Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Mr. Speaker, I am not familiar with each community on whether they do qualify or not so I will provide that detail. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question will be directed to the Minister responsible for Finance. In his Minister's statement, he states that from a Northwest Territories perspective, the links between formula financing revenues and provincial spending and national and economic growth mean that while we intend to maintain our overall fiscal strategy, we must exercise caution on how we proceed.

I would like to know from the Minister what caution he is speaking about and are there changes coming to the way we do business as we now know it? Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, what I am referring to is the economic downturn that we are facing across Canada right now and that we see in the United States as well. The provincial and federal spending as well as the national GDP have a direct impact on our financing formula.

Right now, based on preliminary information, it is looking like we could be seeing somewhere in the neighbourhood of $8 million to $12 million less in revenue from the federal government. That figure is very fluid. It is based on a lot of assumptions and I think it is being analyzed daily across the country. That is the kind of information that we have to work with and we have to exercise some caution in case things continue to worsen. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister inform us as to what impact this has on our debt wall? Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, every time we lose revenue or spend additional money, it has an impact. Right now, if nothing changed, if things just stayed the way they are right now, we would begin to exceed our borrowing limit, if I can put it that way, some time in 2004-2005. So every time we lose revenue or we spend money faster than we are bringing it in, we move that closer and closer.

A loss of $8 million to $12 million in revenues probably moves that debt wall closer by months and I have not calculated how many it would be, but probably a few months. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As well, he mentioned that caution would have to be exercised. What type of caution is he referring to?

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

Mr. Speaker, I am referring to expenditures, particularly that we have to be very careful on any new investments we may take on. I am particularly concerned about any new costs we assume that have ongoing implications that would mean we are committed to it for multiple years.

What we need to do starting now is look very carefully at any new commitments we make that may have ongoing implications. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister be referring to -- he did talk about new commitments, so initiatives, strategies, those are things that he would be looking to curtail? Thank you.

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

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I think all of those. As I say, I am more concerned about commitments that have ongoing implications, so if we are looking at increasing subsidies on any particular thing we do as a government, then that has an ongoing implication that we do not want to subsidize things that take it away. If we are looking at new capital projects, those we have to look at very carefully.

We are not at the point, Mr. Speaker, where I would want to say no, we have to stop spending or make dramatic changes. I am saying let's stay on with our fiscal strategy but let's keep our ear to the ground and listen to what others are saying and doing, what reaction other provinces are taking and respond accordingly. I do not think, Mr. Speaker, we have reached the point where we have to take any dramatic action at this point. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question too is for the Minister of Finance, Mr. Handley, as a bit of a follow up to my colleague, Mr. Roland. We all know it is depressing news that the Canadian dollar is on a slide. It is at an all-time low. As of an hour ago, it was at 62.76 cents, a drop of about a quarter of a cent of yesterday's record low close.

My question is, Mr. Speaker, what impact does the low Canadian dollar have on the economy and business in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, the immediate impact is, in terms of industry, it is to their advantage in many ways to have a lower Canadian dollar because the price of our products, which are mined or harvested using Canadian labour and Canadian products that are offered in Canadian dollars, is relatively less compared to where they may be selling it. There is a short-term advantage in that sense.

If the Canadian dollar were to stay low and we had to see purchases from outside of the country, or business done outside of the country with other currencies, then it could be a disadvantage.

Overall, a lower Canadian dollar is generally not a big kind of disadvantage to our kind of economy. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly our export products would tend to benefit. I am wondering, is there anything here we could take advantage of and look at as an opportunity to potentially continue marketing that advantage to outside buyers? Is there anything we can do in this area? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.