Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to discuss and inform this House about an issue that keeps being brought up to my attention by my constituents, and it has to do with the lack of resources in our legal aid office.

Mr. Speaker, it appears that with the under-funded resources we have with the legal aid, a lot of people in need of legal help are without a lawyer, and when they do finally get one after a prolonged period of waiting, they do not seem to get enough time with the lawyer, so it takes a very long time for them to have their case heard and processed and obtain a decision. Once the decision is reached, the battle continues on with respect to enforcing the decision. Many of these cases are child support cases where many single parents, usually women, are having to do everything they can and make numerous phone calls and write letters to make sure that the office is doing what is required to enforce those decisions.

Mr. Speaker, I have many many calls in this regard and these under-funded resources have some of them to lose some of the payments or money that is available to the opposing spouse that they could have had on behalf of their children. I believe that this is an issue I brought up many many times before in this House. The lack of resources in this office is a serious concern and it is really having an effect on the families and mothers with children who really need the money every month to support them.

Mr. Speaker, I have asked this question before in this House to the Minister and I ask that Minister again, and I will ask later today, to see what can be done to better resource this office so that those in need of legal aid help can achieve them in a speedy manner and that they get the necessary support they need. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with regard to an individual who I have been talking to with respect to the whole affirmative action policy that we have in place in this government. This individual has worked for this government for many years yet, Mr. Speaker, she has not seen any movement in regard to enhancing her abilities to move up the ladder and be able to succeed in her career path to be able to take on the challenges of the different areas of responsibility in this government.

Mr. Speaker, the affirmative action policy that we have in place is to ensure that we have a make-up of the government that reflects the population of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I think that this government the has to take on a more important role of enhancing the people we do have working for the Government of the Northwest Territories to ensure that they do succeed in enhancing themselves to move on in the government and move up the ladder, instead of seeing them sitting at the bottom of the wage scale, being the administrative staff and not taking on the responsibility of senior management, middle management, and ensuring that we do not continue the cycle of dependency on southern Canada. We have to develop our human resources within the government and the people that decided to make a career in this government.

Yet, Mr. Speaker, a lot of employees in this government are frustrated to the point of applying for jobs time and time again and being turned down, saying you are either not qualified or the structure of the advertisement of those positions in such a way that you need practically a university degree, or a bachelor of science or what not in different areas.

I think as a government, we have to do more to develop the human resources that we have within our government, but also ensure that we make a career for those people who have made a decision to come work for this government. I think for First Nations people, the whole idea of the affirmative action policy was to do such by way of making sure that this government allows those opportunities to be offered to First Nations people in the Northwest Territories, to really have a role to play in this government, especially where you look at management, senior management, where the big dollars are being made. Yet they continue to be filled from people from southern Canada.

Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister questions on this matter later.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to make some general comments about the Deh Cho today, especially towards the youth in my riding. Last week, as I announced in the House, last weekend I attended a Dream Catchers Conference in Edmonton. I was very impressed with the whole conference. It was very well-attended. We had several hundred youth from the Northwest Territories, many different types of workshops and presentations and events happening, and I wanted to commend all of the youth, especially the youth from my riding of the Hay River Reserve, Fort Providence and the youth that we have in the leadership program. They were all well-behaved and were eager participants in all of the events.

I happened to take part and ended up chaperoning for one of the groups and attended the youth dance. I cannot say I did any dancing. I was waiting for a song that I recognized. However, none played for the full four hours that I was there.

I am hoping next year that we will see more people take part, especially the leaders from the North and my colleagues here. I encourage them to come. It is a great time.

This time of the year is also a time for our students in the North and the students in post-secondary institutions, they are all taking mid-term exams. They are all studying hard. I wanted to wish them well and encourage them to stick to their books. I know it is very difficult in our smaller communities to be in the higher classes. However, I encourage them to do their best.

