Mahsi, Mr. Antoine. Item 3, Member's statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Julius Buski and his wife Nonie, who are visiting us today. He is visiting Yellowknife in his capacity as District Governor for Rotary District 5370. A note that may interest some Members - Mrs. Buski, Julius' mother, was my piano teacher for some 12 years. She also taught me violin for six or seven years.

-- Applause

Welcome to the Legislature of the Northwest Territories, Governor and Mrs. Buski. We are expecting a piano recital from Mr. Dent in the Members' lounge after the Session. Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a friend of mine sitting in the gallery. His name is Paul Smith. He is a former colleague of mine at the law firm of Gullberg, Wiest, MacPherson and Kay. I articled with him and he was also the manager of my campaign. Mr. Paul Smith, thank you.

-- Applause

Welcome to the Legislative Assembly. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. I would like to welcome all the visitors that are attending our Session. Item 6, oral questions. The Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my Member's statement, I truly believe that if we are going to build a strong Northwest Territories for our children to continue to prosper, we are going to have to do it with a balanced approach, where the small communities work along with the large communities and visa versa.

Mr. Speaker, I have a concern. It has been stated publicly in this House, and I will refer to the unedited Hansard on page 476, when Mr. Steen was questioned by the Member for Mackenzie Delta on Highway No. 3. The Minister's response, in part to the question, was that the department cannot distribute a budget based on spreading it evenly through the regions.

If that is, in fact, a policy of this government that we are going to spend money based on volume as a major part of the package, then the rest of us outside the large centres are going to suffer dearly. I can refer back to the 13th Assembly in which I believe Inuvik suffered heavily under the reduction scenarios. So my question to the Premier is, is it in fact the policy of this government to spend volume-based?

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Premier, Mr. Stephen Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, that is not the policy of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Steen was speaking about the way in which the Minister responsible for Transportation deals with capital allocation regarding highways. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am well aware of the differences that each department has to use in making up formulas and distributing budgets. If that is not the policy of the government as we know it, can the Premier inform us, has there been direction to his Cabinet Ministers when they started working on this interim appropriation and the budget that came up, on an approach to spending in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I have said a number of times in the Legislature, this government has been in office a little over two months. We have needed to give direction on the interim appropriation that we require for government to continue operating after April 1st. The direction, as I know it, was to have an interim appropriation bill in front of this Legislature that would comprise four months of expenditures based roughly on what was required last year in the first four months of the fiscal year.

That included forced growth, and that is what we require. It has not been largely finessed, but it will be, as Members have been told. I am not sure that it is clear yet, but there will be ongoing changes in the year. We will prepare the budget and present it to the Members in June. It will contain measures that the Members have indicated in this interim appropriation. It will address such issues as how can we live within our existing means and make sure the priority issues are addressed. It will ensure that small community needs are respected and, if possible, reductions should not be made at the expense of communities and regions. Those are all things that we have no difficulty with at all.

It is simply that we have not had time to engage in detailed planning, as Members are aware. I hope they appreciate that we are trying to be as inclusive as possible in the overall planning. That is what this government is engaged in, as we get off to what I hope is a very productive start in the four year mandate. Thank you.

Thank you, Premier Kakfwi. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the Premier is, in fact, informing us that we are going on the status quo of the existing expenditure framework that previous governments have gone on. Is that the case? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Premier, Mr. Stephen Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is generally true. There are no specific new initiatives undertaken solely by this Cabinet. For instance, there is one of the Members on the other side that has made great hay of the fact that the Executive has increased expenditure by what he says is about 18 percent. The fact is that much of that was initiated by the previous government and some by this Legislature. I, as the head of the Department of the Executive, am responsible for passing this through this Legislature.

It is true that as a Premier and as a new Cabinet, we have created some new positions. But by no means is it anywhere near 18 percent, as the Member for Thebacha suggests. It is way below 18 percent. Much of that should be borne equally and enthusiastically by the good Member for Thebacha.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess my questions can cover everybody and every jurisdiction in the Northwest Territories. Hopefully, with this next response, we will focus more on where the question is coming from and not on another colleague.

Mr. Speaker, can the Premier inform us that when he and his new Cabinet become more familiar with their workload, they will be able to look at the way this government's policies are formed to date and to make adjustments so that we can truly grow as a Northwest Territories as a whole, not as have and have nots? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Premier, Mr. Stephen Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I think this government can assure the Member that that is how we would like to proceed. I would like to remind Members again, that as an MLA, I also come from a region that has been, historically, largely ignored and, resource-wise, rather undernourished. It has enjoyed some small growth in different areas over the years. It was because of the very aggressive and consistent hard work by the good Member that they elected. Small communities will be respected to the greatest extent possible. The support of this government and this Legislature should be assured to them. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions to the Premier are in regards to my opening statement. One thing I have noticed with this interim appropriation and the cuts to our small communities, is the whole question about compassion and realizing that there are certain social and economic situations in our small communities that keep arising.

It is especially true with the high cost of living and the high percentage of people who are unemployed. In some communities, we are talking 80 and 85 percent unemployment. Yet, Mr. Speaker, when it comes down to the question about need, I think we are finding out that it is more greed than need. Especially in the context of looking at this budget, where I see a lot of items, especially in my riding, in the area of $50,000 being taken out of here and there. And there are areas where half the transportation capital budget is in one jurisdiction.

I have been working hard to ensure that we have an economic base to help people get off income support and get jobs, and find ways to improve the lives of people in our communities.

I would like to ask the Premier, what has he done to put some criteria in place or principles that his Cabinet and this government can follow to ensure that we meet the goals people in the small communities are setting for themselves? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a good question and I thank the Member for most of it. I do not like the part which states that greed is prevailing somewhere in this government as it carries out its work. I think it is needless and does not need to be mentioned in the Legislature.

The fact is that this government, as I have said, has been in office a little over two months. We are eager to initiate some work to better meet the needs of communities, regions and the people we serve. It is also important for us to think out and plan well in advance of anything that we do and to appreciate the full implications before we start.

I point to a couple of examples. One is there are community and regional self- government negotiations going on. I would like to have the capacity to be able to meet the demands that will bring to this government. I would like to look at reorganizing regions, and look at resources in communities and regions as well as possible. After division, do we need to reorganize? I need the capacity to do it.

There are some resources that are available now in the Department of the Executive. That was pointed out in the committee of the whole the other day. But that no longer meets with the support of some Members of the Legislature. The question is how do we initiate that so we can meet the needs of the communities and regions. I have to step back and consider that, because that is not so clear.

Self-government negotiations require additional resources so we can meet the newly established negotiations with the Akaitcho Territory and the Deh Cho. It requires additional staff because they have established negotiations. I have a sent a very accelerated schedule of work that cannot be met within existing resources. Unfortunately, these are placed in the Department of the Executive, so it does look like we are getting rather out of bounds on our growth. But it is meeting the demands from the communities and regions.

On one hand, we are trying to move prudently. But we need to move quickly in some areas. In other areas, we are simply positioning ourselves so we can begin the proper planning. It is necessary to initiate some changes, but with a frisky and well organized plan. The Member on the other side is asking questions. It is important you make clear what it is you want us to do. Thank you.