Thank you, Minister Ootes. 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. Last week, the Minister tabled the Business Development Fund Annual Report for the Year Ended March 31, 2000. Earlier this year, the Minister responsible for RWED tabled two reports, one was the annual report for the year ended March 31, 1999 and a list of recipients for the year ended March 31, 1999. I would like to ask the Minister whether this year, the list of recipients for the Business Development Fund will also be tabled?

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

Mr. Speaker, I have to take that as notice. I am not sure whether or not we will be able to do it this year. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs. It is in regard to the situation that Fort McPherson finds themselves in where almost half of their budget is now being spent in the water and sewage delivery program.

I am wondering if there is a way that the community of Fort McPherson can allocate other funds that may follow, say infrastructure funding or forced growth funding or other community funds out there, extraordinary funding? Is there any possibility of funds or programs out there that can assist the community to deal with the situation they find themselves in now?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To answer the first part of the question, no, we do not have any internal funds to support the deficit problem. I would like the municipalities to deal directly with the department to resolve the deficit problem they are having with the water and sewer program. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the community has made several attempts to try to find ways to deal with their financial problems. It has been unforeseen. They did not realize that this was going to come onto them and because of the extraordinary situation they find themselves in, there should be assistance given by this Minister and his department. I would like to ask the Minister, what can he do as the Minister to ensure that the community's concerns are being addressed so they can try to find a workable solution to this problem?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have gone to maximize our opportunities to deal with the matter, Mr. Speaker, and for the public record, we will be expending $2.6 million on a new water system to try to help the community resolve the problem of THMs.

The other point, Mr. Speaker, is that in terms of their deficit problems, we have given the department direction to work with the municipality to look at a number of creative initiatives to overcome that water and sewer deficit. We have worked with the hamlet to increase their water rates to reflect the deficit recovery plan. As well, we are attempting to work with FMBS to extend the one-year requirement limits over a two-year period. Those are some of the plans we have developed. It is going to take a bit more time to finalize other initiatives to handle the depths of the problems. It is an ongoing process and we hope to achieve that in a matter of months. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is great to say that we will try to deal with it over the next couple of months, but the problem is that it has nothing to do with the replacement or the establishment of the new water source. This is an existing facility. It is the existing water treatment facility and the problem is there. The other system will not come on stream for another year, if not a year and a half.

I am wondering...to the Minister, because the problem is current. It has been there for two years and now the community is spending over half their budget on this particular issue, where they should be using those monies for the items they are allocated. Will the Minister ensure the community of Fort McPherson that there will be the ability to either offset some of those costs or write-off the costs that they have been burdened with through no sake of their own? Will he consider a write-off of some of that debt?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this point, we do not have the capability right now to write-off that debt. However, we are trying to take a different approach and work with the community to resolve that. It is an ongoing process from day to day.

We recognize there is a debt problem. We have tried to deal within the context of the original operating agreement signed in 1988. We have no control over that. In the meantime, we continue to work with the hamlet to see about an increase to their water rates. Through that increase, we will try to recover some of the debt, probably within a year or two-year timeframe.

It is ongoing, as I said. I am repeating myself but again, it is the effort of our department to work with the municipality to deal with that situation. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Allen. The time for question period has expired. Mr. Krutko, you have a final supplementary.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister, along with his senior government officials, make an attempt to go into the community of Fort McPherson and try to work out the next step that must be taken to deal with this urgent problem? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we have indicated very strongly to the mayor of Fort McPherson and his staff that we will go in to talk to them. Again, their concern was what is going to happen in the next few months as the cold weather period comes in. We said at that time, we will continue to request that Public Works and Services monitor very closely in coordination with the municipality, so that we do not have any unforeseen emergencies. In the interim, we will continue to work based on our recovery plan. Thank you.

Merci, Mr. Allen. The time for question period is over. Before we proceed, the Chair recognizes the honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to seek unanimous consent to return to recognition of visitors in the gallery.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to return to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Are there any nays? There are no nays. Madam Groenewegen, you may recognize visitors in the gallery.