Mahsi, Mr. Antoine. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Steen.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Roland on June the 26th, 2000, regarding progress to the Inuvik Hospital project.

The Department of Public Works and Services is currently working with the Department of Health and Social Services to develop a management and project delivery plan for the Inuvik Hospital project.

The change from a P3 approach to a traditional capital-funded project has required the reassignment of staff and confirmation of the basic project parameters. It is expected that much of the previous work on the project is still applicable.

Both departments are aware of community and regional interest in seeing the project proceed as quickly as possible. However, this is a highly complex and highly specialized facility. It will be critical to ensure that the project management and delivery approach is well thought out and that the basic project parameters are clearly understood by all parties.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Returns to oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Krutko on June 21, 2000, regarding preservation of aboriginal languages.

On January 5, 2000, the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Government of Canada entered into a five-year renewal of the Canada-Northwest Territories Cooperation Agreement on French and Aboriginal Languages in the Northwest Territories. The agreement covers fiscal years 1999-2000 to 2003-2004. In each year of the agreement, $1.9 million is to be provided for aboriginal languages and $1.6 million for French.

There was a delay in the signing of the agreement that made it difficult for the GNWT and non-government organizations to fully spend their 1999-2000 allocations. The GNWT successfully negotiated with the federal government an agreement to carry over anticipated surplus funds from 1999-2000. Six hundred thousand dollars was approved as a carryover in the aboriginal languages allocation, to be spread over two years, and $75,000 was approved as a one-year carryover in the French language allocation. These amounts were determined based on expenditures projected by all departments and non-government recipients.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment anticipates that a small amount of the funds for which we projected expenditures in 1999-2000 will not have been spent. However, we will not have full accounting completed until the end of July at the earliest. The Department can provide details on lapsed funds once those figures become available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you Mr. Ootes. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I cannot tell you how pleased I was today when I walked into my office just before we came into the House to have a surprise visitor, Major James Osler with the Canadian Forces Joint Headquarters in Kingston, Ontario, who is here doing the Jennyjohn Expedition. He is my first cousin, who I have not seen in 25 years. He is accompanied by Major Richard Dixon as well. Welcome.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of people in the gallery today, because of our tie to the theme of literacy. I would like to recognize a constituent first of all, Katherine Robinson, who looks after publicity and fundraising for the Northwest Territories Literacy Council.

Another constituent, Sue Edmonds, is here with a group from the Association for Community Living, and the Literacy Outreach Centre. Miriam Wideman is the executive director of the Association for Community Living, and Linda Lee, who is with the YWCA.

There are a number of people here from the Literacy Outreach Centre, Judy Wattsko, Wanda Powder, Janet Baird, Jaicee Wanazah and Bertha Taylor. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you Mr. Dent. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize one of the great teachers of the North, now retired, Mr. Ed Jeske. I think it is appropriate that he is here in light of the notice that the Honourable Vince Steen gave yesterday about the changes to the Motor Vehicles Act that he plans to make. I think we all recognize that it really takes people and teachers and instructors like Mr. Jeske to give us the values that we need to be safe drivers and safe on the road. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you Mr. Braden. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. To all of those that are visiting us, welcome to the Legislative Assembly. Item 6, oral questions, The Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Premier. As we have tried to point out today, literacy is critical for people to enjoy meaningful opportunities to participate in social and economic life in the Northwest Territories.

Literacy is important in helping people make informed choices so they can become more productive and healthy. Mr. Speaker, we need to lead the way to a broader understanding of literacy as an important element of economic productivity and labour market participation as well as population health.

Literacy is as much a health issue or an economic development issue as it is an education issue. Literacy is everyone's concern, Mr. Speaker. This government has an important role to play. Government should lead by setting out a comprehensive strategy for literacy development that cuts across departmental policy areas.

Mr. Speaker, will the Premier take the lead and direct his Cabinet colleagues to collaborate in the development of a comprehensive strategy for literacy? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is the intention of our government to work towards a plan on literacy for the people of the Northwest Territories, particularly the smaller communities where literacy is such a difficulty. Something that we have not developed is a comprehensive strategy on how to approach and address, so the answer is yes. Again, we are not going to resolve it in this House. It is something that cabinet would like to work with Caucus on, so that there is full inclusion on exactly how we are going to address this.

It is the intent of this government to address it as a condition of non-renewable resource development in the Northwest Territories. This is the initial suggestion, but if pipelines are going to go, oil and gas development is going to happen, we have to see measurable change in the literacy rate, particularly in the small communities, and that the unemployed, the illiterate can see tangible results we did not reach and in a reasonable timeframe. Particularly, for instance, driver's licenses. Why can we not live with a strategy where everyone in the Northwest Territories, particularly in smaller communities where vehicles and roads are scarce, can have a reasonable opportunity to obtain a driver's license and driver training? That would all be part of the comprehensive literacy strategy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Premier's commitment to developing a government-wide comprehensive strategy. Will the Premier, in the process of developing that strategy, ensure that literacy practitioners like the Northwest Territories Literacy Council and other community-based non-government organizations, particularly from the smaller communities that he has mentioned, are involved in developing a comprehensive strategy?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I gather that the Member has agreed to work with us in developing this strategy, and that we can start that in September. Of course, if we are agreeable to working together to develop such a strategy, then it is important to recognize that we have partners and agencies like the Literacy Council, who should be there with us to flesh out the elements of an outline of such a strategy. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think Members in this House are all prepared to work as partners in the development of the strategy, but I think we expect the government to take the lead. We do not want to wait until September to see the process started. Mr. Speaker, will the Premier commit his government to reducing the inequalities that exist and ensure that there is access to high quality literacy programs across the Northwest Territories?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is aware that the resource is available to this government, as well as dealing with the budget at this time. The Member should know that in the discussions that we have had with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, Mr. Nault, that it is clear that we require literacy money training dollars and we need it now. We are waiting for a response from the federal government.

We have said in partnership with the aboriginal leaders, the chiefs, the Inuvialuit, the Metis, that we are prepared to engage industry to develop oil and gas and minerals in the Northwest Territories, and that has already started. It is not on the horizon. It has already started. What we need from the federal government is an announcement, some sort of indication that yes, they recognize that we are already started into development and that they will shortly announce some sort of financial resources that would be available to this government and to the people of the North, so that we can start training people, we can start fixing up some of the roads, developing some of the winter roads, this summer, this fall. That is what we are waiting for. We have not received it yet. Hopefully, it will come in the next few weeks. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary, Mr. Dent.