Thank you, Mr. Minister. No further supplementaries? Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The question is directed to the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. The question was a little bit -- that is why I hesitated. Perhaps through supplementaries, Mr. McLeod can clarify. Mr. McLeod, supplementary.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think at the tail end, he admitted that there is no policy for Cabinet to curb their comments in the media and you could say whatever you want, regardless of how it interferes with what is on the table. I want to ask the Minister if his department or this government has any mechanism in place to accept liability for any comments that may jeopardize opportunities in negotiations that are ongoing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister totally ignored my question, however I will ask my final supplementary. Because the Minister of Finance said yesterday that agreements in negotiation, interim agreements are applied government wide, I want to know if the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs would agree that the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs should take the lead role and ensure that they are implemented? I do not see any one department taking the lead on it. I want to know if the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs would agree that his department should be taking the lead and ensuring that these agreements are implemented.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Antoine. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, my question this afternoon is for the Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board. It concerns the roles and responsibilities of the appeals tribunal and the client services division.

Mr. Speaker, from time to time, I think we have all had constituents who seem to have fallen through the cracks in the WCB system. It is becoming more apparent that a systemic problem exists between the tribunal, which has a certain decision and final capacity, and then the client service's branch, which I understand has a role in implementing or carrying out these decisions.

My question, Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm the decisions of the appeals tribunal are to be acted on fully and in a timely manner? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, they will be. When the appeals tribunal makes a decision, it will be followed up on. In terms of a timely basis, I have taken action to increase the number of appeals tribunal members so that you could have two tribunals, if necessary, in order to speed up the process. It will be done as quickly and as timely as possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and yes, the creation of an additional panel was welcome news to help clear up the backlog, though I still perceive a difficulty within the process of decisions being made and then implemented.

I would like to ask the Minister, does client services, as the implementation branch, have any discretion in interpreting decisions or in the timing of their implementation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, their responsibility is primarily administrative, so unless they had questions that needed clarity or administratively created an impossibility or some ambiguity, then they should proceed with implementing the decisions as expediently as possible. They cannot overrule or vary from a decision that is made by an appeals tribunal. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, in the implementation of decisions, again, the sense that I am getting is that between client services and the appeals tribunal, there is perhaps a tendency there to take cases and move them back and forth, back and forth as one group or the other has a difficulty or reluctance in carrying out their job.

I wanted to ask the Minister, is he aware of perhaps an unusual number of cases that just are not being resolved in a timely and an efficient manner? Is the system performing as efficiently as it should? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, no, I am not aware of any large numbers or any numbers, really, of decisions that are being delayed unduly. There is always some that may be taken back for reconsideration after a decision is made and questions are raised.

Generally, I think the appeals tribunal is made up of representatives on the tribunal who want to do best for the worker and are trying to expedite the process. I know we have cut down the time from last year being 236 days to 134 days for filing decisions, so we have cleaned that up a bit. I think the membership is well-meaning. I know the cases are complicated. Sometimes people do not get the decision they want or submit further information later and that complicates it, but I am confident that the people on the tribunal are trying to do the best they can.

In spite of that, I will check into this further and let the Member know if there are any delays. If he has a specific case in mind, I would like to know more about it. Thank you.