Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I just wish to clarify that we are not increasing any positions in Yellowknife in the oil and gas area. There will not be an increase. Any increase in positions will be out in the regions. We have three positions this year in the current budget and all three of those are out in the regions. I intend to continue that way unless there is oil and gas found somewhere around Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware there has been some other shifting happening in headquarters to try to cover off this area. Just for the record though, I must agree with the Minister that the individual who filled the position in Inuvik has done great work. In fact, the Minister used his information to give to the committee almost word for word, so I think that is pretty good work.

Mr. Speaker, can he commit to a timeline when this will be reviewed? Will it be reviewed quarterly or annually? Can he commit to something here? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I do not have a specific timeline for reviewing it quarterly or annually or anything like that, but we will certainly be watching what is happening in the Beaufort Delta and all the other areas. We will be monitoring this, I suppose almost continually, in many cases on a weekly basis as work speeds up.

I think most of the work is probably going to happen as long as we have freeze up and we see companies getting in and doing seismic work and other exploration activity. For this year, we will need initially to provide a focus on training and our department is working with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to make sure we meet that goal. We need to work more on business development and support the businesses, so we are watching that all the time. With the resources available to us, Mr. Speaker, we will continue to monitor it. We will add resources where we can, but there is no fixed schedule. We will do it as the demand is there and as our resources permit. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The programs providing training opportunities, all our programs, are meant for men and women, male and female. One of the core principles of the strategy is, of course, to provide equal opportunities to all individuals. That pertains, as I said, to all territorial government programs. We do have some programs, one in particular, that is specific to women and it is called the Women in Trades and Technology Program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the point I want to make is that the one-size fits-all training program does not work all the time for women. The specific program the Minister mentioned, the Northwest Territories Women in Trades and Technology, tried to have a welding training program just for women and there were no less than 27 inquiries, but the program was halted when they found out that a women-only trade program was somehow problematic.

I want to know, Mr. Speaker, if the Minister would make a commitment to designing a program specifically for women so women could participate in this? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department is currently working with the Status of Women Council on a trades program called Women in Welding. It is a program we are trying to look at again. As well, we distribute material to school students and have promotional materials featuring women. We certainly will always be attempting to ensure that we try to be representative of the population of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Ootes. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am wondering if the Minister could commit to not just providing equal opportunities, but to following the government policy? There is a policy, 11.18, that is called Equality of Men and Women in the Northwest Territories. It requires the government to do gender analysis in everything they do, so I wonder if the Minister could commit to being more proactive and more interventionist?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department will undertake to provide a quality service to all of our residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member from Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Premier. It is in regard to my Member's statement. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has implemented the Hay Job Evaluation System for rating Government of the Northwest Territories jobs in all positions within the territorial government civil service which is given a point system. So I would like to ask the Premier, could the Premier please advise the House as to the number of points given in the Hay Job Evaluation System for the position of chief of staff?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to refer the question to Minister Handley. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Hay Job Evaluation System was instituted in 1997, I believe. It is a system of providing evaluations of all positions where there is a standard job description. Unfortunately or fortunately, whichever way you look at it, the executive assistant positions in the government and the chief of staff position are positions without standard job descriptions, so there is no way of evaluating them against other positions. Neither of these positions fall within the standard job evaluation process. Thank you.

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