Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister tell us if we might know ahead of time so that we can plan our budget process properly this fall? We do need to fast-track this highway, and if we are going to tackle this, and there is a possibility of federal funding, then we have to allocate a certain amount of funding in the budget next year to meet the federal funding. If the Minister could tell us if he might know by early this fall? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe, if this government reached an agreement with the federal government on a funding formula, it would be through a MOU whereby we would be committing x number of dollars and they would be committing x number of dollars per year for five years, so obviously it would have to be in time for our budget and it would have to be in time for their budget. If the House is sitting or whatever way is available to me as a Minister to make the other Members aware of what the plan is, I will use that approach. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wondered which Minister was going to get a chance to answer that because the honourable Member used three different titles in the question. I would like to indicate that while I have received the petition, and we are examining it to determine which way to go, I am not sure that I can accept the Member's allegation that our current act is in contravention of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We did in fact, go to court when this government took over health in 1988 with the health care workers. The ruling indicated our act is in compliance with the Canadian Charter.

I do take seriously the request by the employees of the Power Corporation, however, I choose to be cautious in predicting how I can respond. I am advised that there are 217 unionized workers at the Power Corporation, members of the union. As the Member noted, the number of signatures on the petition was 108, which is one short of being 50 percent, and I do understand that this is an important issue. I have received letters from both the union and from unionized workers and am working with the staff at FMBS to examine the situation to decide the best and proper way to respond. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I understand it, the question to the courts was whether or not health professionals had to belong to one union, as stipulated in the act. The courts found in the government's favour. The act was found to be constitutional. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will endeavour to do that with all haste, however I doubt that I will be able to report back to this House by tomorrow. I will report to the Member on what we have found and to the employees who have written to me within the next two to four weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I had some more questions for the Premier on the issue of the ministerial severance packages. I believe that the Premier said that the ministerial severance only comes into play when a Minister leaves his office earlier than the end of a term. We have had some resignations from Cabinet recently, so my question is when the resignations of Nunavut Members were announced in the House, were they deemed to have resigned their positions prior to the end of their term on March 31st? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It would follow then that even though some of them only left a couple of days earlier than the end of their term that that would have made them eligible for a ministerial severance package? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.