Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will have the department work as quickly as we can and try to get that information before the House adjourns. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Justice, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Minister Antoine. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Minister for his response. However, for the benefit of the people out there listening, and my constituent in particular, I see that the federal government is moving quite aggressively on promoting this news, that those who are expecting can take up to 50 weeks off with assistance from the federal government. I think there is a great deal of urgency, maybe not a great deal, but there is quite a bit of urgency in order to synchronize with the federal initiative.

I wonder if the Minister could advise as to whether he is moving as fast as he can on this. What will be the process involved in getting it into a stage where the necessary things can be done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Justice, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Minister Antoine. Item 7, oral questions. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to the opening address. Item 11, replies to the budget address. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance today has been talking today about a good news budget, and we do have to acknowledge that we do have tremendous potential as a territory. However, we are not there yet. As the Minister indicated, we are investing today in a better tomorrow.

There are some good things in this budget for the people of Thebacha and they will be very happy to see them. After five years of raising the issue, chip seal over Highway No. 5 has finally made the budget address.

-- Applause

Better than that, Mr. Speaker, the Minister has in fact raised it from chip sealing to paving, as I note on page 16 of his address. I am sure my colleague from Fort Resolution as well will be working with the Minister to ensure that in fact he holds true to that brave promise.

Mr. Speaker, for us, the chip sealing or paving of Highway No. 5 is a critical issue. It is currently the only road we have into our community and the gravel condition is a deterrent to tourism. I believe that the toll proposed by the government will cover costs and it will give us some of the money that would otherwise go to the federal government as royalties.

It is also very good to see the mention of the harbour potential in the South Slave and the rest of the Northwest Territories. These are sustainable megaprojects that are very environmentally friendly and will far outlast most of the mines and other developments we have. We will be nothing but ancient memories in this Chamber when those projects should still exist and be producing good for the people of the Northwest Territories.

However, Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, most of the other new initiatives announced are virtually empty boxes; things like literacy and the maximizing of northern employment and the early childhood development initiative. Mr. Speaker, very clearly, nobody is going to disagree with these initiatives and that they are important. However, like motherhood and apple pie, who would disagree? What is missing are the details. There is a lot of form at this point, but we are woefully short on substance. Who will benefit? What kind of money are we talking about? Are these short-term pots of funding or long-term solutions to issues?

Another example, Maximizing Northern Employment, is missing fundamental information, Mr. Speaker, something basic like what is the definition of a Northerner being used in this strategy? How does it fit in with affirmative action, or does it replace it?

It is disturbing to have so many virtually empty boxes as initiatives before us today for a couple of reasons, Mr. Speaker. The first reason is what this means about our system of consensus government. Over the past decade, consensus has meant that the knowledge and experience of all the Members was considered valuable. Program proposals were brought to committees through the various processes to do with business planning and other processes for in-depth discussion before being announced and finalized.

This Assembly has a protocol that says this is how we will continue to do business. However, the unfortunate reality in this case is that Cabinet acted in isolation for the most part from Ordinary Members. While they may be using the ideas and recommendations made from committee reports, it was done without any discussion or meaningful involvement by the Ordinary Members.

These initiatives in the budget address and in the Premier's state of the union address were not mentioned in the business plan review only three short months ago. The extent of consultation during last month's budget review was, "Here it is. We just have a general idea, but no real idea of how we really actually want to make it happen. What do you think?" Unfortunately, this reflects the new relationship between Cabinet and committees, which I hope will in fact only be a one-time occurrence.

We seem to have lost one of the most fundamental processes of consensus government. What we seem to be moving to is a process in place in most of the provinces with party politics. The government presents ideas as vague items or as a finished package. We have been getting a series of quick, short briefings with no chance for involvement or contribution by Ordinary Members. This is a shame, since many of the good things in this budget and past initiatives came from this type of cooperative approach that was missing this time.

Mr. Speaker, without involving all Members in true consensus style, it is easy to get tunnel vision and insulated thinking if you stick only to the Cabinet's side of the table and with the Cabinet perspective. This shift in approach by Cabinet means that valuable input that came from Ordinary Members and their constituents in the past was lost in this instance. I see this as a very clear and unfortunate shift to what could become some sort of quasi-party political party politics model, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I mentioned that I have two concerns with the virtual empty boxes that these initiatives were as announced in his budget today. The second concern is the money, or more accurately, the lack of it. The budget is incomplete. We have already been told as Members that the government will be coming back for a significant amount of supplementary appropriation to pay for the new initiatives. There will be supplementary appropriations, Mr. Speaker, for the unquantified fuel costs for running the businesses, the utilities, the facilities of government and paying for the electricity in many of the communities.

