Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Mr. Speaker, I have no idea what the question was. I am sorry. I did not catch the question at all. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What I am trying to get at is that if an employee makes a promise -- whether they are at a self-government table or in some other setting -- that sets the government into following through on some action, will this government stand behind the words of that employee and make sure that it does in fact deliver if the promise was made within a policy supported by this government at the time?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The question kind of borders on being hypothetical. However, it is answerable and I will ask the Premier, who may or may not choose to answer the question. Mr. Premier.

Mr. Speaker, I consider it to be hypothetical. Unless there is a specific example provided, there is no way to respond to the question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, perhaps if I remove the word if from the question, it will not be hypothetical. Will this government deliver on promises made by employees to members of the public or to aboriginal governments? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. It is a very broad question. Again, I will allow it. Mr. Premier.

Mr. Speaker, this is very simplistic to expect a yes or no answer to a question, especially in the context of self-government negotiations and the entire dynamics that surround negotiating processes. I am going on the assumption that there is some reality to the question and take it as notice and try to research it myself, since there is no evidence forthcoming. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Premier. The remainder of the question has been taken as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in keeping with my Member's statement with regard to public safety traveling on our highways, there seems to be some confusion as to how many different departments are involved in providing emergency service on our highways, so I am going to direct my question to the Minister of Transportation.

My first question would be who is the lead department on providing emergency service along our highways? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The question is directed to the Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Member indicated, I am partly unclear exactly what type of emergency we are talking about here, so I am going to have to take his question as notice so I can get back to him with what the government's position is on this.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. The remainder of the question has been taken as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the whole purpose of the formula based funding policy to replace the existing policy was to make it much more simple for communities to exercise some flexibility in how they want to design the cost of supporting the infrastructure based on the limited amount of funds we have as a government here. So there are several methods used to try to define what those funding elements are. Unfortunately, there is more work required, so we are continuing to work along with the communities through consultation processes to achieve some understanding of how it is going to work. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe the concern from the communities is these so-called unforeseen costs that this government is going to be handing off to the communities. Other experiences communities have had to date is community empowerment, where they take on these programs and services, but there are no actual dollars there for administration, for replacement of capital or even consideration of having the dollars there to attract people with the qualifications to take on those responsibilities.

I would like to ask the Minister if there are any mechanisms there to have a phase-in period, so that when these agreements are taken on, if there are any unforeseen costs associated with taking on these resources, they are able to carry out those responsibilities with the resources they need.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that has certainly been taken into consideration. We look at the new formula, it really only identifies three important factors at this time. It involves population, northern cost index, and assessed value of assets. We understand there are incremental costs involved, but hopefully we can work more closely with the communities to try to identify what they are and how we are going to approach those unforeseen costs.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there also are additional costs that are not built into this formula in regard to the costs associated with banking. There are interest costs. There are costs with regard to GST where the municipalities are paying that. There are service charges being charged back to the municipality with regard to services from Public Works. There is a six percent charge there. There are all these charge-backs that are associated with doing business, but nowhere in the formula do they allow for those funds to be covered because it is an unforeseen cost because of interest and what not. So is there a mechanism to ensure that those costs associated with the administration of the services will be covered?