I was talking to an elder the other day and he was indicating that all the challenges and all the different things that are facing our youth, the list is growing. We have AIDS, we have all kinds of diseases. He was saying we should include a lack of education as a part of one, because you cannot, in this day and age, make a healthy living without a good education.

Today I also want to recognize the two pages that we have with us. We have from Kakisa, two hard-working young gentlemen. Dennis Chico and Jeremy Simba. They have been with us all week and will be leaving today. I want to thank them for doing a good job. Also, their chaperone, Elainie Simba.

I also want to welcome two new constituents who were just born in the last couple of days, Kelly Leechman and Gerard Compton.

-- Applause

Sorry, Mr. McLeod, your time wasn't up, but you have hit already three subjects in the one statement. The Chair sort of recognizes the pages as a learning experience, but when we start hitting new constituents...Mr. McLeod, if you wish to continue your member's statement, you need unanimous consent.

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his Member's statement on the first subject. Are there any nays? There are no nays, Mr. McLeod, you may continue.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My comments were on the youth of the Deh Cho. I want to conclude by reminding the people of this House that we need to invest in our youth. Our youth are our biggest resource. I want to encourage this government to do more in terms of setting up more northern conferences where we can get our youth together and have similar types of activities as the Dream Catchers. We can have our own home-grown northern conference. We also are hearing some of our youth centres are having difficulties, and some communities do not even have them. We need to pay some attention to that.

Also, we should be...we have a Minister of Youth. Maybe we should be giving him a cheque-book so he can do some activities and financial...thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is customary for the Gwich'in and Inuvialuit people of my riding to celebrate special occasions with a feast and dance. We find that this period in our Assembly is no better time than to kick up our heel and toe. This evening, Mr. Speaker, our people will be hosting an old time family dance, fiddle dance at the N'dilo gym.

Our group of friends will be importing the Delta Good Time Band from Inuvik to play the many tunes that were introduced to us by traders, trappers, and those who were invited into our northern homeland. We dealt with many types of those dances, which will be performed by many ethnicities throughout the Northwest Territories tonight.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the organizers, we would like to invite all Members of this Assembly, family and friends of yours, to come and join us. The potluck dinner will commence around 7:00 p.m. with a dance beginning at 9:00 p.m. and it will end at 2:00 a.m.

Mr. Speaker, it is important to extend our gratitude to the sponsors. I would like to thank First Air, Julia Mott, Gwich'in Tribal Council president, Fred Carmicheal, Super 8 Motel, and especially our colleague from Hay River South, who will be sponsoring the youth jigging contest.

Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I look forward to seeing you all at the gala tonight. Please feel welcome to come. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Allen. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would just like to pay a quick tribute to three Hay River South constituents for the heroic actions taken on board an Air Canada flight bound for Calgary on Wednesday afternoon of this week. Brian Stewart and his sons, Chad and Travis, were returning from a trip to Frankfurt, Germany. During their flight, about one hour out of Calgary, a man aboard the aircraft lost his senses and began to attack another passenger, striking the other passenger in the face and holding his hands around the other passenger's neck, screaming and yelling.

Apparently, when a person snaps like this, they can have incredible strength, and it took eight passengers and flight crew to subdue this man. But Brian, Chad and Travis Stewart led the group of passengers who apprehended the attacker. They struggled in the area of the seat and the aisle, using seatbelts to constrain him.

Mr. Speaker, this is the type of incident that many people fear will happen in flight, and there is a subtle feeling that something could go wrong, some kind of disturbance and the situation could get out of control, especially in light of what happened on September 11th.

Mr. Speaker, thanks to Brian, Chad and Travis Stewart and the other people like them that are willing to risk their personal safety to protect those around them, even strangers on the airplane, this flight terminated in Calgary safely.

