Welcome to the House. Item 5, recognition of visitors in gallery. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to acknowledge a visitor to the gallery, the executive director of the NWT Seniors' Society, Ms. Barb Hood.

Welcome to the House. Item 5, recognition of visitors in gallery. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I too would like to recognize Beatrice Campbell, as chairperson, and Barbara Hood as the executive director of the NWT Seniors' Society.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Welcome to the House. Item 5, recognition of visitors in gallery. Item 6, oral questions. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today goes to Minister Kakfwi, and it is in response to enquiries that I have received from concerned parents in Yellowknife. It is regarding the possibility of arsenic being carried in the transportation trucks between Giant Mine and Miramar Con Mine. I believe there is a great deal of information on this, and I wonder if the Minister could inform us as to whether there is any dangerous arsenic being carried in the trucks carrying ore between the mines.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, the Honourable Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand the ore is not processed. It is simply being trucked. Because it has not been processed, there is no dangerous form of arsenic present. It is in a stable form and does not pose a risk whatsoever.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wonder if the Minister could assure the House as to whether there is ongoing monitoring by his department or the federal officials responsible, to monitor and to make sure there is no harmful arsenic being transported. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, the Honourable Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is not our responsibility, but I will enquire and inform the Members as to whether or not there is any form of monitoring going on. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's answer. I wonder if I could confirm that he is taking this question as notice and he will respond to us in writing so that I can make it available to my constituents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Clarification, Mr. Minister?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that is correct. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. The question has been taken as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct my question to the Premier. It follows up on some questions that were asked last week by Mr. Braden about the Northwest Territories Family Counselling Services. Mr. Speaker, the Northwest Territories Family Counselling Services provides many important services and programs for the community, such as family life education and community support for family advocacy.

The cuts they will take now as a result of the change in this governments' contracting on the Employee and Family Assistance Program will effect programs at the YWCA, the Women's Centre, the Aboriginal Community Healing Circle, and individuals in Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, with the recent awarding of the contract for the GNWT Employee and Family Assistance Program to a new consortium that is twice the cost of the proposal the Northwest Territories Family Counselling Services had offered, they have now lost a good portion of their funding. They will be about $140,000 short for the coming fiscal year.

I would like to ask the Premier if he will commit to finding funding that would allow Northwest Territories Family Counselling Services to continue to offer these crucial programs to the community? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is not possible to make a commitment at this time. It would be one of many considerations that the Cabinet and Ministers would make in the course of developing our business plans, which we plan to get into as soon as this session is over. I am unable to make a commitment on financial support and core funding type of support to this organization at this time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, just to confirm what the Minister said, while he said that he would make no commitment right now, did I hear him say that his Cabinet would consider such a commitment in the preparation of the business plans?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Cabinet will be in some discussions and deliberations over the next few weeks to decide what priorities, initiatives, reductions, and reallocations should be made of the existing resources, as well as how to make better use of existing resources in the preparation of the business plans for this year, the balance of the year that is not taken care of by the interim appropriation.

Further, a little later in the year, starting in June, we will also be developing our business plans for the year 2001-2002, so all things will be considered. Some briefly, some I am sure extensively and intensively.

But it is difficult to make any type of commitments. The nature of the geography, the demographics, the priorities that different MLAs and regions as well as our communities have will all have to be considered with dwindling resources. We will have to take everything into consideration. Thank you.