Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the government also bring forward legislation to protect whistle blowers?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to discuss the merits and the downside of doing that. It certainly has a great deal of implication for employees and I think also for employers. I would take that under consideration. At this point though, our intention is to have legislation for deputy ministers. With whistle blowers and maybe other situations, I would like to hear more about those and take them under consideration. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Questions supplementaire, supplementary question, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, by what date can we expect to see legislation for deputy ministers and perhaps for whistle blowers?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I expect my department to have a proposal before me probably within the next couple of months. I think given their workload, I cannot ask them to do it much faster than that. That is with regard to deputy ministers.

With regard to whistle blowers, I have not made a commitment to do it yet. I want to know more about the circumstances around that one. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. La dernier questions supplementaire, final supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the government change the administration of the code of conduct to ensure government employees can get independent arms-length advice by having an ethics counsellor report to the Conflict of Interest Commissioner or this House?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, of course we will consider any of those kinds of requests. I have to point out that the Conflict of Interest Commissioner for the Legislative Assembly reports to the Legislative Assembly. This is quite a different situation than is faced by employees who are covered under the Public Service Act. Before we do this, we would have to look very carefully at whether or not this was a wise thing to do or whether we are complicating the situation for the members of our public service. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 6, oral questions. Questions orales. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, of course we do. As a Cabinet, we support that particular thrust. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

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

Mr. Speaker, yes, we support individuals wherever we can to obtain employment. We are working, as the Member knows, on opportunities to have individuals gain employment, both at the mine site and within the communities. We are working on some thrusts in that regard.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Questions supplementaire. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

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

Yes, Mr. Speaker. We have a number of programs that support early childhood development. We have a general early childhood development, which is $867,000 per year, and a $1.8 million healthy children's initiative, and a program daycare user subsidy for $1.2. million per year, Mr. Speaker. All of those programs are intended to support the development of children and programs to allow parents to have their children develop appropriately. Thank you.

Merci, Mr. Minister. Question supplémentaire. Your final supplementary, Mr. Nitah.