I would like today to just honour their bravery and their courage for rising to defend someone in need of help and join Hay River residents in congratulating these three men for their heroic actions, and also, Mr. Speaker, I know that their grandfather, the Honourable Don Stewart, former Speaker and Member of this House, would have been very proud of their actions and that is just the kind of people that the Stewarts are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 3, Members' statements. Any further Member's statements? The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Antoine. Item 3, Members' statements. No further Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize two very special individuals, Ms. Jenna Hordal and Mr. Matthew Davies. These two individuals have been with us all week as pages in the House and have done a terrific job, very well behaved kids and it has been my pleasure to have them here as Pages. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize Major Karen Hoeft from the Salvation Army and a good constituent of mine. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to recognize someone in the gallery who has been desperately waiting for us to deal with social issues; a well known social activist, Major Karen Hoeft. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Welcome to the gallery. Any further recognitions in the visitors gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do have a question today for the Minister of Justice with regard to the legal aid program. Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in my Member's statement there is definitely a lack of resources being put into this program, and it has been an ongoing problem for many many years. It appears that I am getting an increasing number of calls from people who are having a problem getting a legal aid lawyer and when they do get them they do not get them for enough hours to get their work done, so their issue gets delayed and delayed and delayed. In most cases it is the low income families who are seeking spousal or child support.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister what the department is doing wit regard to this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are attempting to eradicate many of the shortfalls. As you are aware, there are legal aid plans in serious financial difficulty across Canada. It is a nation-wide problem. Territory-wide we have met with the federal Minister of Justice, the Honourable Martin Cauchon, on October 16th to convey the problems and concerns that because we are a small northern jurisdiction we do have other problems that are so different from the rest of Canada. That was conveyed to the federal Minister. He acknowledged that so we will continue to see how we may be able to improve the level of legal aid services in the Northwest Territories Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that all the Minister of this government convey to the federal Minister about some of their predicaments, but I do believe there is a responsibility on the Ministers of this House as well. I would like to ask the Minister what is he doing specifically other than talking to the federal Minister about increasing the resources available in this program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Specific to certain areas of legal aid, we are trying to reduce the backlog in family law cases. We are planning to introduce more collaborative law rather than litigation to resolve disputes and reconsideration of family law tariffs. We are sending a call letter to the private bar to assist with the backlog. Mr. Speaker, we are attempting to find methods to deal with some of the key questions that the Member raises. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the answer of the Minister, I do not think there is any disagreement that there is a problem with the lack of resources and the people who need the legal services are not getting them, or not getting them on time. I want to know if the Minister is aware of any legal liability that the government might have for those who suffer loss as a result of the untimeliness of their cases being heard or not resolved. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope I can provide a legitimate answer by saying that we are trying to attract legal aid lawyers to deal with some of the outstanding issues and hopefully that will help to assist those who are in the greatest need throughout this process. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are many aspects to this question, but one of the things is that when the people go to this office they are not getting the answers even. They are not getting their calls returned or e-mail inquiries as to what is happening with their cases responded to. I would think that the least the department can do is to talk to the people about where they are with their applications and so on. Would the Minister direct his officials to look after that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes we are attempting to find solutions. Again the process we are employing here is that we have been in communication with the Legal Services Board, working jointly from the departmental perspective with the Legal Services Board to see if we can find methodologies to correct some of the inefficiencies and where we have identified problems in trying to attract legal aid lawyers to work on cases longer. Hopefully that will be able to resolve some of these questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for personnel, Mr. Handley, and is with regard to my Member's statement with respect to indigenous native women trying to find employment in this government; and also being promoted, enhanced and allowing them to take on government positions.

I would like to ask the Minister exactly what are we doing to ensure that we do not by-pass the affirmative action policy, especially when it comes to indigenous native women and also women in general?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government has undertaken a number of measures in the last three years to ensure that we have people ready to take on jobs. This goes beyond advertising and letting them know there is an affirmative action policy. We are now working on a number of these, and they include things like the internship program. We have made it easier in the nursing field to get into mentoring, and there are a whole host of summer students and so on.

