Thank you, Minister Allen. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, capital funding is difficult to find, but it is out there. Where organizations and facilities really run into difficulties is with long-term operational funding. Can the Minister advise whether he is developing approaches that will assist in ongoing operation costs for seniors' housing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am pleased to advise the Member as well as the House that the NWT Housing Corporation continues to look at other options as we progress in terms of trying to meet all the seniors' and housing needs across the territory. Specifically in Yellowknife, we are committed to communicate with other interest groups and advocacy groups to...(inaudible)...fulfill those obligations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. 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. Mr. Speaker, the Maximizing Northern Employment Program is a $6.5 million program we released last week. It has various components to it. With regard to the specific location by community, we certainly have not dealt with identifying where each community's benefit lies. It is a program that provides an equitable distribution of funding across the Territories in all programs.

For example, we have an initiative that is encouraging the private sector, which includes aboriginal governments, municipal governments, to employ graduate students, for example. The communities the honourable Member represents are certainly in line to be able to apply for that funding. That is one example. We have thrusts in that whole area that the communities can be considered for. We will certainly do our best to ensure there is across-the-board equity across the Territory. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. Too many questions in there. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes, you can answer any one of those three.

I will attempt to provide a bit of an overview, Mr. Speaker, of the program. We have approximately nine thrusts in the Maximizing Northern Employment Program, and those thrusts range from the hiring of students for the summertime. We have a $1 million student hire program, whereby we subsidize employment to the tune of five dollars per hour. That is available for any organization throughout the Territory.

Then in Maximizing Northern Employment, we have a variety of programs of ensuring that, as I said, graduates from programs, they do not necessarily need to be from the specific community, but they could be employed by the community for a year's time during which we support that with dollars in the event that the community wishes to hire graduate students.

That is the present example, Mr. Speaker, and I do believe that we are very equitable across the Territory and certainly very equitable to each of the communities. There is certainly no attempt on our part whatsoever to suggest that this is going to be strictly limited in certain areas.

With regard to specific dollars, I do not have that kind of information in my hands here at the moment, Mr. Speaker, and it will obviously take a bit of time once these programs are totally instituted. It will take the cooperation and the participation of communities to see where exactly these dollars will go. We certainly encourage communities to contact us and to be a participant with us. Thank you.

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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this is a program where we have had cooperation and coordination from all government departments and it is a very, very, very good program, Mr. Speaker. I want to emphasize that because it is putting $6.5 million into various areas throughout the Northwest Territories. I think there is an opportunity here for a lot of organizations to be able to contact us, to participate and to obtain funding for certain specific projects. For example, we have a program called the employment support initiative. As I stated, that is to employ graduate students for a year's time and we will support that with funding.

Additionally, we have the aboriginal government and private sector partnership fund. The communities can come to us and make proposals, and that is being operated by the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. What they need to do is put a proposal forward under this program whereby they can obtain funding. I believe we are moving forward very well in this area, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final short supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

I just want to caution Members that question period is for questions. Members' statements are for Members' statements. Your rules state that questions must not be argumentative or debate. They must not be hypothetical, trivial, vague, frivolous, seek an opinion, and they should be short and to the point. That was just a comment. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Speaker, my questions are addressed to the Minister of Justice and they follow up on my Member's statement on the issue that was raised in this House last week in regard to the intention to make a direct political appointment of the warden's position of the Territorial Women's Correctional Centre, by-passing the hiring process, the issue of experience and qualifications, the Department of Justice, and of course the many qualified Northerners who may be out there who work long and hard to get their education and experience.

My question to the Minister is, has that direct appointment gone to Cabinet and been approved yet? Thank you.

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

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister indicate when this direct appointee will be put in place? Given the questions and concerns about this issue, does he have any plans to ensure there is a proper transition? Thank you.