We know, Mr. Speaker, that the figures are already inaccurate with all these other costs yet to come in. The spending, as the Minister indicated, brings us dangerously close to the debt wall, to the point where we cannot continue to keep spending beyond our limits. We have a consolidated debt, as was pointed out, of $251 million, leaving us $49 million of room, a fairly thin cushion. Our debt limit is $300 million, Mr. Speaker, and we are close to that number. That would constitute more than a third of our budget that we would be holding as debt.

We have to start asking questions like how much will it cost us to service a debt of this size? If we are not careful and do not achieve the goal of resource revenue sharing and new revenues, what kind of legacies will we be leaving our children?

We agree. I agree that sometimes you have to spend money to reduce costs down the road. Sometimes we have to invest today for the future tomorrow. We also have to be very realistic and careful and keep things within reason when it comes to spending.

Mr. Speaker, there was discussion yesterday in this House about the Non-Renewable Resource Strategy and the $3.7 million that was given to us from the federal government for bridges in the Sahtu. It was referred to as an installment, Mr. Speaker, out of the $250 million that was requested. As my colleague Mr. Bell said, if our installments continue at that pace, it will take 68 years to get the full amount.

Mr. Speaker, I will be 118 years old, and I do not want to be standing in this House arguing with the Minister of Finance, who will be even older than I, about this issue, so we have to be very careful and more forceful. Of course, by that time, will there be any oil and gas or diamonds left? I am sure the Minister's boots will have been worn to a nub in his efforts to try to achieve this laudable goal.

-- Laughter

Mr. Speaker, over the last two years, we have had two tax windfalls where companies have chosen to file their income tax in the Northwest Territories. Is this included in revenue projections? Other jurisdictions are in fact changing their tax rates. We are no longer among the lowest. There are other jurisdictions that are in fact lower. Ontario is one. I do not believe we can continue to count on this good fortune unless it is the plan of the Minister to in fact lower these tax rates.

Mr. Speaker, $49 million is not much. It could be eaten up very quickly, one bad fire season. We have upcoming settlements with the NWTTA which are back at the table. We are in our last year of an agreement with the UNW and will be re-entering the negotiation phase with them. Mr. Speaker, it is a paper-thin margin we have to play with.

As has been pointed out by many people in this House and across the land, resource revenue sharing is our best bet. Unfortunately, this process seems to be moving very slowly. I do not think a lot of people appreciate the significance of the financial fix we are in if we do not get that deal in the next couple of years.

Mr. Speaker, we need to see some substantial progress soon. I do not think anybody would accept failure as an option in this particular instance. Given the spending that Cabinet is proposing, I can only assume that their plan is not to wait for more loose change off the Liberal table in Ottawa. I would hope that if the government is in fact planning a plan B, that they would be sharing that with us and the people of the Northwest Territories.

Yes, if there was a lot of money, it would be very nice to spend even more in the areas of literacy, health, social services, education and supporting northern employment.

The key for us as an Assembly and for the Cabinet is how do we balance the many demands and needs within our limited resources? What is the responsible thing to do to protect our children's future? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 11, replies to the budget address. Item 12, petitions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of educational support resources for Inuvik children. Mr. Speaker, the petition contains 622 signatures of Inuvik residents. Mr. Speaker, the petitioners request that additional support resources, such as an addition of an education psychologist, speech therapist, and more trained program support assistance, be made available on a full-time basis in Inuvik schools. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 12, petitions. Item 13, reports of standing and special committees. Item 14, reports of committees on the review of bills. Item 15, tabling of documents. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Government of the Northwest Territories 2001-2004 Business Plans. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Item 15, tabling of documents. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled Government of the Northwest Territories Results Report, 1999-2000. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Item 15, tabling of documents. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wish to table a letter to the chair of the Inuvik Chamber of Commerce, dated 1981. It is a feasibility study from an engineering firm. It was signed by the head deputy minister of Transportation.