One of the main things we have done, though, is we are working on a new program for staffing appeals, so people do not get the job they are looking for and having a more responsive way than what we currently have for people to be able to appeal a position that they wanted to have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister, is there a way of tracking exactly how many non-indigenous aboriginal employees have been hired over priority one employees in regard to ensuring that we do have a system in place to ensure when we look at different departments, to ensure that these policies are carried out throughout the government? Is there anything in place to monitor how many people are being hired in different sectors and exactly what status they are?

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

Mr. Speaker, as part of the business plan process, each department is asked to provide fairly detailed affirmative action statistics in terms of who they hired and which positions, whether it is management or whether it is a position in the staff somewhere, so all of those statistics are done regularly as part of the business planning process. We report on it regularly as part of results reporting. If the Member wants something more beyond that, then we would have to look at the amount of time it would take to do it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the whole issue of affirmative action employment opportunities should be scrutinized carefully through the whole Government of the Northwest Territories, regardless of where the hiring has taken place. I believe that the practices that are in place are not adhering to the present policy, so what is the government doing to ensure that this scrutiny takes place?

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

Mr. Speaker, as I said, we do, as part of the business planning process, ask departments to provide pretty detailed information on their hiring practices for that year. As well, we also ask each one to have a human resources planning process in place, so that they can make sure that they have a plan of how they are going to improve their statistics. This includes training on the job and so on.

I think the process is there. It is in the business planning process. If Members wanted to have more detail on a particular region or a particular department and want to do it through some other method, we would be open to looking at how we could facilitate that. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the present policy is not working. As a government, we realize there are problems with regard to how it is being handled and managed, and yet, Mr. Speaker, we hear from the Minister basically saying "We will continue to give you statistics." I would like to ask the Minister, exactly what are we going to ensuring the policy is working in regard to how it was supposedly implemented to ensure that indigenous women in this government have a fair opportunity to enhance this government? What are we doing to change that?

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

Mr. Speaker, we do regularly give our staff in the regions and headquarters and so on, updates on what the expectations are on hiring practices, so if...I take the Member's suggestion that we have to be more thorough on that and we are prepared to do that to make sure the system works.

I will talk with my staff to make sure that we are following up, not just on having the right policies, but making sure that the right policies are being implemented.

I think in the regions, the practices may vary somewhat, depending on people's experience, people's interpretations, and we have to be continually updating what we are doing and updating our training and professional development for staff in this area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask a question to the Minister of RWED regarding the sole-source contract that has been discussed on several occasions in this House. It is not something I made comment on earlier. I do not have any companies in my riding that can handle a water bomber contract. However, I have listened to the Minister indicate and tell us that there is no one else in the North who can handle a water bomber contract. In all likelihood, if a contract went out to public tender, that it would go to probably a joint venture with an outfit from the south.

I would like to know, because I have been receiving correspondence from different companies in the North that indicate that they can handle it. I would like to know if he could tell me, was there an evaluation or an assessment done that allowed them to come to this conclusion that there is nobody else in the Northwest Territories that can handle it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not know if I heard the Minister indicate to me that there was an analysis of what companies in the North had the capacity to bid on the water bomber contract. I do not believe you can just do a phone call kind of survey. Nobody is going to have a water bomber sitting on their tarmac waiting for a contract. However, if the contract was available in the form of public tender, I am sure they would have got it.

I would like to ask the Minister if he could tell me then if Buffalo Airways had water bombers when they bid on the contract seven years ago, or did they buy them after the fact?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I would have expected the Minister to have those answers before he decided to go to a sole-source contract. He should know the history of how the contracts were awarded initially and he should know what was done to make sure that everybody was on a fair playing field.

