Bienvenue. Mots de bienvenue aux visiteurs. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize some constituents of mine, Mr. Speaker. Sue Ireland is in the gallery and, incidentally, she is also the Hansard editor. Her mother is up visiting, Darlene Archer, from beautiful Thunder Bay, Ontario. Welcome to her. I understand that Sue's seven-month-old daughter Morgan is also in the gallery. She is quite a fan and listens to a lot of Hansard as mom is transcribing. Join me in welcoming them.

-- Applause

Yes, indeed, they are well represented. Welcome to the Assembly. Mots de bienvenue aux visiteurs. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would like to welcome all of the visitors who have come to watch the proceedings. Welcome to the Assembly. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. Mr. Speaker, for some time right after the closure of Giant Mine, there was a lot of work done by this government to get the federal government to pay attention to the environmental problem left by the closure of Giant Mine. I know Mr. Kakfwi lobbied federal Ministers Anderson and Nault extensively to do the right thing and get the clean-up underway.

Mr. Speaker, has the Minister of RWED met with these two federal Ministers recently to press for the expedient start to a clean-up at Giant Mine?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have met with both the Minister of DIAND and the Minister of Environment in early October, I do not have the exact date, and did raise the concerns we have with regard to Giant Mine with them. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At that meeting, was the Minister able to get some commitment from the federal Ministers to proceed with the clean-up of Giant Mine in a reasonable timeframe?

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

Mr. Speaker, the commitment I received at that time from the Minister of DIAND is that they would put money back into the process for the cleaning up of Giant Mine. The amount of money they are willing to put in this year is up to a maximum of $285,000 for surface clean-up. The Minister also indicated to me that they were doing some initial work on the underground problem as well.

With the Minister of Environment, I raised the issue more in terms of this being a serious environmental site and that there was a need for it to be considered when Canada looks at cleaning up any major sites that exist across Canada. In my view, this is a major one. He acknowledged that it was, but did not give me any commitment that it would be on the short list or a list for early actions. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, $250,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to the $16 million needed at Giant for the surface alone. We know that it is over $200 million for the subsurface and we have still got major problems with Colomac. Did the Minister for RWED manage to get DIAND to commit to putting at least a reasonable amount of money into next year's budget so that this process can get back on track?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of DIAND does recognize the problems we face. He recognizes the cost of cleaning up the mine. He did not give me any firm commitment of how much money would go into their budget for next year, but he did indicate that they would continue to work on this particular project.

Mr. Speaker, I might also add that at the same time, I also discussed with him the responsibility that, in my view, the federal government holds for this piece of property and the environmental clean-up. I am continuing to push that with him, that this is a federal responsibility and, although we have been forced to put money into it, we should not have to assume that as the Government of the Northwest Territories. It should be done by the federal government.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It sounds from the answers to the questions I have received so far today, that there is no timetable that we can point to with any certainty for this to be undertaken. Will the Minister commit to working with the federal Department of the Environment and DIAND to ensure that the public of the Northwest Territories can hear that this clean-up will be undertaken in a meaningful way, so that we know that within five or ten years we will have a solution here?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Minister Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I commit to raising this on every opportunity I have to continue to make sure it is on our agenda and will be pushing the federal government to make a commitment for the overall clean-up of the mine.

In the meantime, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say that, as a government, we are prepared to put some money into this in the interim, even though we feel it is DIAND's responsibility. It is the federal government's responsibility. We will do some work ourselves to protect worker safety and also to do some immediate clean-up in the short term. We cannot afford to just leave this unattended while we negotiate whose responsibility it is. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister responsible for the Public Service Act and the Public Service Regulations. It is in regard to my statement about public perception out there where there are certain employees within the government who are taking part in the federal election. Mr. Speaker, all other employees within this government are not able to take part because of the restriction on all government employees, that they are restricted under section 34.2 of the Public Service Act.

So, I would like to ask the Minister, does he have any idea as to how many employees of this government are taking part in the federal election?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have a lot of employees in the Northwest Territories and many communities, not just in Yellowknife, but all across the North. The employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories have certain rights that are laid out in the Public Service Act. I really do not know how many are taking part in various political activities. Mr. Speaker, I will take that question as notice and provide the information to the Member.

Thank you, Minister Handley. The question has been taken as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.