Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have discussed this a number of times. I have indicated that we have made moves already to ensure that the career centres in the various regions have the ability to assist students. We have trained our career centre staff on our CMAS system, that is our computer system that Education uses for student financial assistance. We have made a significant step already, Mr. Speaker, towards ensuring that there is regional capacity to deliver this program, other than cutting cheques.

Mr. Speaker, as well, there is the opportunity shortly for students to apply on-line, which is the coming way to do business as well. We are making moves more and more towards ensuring that the services are available regionally. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like the Minister to confirm either yes or no. Is the reason that they have refused all these years to devolve the program because of the need to keep it together for self-government talks as opposed to the reasons that the Minister has pointed out, as they give incremental autonomy to the regions? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, that was not the reason that it was not devolved, Mr. Speaker. It was a case where it was best handled at a central point for the time being. As I stated, we are now making the moves towards that. As we go, there is no doubt that discussions for self-government are entering into the picture as part of all issues with regard to program delivery of the territorial government, be it education or health and social services. It becomes part of the self-government negotiations as we go. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once again, I would like to ask the Minister if he could be specific in terms of a time line when the program will be fully turned over to the communities, the larger centres that have the capacity through their career centres to do the work, to cut the cheques, so that applications do not have to be vetted and addressed at headquarters but can be dealt with in the communities where the students are. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The ability is there now for the career officers to assist students and to input and draw up students' names off the computer system, Mr. Speaker. There is not yet an ability to cut cheques at the regional level. I think that is the question the Member is asking, when will that be done.

Mr. Speaker, that is still premature for me to answer at this particular point until I have the opportunity to ensure that this is working very well at a regional level from an advice side, from an assistance side and from an inputting side. Thank you.

Merci, Mr. Minister. Mr. Miltenberger, your final supplementary.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is not a new issue. The problem comes not with the information at the regions and the way things are pulled together or addressed, the problem comes that it all funnels up to what are seen to be anonymous people sitting at headquarters making decisions on students' lives. I would like to ask the Minister, will he commit to coming forward with a clear plan of when he will devolve that particular service out to the regions and communities where it belongs so that the students can get the best possible service? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are dealing with an administrative process to some extent here. There is no doubt that over the past several months, we have made tremendous strides in that area and we are making improvements. I think we have made some good steps already, Mr. Speaker, with regard to ensuring that more and more is done at the regional level and at the community level where there are career offices. I think that is a good step that we have taken. I will assure and reassure the Member that I will look at this again to see whether cheques can be cut at the regional offices. I do not know whether that can be done, but I certainly will check into that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member did ask in the fall with regard to IBAs, how this was treated. It is treated as unearned income and, as such, we are obliged to recapture that by regulation, Mr. Speaker.

With regard to the legal interpretation of that particular aspect of the regulations, we have asked for a legal interpretation. We have an informal reply to that which I have not yet formalized, or has not yet been formalized, but I do have an informal opinion in hand. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can certainly check to see if we can formalize that interpretation. I can certainly have an answer for the Member within the week. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Colleagues, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome in our visitors gallery some visitors from the Federation Council of Russian. The Federation Council is Russia's Upper House. They are nearing the end of a week-long visit to the Northwest Territories, having just come back from Inuvik to here. It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you Ilya Semyonovich Rozenblyum, the chairperson of the Committee on the North.

-- Applause

Yefim Lvovich Kerpelman is the deputy chair of the Committee on the North.

-- Applause

Aleksandr Vasilievich Zhuganov is the chief of staff, Committee on the North.

-- Applause

Nataliya Ivanovna Peresypkina is the specialist on Committee on the North.

-- Applause

With them, the interpreter, Vadim Fotinov.

-- Applause

No stranger to our Assembly, having been here before, with him as well is Geoffrey Dubrow, the program manager of the Parliamentary Centre in Ottawa.

-- Applause

I would like to bid you a very warm welcome, and we hope that you are able to enjoy question period. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question this afternoon is for the Premier. It is in relation to various boards of our government. I have constituents who go on our website to look at the various boards that this government has and look at vacancies. The information on the website currently -- and I just pulled it off a few minutes ago, Mr. Speaker -- says revised March 2000, and there are oodles of outdated information. I was wondering if the Premier can let us know why we have what amounts to year-old information on the website. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The question is directed to the honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.