I would like to know if this Minister could tell us how he could justify that we have to contract or tender out the smallest of aircraft contracts, even down to $1,000 but yet we can sole source a $30 million contract? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have heard in the media that this government may be facing some fiscal difficulties in the coming months. The Minister has been quoted as saying that our deficit picture is not looking so well. However, I do not think that we have heard anything formal in this House in that regard. Could the Minister indicate when we might be able to hear that in this House? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. For the benefit of the Chair, would you please indicate who you are directing this too?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question on the fiscal picture of the government was directed to the Minister of Finance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, I did give AOC an update on our fiscal situation. I also offered to do some further explanation and description of what steps we would be taking to take it to AOC first before we make a statement in the House. I have had some discussions with the chair on that one, so as soon as we do that I will bring it here if the committee agrees. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for the Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to go back to a statement I made the other day regarding ammonium nitrate. In my statement I indicated that I was quite pleased to see that this matter was being resolved and a lot of the stakeholders had come together in order to make this happen.

Throughout this whole process the community has indicated to me that some of the government personnel have identified the potential economic opportunity. So I would like to ask the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development if he could tell me, through all his programs, through all the programs available to the residents of the Northwest Territories if there is an avenue to have Members of his staff work with the community to develop the opportunities that are identified? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister if he can tell me, I understand that there are funding programs through BDF and BCC and a number of others that the Minister has indicated that can fund community development corporations, but in this case it is more of a government body or a community council. Is there money available to them to do feasibility studies and that kind of leg work that needs to be done to identify the potential of a project? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask a final question to the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, if he will instruct his department to do some follow up regarding this issue with Enterprise and the ammonium nitrate and the potential economic opportunity.?Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

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 Premier. My question would be, is the Premier going to resign as a result of the findings of Tabled Document 64-14(5)? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. I am going to rule that question out of order. It is a matter that is before a standing committee. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and it is in regard to the petition that I tabled in the House on June 18th. Mr. Speaker, I was happy to receive a very quick response from the Minister to the petitions. It was less than a month later. The only thing is that the answer given to a very serious petition signed by a lot of parents and teachers and concerned people in my riding about the class size was responded in a manner that really disappointed those who petitioned and the parents and teachers who held a forum on class size where they wanted to explain the situation of crowded classes in our local school systems.

The answer basically says that the law is the way it is and we cannot change the law and you just kind of have to accept that. I just thought it was a very inconsiderate answer. I would like to ask the Minister, why did he not give any more consideration to this very serious petition? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question and the petition by the residents is a very serious issue, there is no question about that and we do take the residents concerns with a great deal of seriousness and thought. The issue that is before us is the question of going to schools, class size, rather than the PTR being administered on the Territory as a whole, Mr. Speaker.

It is the Territory as a whole that has been put forward through policy and legislation. As we know, we have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Teachers Federation and that memorandum indicated that we would reduce the pupil-teacher ratio in the territory from 18:1 to 16:1 over a four year period. That memorandum of understanding indicated that it would be on a territory-wide basis, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I understand what the PT ratio is. What I am saying and what this petition is saying is that the PT ratio as it is stated is not working. In reality this PT ratio keeps having crowded schools. I also understand what the law says and I do not need the Minister to repeat the law for me. In fact, the response to the petition says that. It says that regulation is the way it is because the law...

