Thank you, Mr. Steen. Final supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is a piece of highway going through my constituency that is basically from the West Channel Bridge to the end of the highway in the West Channel, and I do believe that is a part of Highway No.2. It also leads to an area where there has been some money spent on a campground, and to one of the biggest resources we have as far as tourism is concerned, which is Great Slave Lake. It goes directly to that.

Would the Minister commit to having a look at that piece of highway and possibly addressing some money there in the near future?

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will certainly take that into consideration. I would also like to comment and note, Mr. Speaker, out of the $400,000, the project may end up in the Oka River. It is quite possible, depending on who gets the contract to build the bridge, that the actual expenditure will be made in the Member's riding. It depends on who the contractor is. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the Minister responsible for Finance. It has to do with understanding the numbers. I know that earlier today the Premier questioned the Member for Thebacha's numbers on growth in the Executive, and I have heard the Minister responsible for Finance do the same in media reports.

I am just trying to get a handle on where the difference is, because when I look at the Executive in the interim appropriations, there was $500,000 for new initiatives. Multiply that by three and you get a full year cost of $1.5 million. The total preliminary target for the department is $8.2 million. That certainly sounds pretty close to 18 percent to me, in terms of the number that has been quoted by the Member for Thebacha.

I think that what Members on this side of the House have been trying to point out is that $500,000 in new initiatives just happens to match the number we heard from the Minister responsible for Finance in a public meeting this morning. That would be enough to put new funds into Student Financial Assistance so that there would not have to be any clawbacks; treating Metis and Inuvialuit students different than other aboriginal students.

I would like to know from the Minister responsible for Finance, how are we misinterpreting these numbers? How is it not 18 percent growth in the Executive?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am sure there are many different expenditures that we can match up against another one from a different department. It is one where, as we mentioned this morning for the standing committee meeting, if we allowed Metis and Inuvialuit students to choose whether or not they wanted a grant or forgivable loan, then the cost might be somewhere between $400,000 and $600,000, depending on who made what choice.

We are not quarrelling at all with the 18 percent figure in terms of the Executive. If that is the question, then I do not have a problem with that. What was the origin of that? How much of it can be attributed to the previous government and how much to this government? I think there are many ways of looking at that.

If we want to talk about the $500,000, I would like to note that there is also an increase in the Legislative Assembly's budget because of standing committees and so on, of some $500,000. That is an amount equal to what it would cost to be able to enhance the Student Financial Assistance Program. There are many ways of looking at this. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister again seems to adopt a common strategy from the other side of saying that it was a previous government that wanted to do this. I want to see the Executive of this government take some ownership in this process. Are they the ones who are providing us with this interim appropriation and bringing it forward? I expect that they are. I think they have to agree that they are going to take some ownership.

How does that 18 percent increase in the Executive offices compare to the Legislative Assembly's increase, when the Executive's office has gone from six Cabinet Members to seven and the Legislative Assembly has gone from 14 Members to 19? Give me the comparison.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have to be very careful here that we are not talking apples and oranges. I would like to say that yes, this government does take responsibility for the interim appropriations, absolutely. I think we have done a good job in putting them together.

We cannot confuse interim appropriations with the main estimates. That is pretty elementary. I also want to say that a lot of what is in the interim appropriations, are a lot of the expenditures that we are facing. Expenditures that have come about as a result of the transition. The roots of those go to the previous government. There are positions, for example, that have been protected. In a sense, people have been on indeterminate salaries, and they are continuing in positions. We have found places for them.

There are also a number of initiatives that are not just initiatives of the Cabinet, but initiatives by this whole Assembly that have been included in there. I make reference to the intergovernmental forum, for example. Those are things that we have all agreed to.

I think it is a combination of things that have resulted in the 18 percent increase as a result of transition costs and new initiatives in the Executive. It is very difficult to try to compare them, or say it has only been this government in the last two months and a few days of existence has created all of those policies. We are in a transition. We are bearing some of those costs. We are looking at some new initiatives in terms of the priorities we have set as a government. I think what is there reflects a good, healthy direction that we can all be proud of. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. The time allocated for question period has expired. Mr. Dent, you have two supplementaries that you may utilize. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister responsible for Finance has correctly pointed out that this is an interim budget, and therefore does not contain the final spending for this government for the year. But, Mr. Speaker, the $500,000 in new initiatives in the Executive alone, which happens to be 40 percent of what we are spending on the increase for teachers this year...

This is obviously going to tie our hands. If we approve this in the interim budget, we are obviously approving a full-year increase in expenditures for the Executive of $1.5 million. Is that not correct, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.

The amount that we have in the interim appropriation is the amount of money that is required for the four-month period. That is the amount of money that the Executive has put forward as being their requirement. Whether or not that is going to be reflected exactly the way it is in the interim appropriation in the main estimates, I do not know. The departments are working on their business plans right now. We will be getting the business plans to the standing committees as soon as they are ready. I think we have laid out a schedule for doing that. I think at that point, then we can judge what the expenditures are for the balance of the year. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Item 7, written questions. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to revert to item 6, oral questions.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The Member is seeking unanimous consent to revert to item 6, oral questions. Are there any nays?

Thank you. Mr. Krutko, you do not have unanimous consent to revert to item 6, oral questions. Item 7, written questions. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to revert to item 4, returns to oral questions.