Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment. I wonder if the Minister could tell me how many adults accessed training last year through the Community Skills for Work Program across the North? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not have that information on hand here, Mr. Speaker, and I will have get back to the Member with the information. It involves the colleges as well as the Skills for Work Program. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to getting that information. Certain groups are accessing or have been accessing the Community Skills for Work money and it has been an ongoing process, for the last three years. The government made a decision not to seek funding for this year for something that has been funded for the last three years. I am wondering if the Minister can discuss how he has been able to inform these groups that the government would no longer be seeking funding for this program? I wonder if he can get into detail for me? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As is common with a number of programs, and especially with the Skills for Work Program, they are offered for periods of time. They may be four weeks. They may be eight weeks. They may be 12 weeks. They were planned to be completed by March 31st, and through our staff in the regions, we have checked to see if there were any programs that were planned to be beyond that and if the organizations were informed of that. I am informed that from the start, they were informed that these programs would terminate as of March 31st. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would expect, Mr. Speaker, that every year these groups have been informed that their funding would terminate on March 31st, but yet for the last three years, it has not been the case because the government has been able to get additional funding. I would suggest to you, Mr. Speaker, that expectations have been built up that these programs obviously are worthwhile and would continue. The Minister in this House made a commitment in informing all of the groups who access this funding and contacted them to let them know that their funding would cease tonight at midnight and he committed to do that before 5:00 p.m. today. I was wondering if he can give us an update on how that is going? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am informed that all the Community Skills for Work projects have been contacted and nobody is aware of any layoffs in regard to these projects because they were all informed ahead of time that they were to be completed. The deliverers, the people that teach the programs, are hired on a contract basis to deliver these projects for the period of time that they are delivered. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Final supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just some clarification, all groups have been notified, Mr. Speaker? There will be no layoffs as a result of the lapse of this funding, and the Minister has had, again, contact with all these groups to discuss that it was the government's choice to not seek to refund this program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department works closely with many of these organizations and most of these programs have ceased already, Mr. Speaker. I am informed, as I said earlier, the Community Skills for Work projects have been contacted and that the people who have been working on this were people who were hired specifically to deliver those programs for the period of time that they were to be delivered, for four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my Member's statement, we were well aware that we have had to get into the business of grumbling on behalf of the people and trying to put budgets in place in a short amount of time. We have heard it many times from across the floor, the difficult working conditions Ministers are in to try and put this together and the tiredness they have felt. But Mr. Speaker, as an Ordinary Member, I feel I need to be able to do my job. To do my job, I need accuracy in the figures in the proposals put before me.

Mr. Speaker, for much of the interim process we were given a document to do our work and review it with departments. It is bad enough that we do not have a lot of time to go through that process and get into a lot of detail. What is even worse is that I have come to find out through the processes that there are some huge projects and changes in the plan that were not at all identified. It was not until questioning in this House that we were able to find out that information.

I would like to first of all thank the Finance Minister for taking it upon himself to table document 39-14(2), yesterday in this House, on the 2000-2001 Capital Plan Comparison. In the short time I have had to do my review, Mr. Speaker, I have found some differences within departments; Municipal and Community Affairs, Public Works and Services, Health and Social Services, Justice, Education, Culture and Employment, Transportation. Some numbers are small, but there are some major changes. We have just passed an interim budget based on a certain set of numbers. I would like to know from the Finance Minister, is this document that is being tabled the document we are going by, or it is the interim appropriation we are going to go by? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We go by the numbers in the commitments that are made during review of the interim appropriations in approving the interim appropriations. Members, though, have all been asking us for a capital plan, what cuts are being made, what makes up the $10 million that we have reduced the capital plan by. That commitment is a commitment that goes back to the 13th Legislative Assembly. We have chosen to follow through on it. And as we speak, departments are doing work on preparing for the 2000-2001 main estimates.

In order to try and respond to the Members' needs, we have given you a copy of what we call a current 2000-2001 capital plan. It is only current in the sense that this is where we are today. As we speak, departments are working on these and refining them. As we get into the final preparation of the capital plans that will be part of the main estimates, then you may find some of these numbers will be still moving around a bit. Each department is still working on this. This is a living, working document as we have it right now. It is not an approved 2000-2001 capital plan. That will not happen until we see the main estimates. We have given you a piece of information in advance that normally, I suppose, would not be given at this stage. There will be differences. I can tell you when we come to the main estimates, you will find some other little adjustments that departments have made based on priorities, based on issues that have come to their attention, based on the need to balance their estimates within the targets that are given to them.

Do not take this as being the final 2000-2001 document. It is not. It is just the capital plan as it currently is. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What I am hearing from the Finance Minister is, in fact, these numbers are as in comparison to the shifting sands in the Sahara. We are going to have a hard time reading from one day to the next it seems.

I understand that there is going to be some flexibility. But as a Member of this Assembly, when I cast a vote, I have heard the defense of the numbers, I have heard why some numbers are put forward. I have concerns, in fact, that there is a fair bit of shifting that is going to happen. Especially in light of the fact that we have just passed almost 50 percent of the budget, for our whole year for the interim appropriation. Can the Minister inform me if there are going to be further changes in this document, will Members be kept apprised of the situation, so they are able to deal with it in their communities? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will just ask Mr. Roland to please be patient. We are working on the main estimates and we will do it as quickly as we can. I do not expect that there is going to be, as you say, a fair bit of shifting around in the capital plan, but there will be some changes.

As we prepare main estimates, there is a lot of shifting going on. I suppose you could compare it to shifting sand. There are a lot of things. There are thousands of things that each deputy minister and their staff have to take into consideration as they develop a budget as a response to the needs that are being expressed. There are a lot of things that are still a bit up in the air.

Do not take this current document as the final one and then come back and try to compare numbers later on and say what happened to this $10,000 or $5,000. This is the capital plan as it is today and I will tell you there may be some changes as we prepare our main estimates. That is part of the normal process, Mr. Speaker.

In terms of the Member's questions, are we going to keep you informed, I tell you we made a commitment that we want to be open and transparent, even though you may not believe us. I am going to be as open and transparent as I possibly can. I have done it already by giving you a document that is current as of today, and I am being very honest in telling you that there will be some bit of shifting around as departments put their budgets together, but bear with us. That is part of being open and transparent. The alternative is to wait until we have everything nailed down and then give it to you. I do not want to do that. I will share it with you. If there is any major shifting, then we will absolutely let every MLA know. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.