Ms. Lee. I was distracted by several Members carrying on conversations immediately behind you. Would you be able to repeat your question, and I ask Members to please respect the persons trying to get questions, important questions, across to the Minister. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my point is that I understand the PT ratio and I want the Minister to understand that the PT ratio is not working, that it is still creating crowded classrooms in Yellowknife. I understand what the law says. That is the whole point of this petition. The petition is, we want you to change the law. Does the Minister not agree that if enough people, a lot of people, sign a petition saying please Minister look at it, should he not look at it?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I beg to differ with the Member that it is not working. Across the territory we have increased the number of teachers in the classrooms and that has had an effect, Mr. Speaker. As I said, we have increased the number of teachers and we have gone in a pupil-teacher ratio from 18:1 across the territory to 16:1. Is it an issue that can be addressed? That is a policy issue. The original intent of the whole policy is being followed, Mr. Speaker. We are reducing the number of students in a classroom. There may be certain classes that are larger than 18:1. I understand that, but the school boards have a lot of opportunity here to address those particular issues. It is not just at a territorial level, it is also school boards where we fund the school boards to address issues and to be able to look at the size of classrooms and to change the make-up of classrooms. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have another Minister telling me that the facts that he has says something different than what the people on the street are saying. I would put to the Minister that it would be hard to find any class that is at 18:1. Most classes are at 30:1. Would the Minister not look at this issue and revisit his policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a policy issue. We set out several years ago to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio, and we have done that. We have gone from 18:1 to 16:1, and there is no doubt that it is having a tremendous effect across the Territory. This is an equity issue as well for the smaller schools and the smaller jurisdictions, Mr. Speaker, and it was the intent to distribute across the Territory on an equitable basis. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Do I hear from him that he is going to disregard all of the letters in that petition and all the people who are telling him that class sizes are too big? Is that his answer? Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am not disregarding the petition. We have explained why we have the system that we do. We have poured in $30 million, Mr. Speaker, over the last four years throughout the Territory in order to be equitable across the Territory. We have done it on the basis of reducing the pupil-teacher ratio across the Territory. We have done it on the basis of ensuring that student support is done across the Territory on an equitable basis. I think that is a good policy, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. Are there any further oral questions? Item 7, written questions. Item 8, returns to written questions. Item 9, replies to the opening address. Item 10, petitions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to present a petition dealing with the matter of hunting restrictions in NWT highway corridors. Mr. Speaker, the petition contains 20 signatures of Fort McPherson residents and, Mr. Speaker, the petition required that until the NWT Wildlife Act is enacted all hunting restrictions, including those in effect on NWT highways, remain unchanged and that no new hunting restrictions be introduced. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Any further petitions? Item 11, reports of standing and special committees. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to present the report on the Auditor General's Report on Termination Compensation to Two Senior Officials.

Mr. Speaker, the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight wishes to report on its review of the Auditor General's Report to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories on Termination Compensation to Two Senior Officials. The report was tabled in this Assembly and referred to the committee on October 23rd, 2002.

Mr. Speaker, this report represents the views of the majority of the committee. Appended hereto are the minority reports of two Members.

Members requested this special audit in March of this year because they were not satisfied that all of the information surrounding the circumstances of the termination agreements of the former principal secretary to Cabinet and chief of staff was being made available to them.

The committee has considered the report, and met with the Auditor General to discuss it further in a public meeting on October 24, 2002. The transcript from that meeting is attached as an appendix to this report. The committee agrees with the Auditor General's findings. The audit has confirmed that the terms of the termination agreements were without justification. The staff of the Auditor General have confirmed that those terms were set in place at the direction of the Premier.

Mr. Speaker, the committee recommends that the Legislative Assembly accept the Auditor General's conclusion that the government did not handle the matter reasonably and with prudence.

The committee further recommends that in light of these findings the Premier submit his resignation forthwith as Premier and Member of the Executive Council.

Mr. Speaker, that concludes the report of the Standing Committee on Accountability and Oversight.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, that Committee Report 11-14(5) be received by the Assembly and moved into committee of the whole for consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. We have a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion. The House is ready for the question. All those in favour, please signify. Thank you. All those opposed? Thank you. The motion is carried. Committee Report 11-14(5)... The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) to have Committee Report 11-14(5) moved into committee of the whole for today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4). Are there any nays? There are no nays. You have consent. Report 11-14(5) is now moved into committee of the whole for today. Item 11, reports of standing and special committees. Item 12, reports of committee on the review of bills. Item 13, tabling of documents. Tabling of documents. Item 14, notices of motion. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 14, notices of motion. Item 15, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 16, motions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.