Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the honourable Member's constituency, I think there have been a lot of negotiated contracts and other honourable Members' ridings. This policy is to clarify the direction of this Legislative Assembly in 1997 that said "Clarify the government's position on government-wide non-competitive contracts by providing a draft policy on non-competitive contracts to the standing committee by this August.". We did that, we gave it to the standing committee in June, 1997. At this date, the standing committee has not responded to the draft policy. As a result, we did an intergovernmental review team by all the departments that deal with negotiated contracts, and we came out with some clear guidelines to do that. Cabinet needs to set out for ourselves what we would like to look for in making these decisions. It is not change to the policy at all. We are just looking at kind of clarifying what are the input that needs to be looked at in considering these negotiated contracts. We are continuing to looking at negotiated contracts in the honourable Member's riding as well as other ridings. It is important to consult with the different organizations that are out there, but at the same time, we are following the direction of this Legislative Assembly to get clear direction and inputs into how we look at these negotiated contracts. We are going to continue to negotiate these contracts. Thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have been continuously meeting with the different organizations that the honourable Member mentioned, the Inuvialuit, the Gwich'in, the Sahtu. The chapter of the respective Gwich'in final agreement, as well as the Sahtu final agreement, there has been work in the last months in trying to address the economic measures that are mentioned in there. It is an ongoing process

that we have undertaken with the Government of the Northwest Territories in respect of organizations in the federal government in trying to get to a common interpretation of these economic measures. In that discussion, we are dealing with it. At the same time, the honourable Member from the Sahtu, the Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, is undertaking an economic strategy that will look at the western territories and the resources we have. He has undertaken a process where he has a panel that will be looking at these things. He has told me that he has met with the Inuvialuit organization, the Gwich'in as well as the Sahtu to talk about how we, as a government, could do things better.

There are ongoing discussions and yes, I commit to the honourable Member that we will undertake to sit down with the Inuvialuit, the Gwich'in, the Sahtu, and the other First Nations like the Dogrib, the Deh Cho, and the Akaitcho territory to explain this policy here. Once we explain it thoroughly, I think it will clarify where this government is and when we are considering looking at negotiated contracts. As the Minister responsible for Public Works and Services indicated, the respective communities and organizations will have to come forward and state their case on the benefits of negotiated contracts in the communities. I think a lot of them have done that. They just explained to us what the benefits are going to be and will be supportive of helping communities grow and so forth. I agree that we should be meeting with these organizations and we have been and we will continue to do that. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister responsible for Health and Social Services. It is a continuation of earlier questions on the Northern Addictions Services Rehabilitation Centre. The Minister had indicated that as far as he knew, the NAS board had been involved in drawing up the plan. He also indicated that the plan had included reprofiling the Northern Addiction Services Rehabilitation Centre to a centre that would work with children. What I would like to know from the Minister is whether the NAS board agreed to no longer provide alcohol and drug rehabilitation in their own building? Thank you.

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has indicated that there would have been alcohol and drug treatment being done out of other facilities. What would the NAS board's new role be since they would have been basically kicked out of their own building? Thank you.

Mr. Roland.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Basically, they would have still been involved in their own building. Presumably, that is so they could pay off their mortgage before the government took it over or something. Could the Minister commit to providing us with some information on this master plan, perhaps a briefing because it just does not seem to be quite right that other people could dictate to a non-profit organization that they should change their focus from being an alcohol and drug addiction organization to one that deals with children no matter what is wrong with those children, whether they are schizophrenic or whether they are dealing with drug and alcohol? Could the Minister commit to this, please?

Mr. Roland.

Oral questions. Supplementary. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I remember well the discussions and I also remember very well that never, ever did the Social Programs Committee ever direct the government to put the Northern Addictions Board out of their own business and make them start doing some work in the area of children, which may not even be related to alcohol and drugs which has become the speciality of this board. They were the first board that provided these type of services. Now we are asking them go do something else, become an expert in another field. It is beyond me how anyone could go to a board like that and tell them to do that. My final supplementary question is, where are these facilities from which the gender specific programs were going to be and I suppose are still going to be run out of? Thank you.

Mr. Roland.

Oral questions, Mr. Morin.