are a lot of differences throughout the whole Northwest Territories. Each community is different from each other and so there is a need for good representation. Based on that, and there was a request that came in from the mayor from Liard that we do have an Electoral District Boundaries Commission. Based on that, I would say we should go to the communities and listen to what they have to say. That is from an MLA perspective.

From being in the government for the last two years plus some months, I know the workload that is required by the Ministers to do the work properly. To have good government, you need enough bodies there to do the job right. The present proposal was to keep the 14 MLAs in place and have six Ministers, a Speaker and seven Ordinary Members. I think the workload is going to be quite a bit. To do that for four years is going to be a lot of work. Just based on the reality that we are only human beings and even though you are committed and put in long hours, it still takes a toll on you. For good government, I think we have to consider ourselves, what kind of government do we want to have after division? Based on that as well, I tend to lean toward taking it to the people through a commission and see what we get out of it. Even if we do have a commission and go to the people and have public consultation, recommendations will be made by the three people who will be in the commission and it will come back here to us. We still have another kick at the can, once we get the views of the people in the communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause

Thank you. To the motion, Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think there are a couple of emotions that are running wild in the House over this debate. I think the emotions are fear and fear. I would like to try and alleviate some of those concerns that people have. We have heard one concern about money, the cost. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The motion calls for the establishment of a Boundaries Commission. Some of the Members have talked about the cost. I think it is important to note that, as with the Nunavut government, the federal government will pick up the costs to have the people in the west give their opinion to a Boundaries Commission. To start off with, this will not cost the Government of the Northwest Territories any additional finances to find out what the opinions are of the residents of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, it is important to remember this commission will receive input and their responsibility is to make recommendations to the House. It is not their responsibility to increase the number of Members or take away Members from the House. Their only responsibility is to make the recommendations to the House. At that time, this Assembly will, through debate, if this motion passes, decide whether they will increase the number of Members. The Members of this House will be better enabled to have that debate when they have had the input from the commission which will have received input from the residents of the Northwest Territories. I appreciate Mr. Antoine, during his presentation, talking about the number of communities that he represents. I also listened to the Deputy Premier talk about the number of communities he represented. Mr. Antoine represents six communities. I am not sure of the exact number of residents in the communities. For myself in Yellowknife South, it is the largest riding in the Northwest Territories. It took me four months of four evenings a week to go around to every door in my riding. I just got to each door and I went out four nights a week. I suspect if Mr. Antoine went to his communities, it would not take him that amount of time to get around to each door. There is more at play than whether it is numbers. The ridings are one issue, but it takes a long time to give the same representation to Members in a riding. To me, it is not a valid argument about the number of ridings, but I appreciate the opportunity to talk to that. I think the question we have to decide here today, Mr. Speaker, is about fairness and equality in representation. Mr. Speaker, I will be supporting the motion. Thank you.

Thank you. To the motion. Mr. Roland, do you have closing remarks?

Thank you. The Member for Inuvik is seeking a recorded vote. All those in favour, please stand.

Mr. Roland, Mr.

Ootes, Mr. Erasmus, Mr. Henry, Mr. Antoine, Mr. Kakfwi, Mr. Dent, Mrs. Groenewegen and Mr. Steen.

All those opposed, please stand.

Mr. Miltenberger, Mr. Morin, Mr. Krutko and Mr. Rabesca.

All those abstaining, please stand.

Mr. Ng, Mr. Ningark, Mr. Evaloarjuk and Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you. The results of Motion 19-13(5), nine for, four against and four abstentions. The motion is passed.

--Applause

Motions. Item 17, first reading of bills. Item 18, second reading of bills. Item 19, consideration in committee of the whole of bills and other matters. Bill 19, An Act to Amend the Dental Profession Act and Committee Report 8-13(5) with Mr. Steen in the Chair.

Agreed.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to appear before the committee today to discuss Bill 19, An Act to Amend the Dental Profession Act. The Department of Health and Social Services is responsible under the act for registering dentists in the Northwest Territories. We are the only jurisdiction in Canada which still registers foreign trained dentists referred to as part three dentists. The National Dental Examination Board recently announced that no exams would be offered to qualify foreign trained dentists after December 31, 1999. Therefore, there is a need to revise the Dental Profession Act to ensure that we are not granting new part three registrations after the date when a dentist could actually complete their exams. The proposed amendment will cause the registration of all foreign trade dentists from July 1, 1998 onward to lapse by December 31, 1999. Foreign trained dentists registered before the amendment will be registered until the expiry of the three-year period, but will not be eligible for extension past their original term. This amendment is being brought forward because there is a potential liability if the government and Dental Registration Committee registers a foreign trained dentist knowing the dentist would be unlikely to attain national certification. The department advised the Registration Committee, the NWT Dental Association and all NWT dental clinic owners of the proposed change. No concerns with the amendment were raised in discussion with the association last week. The association was previously aware of the NDEB decision and was expecting some change to the registration of part three dentists. Mr. Chairman, I would be pleased to answer any questions the committee might have on this bill. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Standing Committee on Social Programs reviewed Bill 19, An Act to Amend the Dental Profession Act at its meeting June 1, 1998. The committee would like to thank the Minister of Health and Social Services and his staff for presenting the bill.

Bill 19 is a response to the decision of the National Dental Examination Board to no longer test foreign trained dentists after December 31, 1999. Presently foreign trained dentists are allowed to register under the sponsorship of a Canadian certified dentist in part three of the Dental Register and practice dentistry under supervision for a three-year period. The foreign trained dentist is then expected to pass the boards to maintain registration.

The NWT is the only jurisdiction in Canada that permits registration of dentists prior to the passing of the Canadian National Dental Examination Boards. There will be no mechanism for the testing of foreign trained dentists after December 31, 1999. As a result, this bill would provide that the period of registration for new applicants expires December 31, 1999. The part three provision will be repealed once the registration period of current dentists has expired.

Mr. Chairman, the standing committee had no difficulty with Bill 19. Committee Members may have additional comments or questions on the bill as we proceed. This concludes the standing committee's comments on Bill 19, An Act to Amend the Dental Profession Act. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.