Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would hope that we would be nailing down and concluding interim arrangements so that by early next week we would be able to take the steps to have the patient close to the necessary medical facilities. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe the seriousness of this matter... The family went back to Aklavik on October 16th. It is going on well over two weeks. Supposedly he was going to be there for a week. The doctor only allowed them to be there for a week. Mr. Speaker, it looks like we may be going onto three weeks.

I would like to ask the Minister, can you move any faster than having to wait to next week?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are working with the family, the family has indicated that they will not move unless there is full accommodation for the whole family so we are in a tight market situation in Yellowknife trying to come up with a way that we can make sure we can get the family out here and the patient in question close to the necessary medical facilities as soon as we possibly can.

This issue was brought to my attention a couple days ago. We have been working on it since then at the highest levels trying to make sure that we get this resolved. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to my understanding there has been no commitment for a level of funding that has been approved as of yet by us. I am not sure that there is any request in the works. Our position I think will be to look at the program, but normally how we do this is to suggest that the various DECs, DEAs that are looking to expand programs have to take those out of existing funding, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister then please indicate exactly what his department is doing to promote the trades to our young people in the Hay River area and the surrounding communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The statement by the Member today was I think welcomed. There is no question in my mind that we have a tremendous opportunity for our students to enter into trades and occupations and be employed in those areas in our Territory, considering the outlook in our Territory for the activity that is taking place and that will take place in the future.

It has been my desire, Mr. Speaker, to start concentrating on the usage of facilities that have shops and home economic rooms, that we get back into that whole area. It is interesting to have this discussion today when we have our members from the district education authorities present today, and the DEAs. It is an area we should be looking at and I would support, certainly the whole discussion on this and an expression of interest by various areas.

I am trying to help wherever I can, Mr. Speaker. We have several communities where facilities were in place before and I think we should... If I had the funding I would certainly concentrate on it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my Member's statement, skilled labour shortages continue to plague business owners throughout the North and Canada. I hear so much about this government's investment in our youth. I was appalled to learn that the shop teachers' yearly budget was approximately $4,000.

Would the Minister please advise the House if he is aware that shop teachers in the South Slave are having to promote our students in trade areas on such a limited budget? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not unaware of the fact that there is very little money directed towards this area. We do give the funding discretion to the district education authorities and so forth to set some priorities and we work that out in conjunction with each other. It is of interest, as I stated, that we concentrate on the area of ensuring we move towards the possibility of utilization of classrooms that were available once, and equipment that was available once, and in communities where we can get the support for trades and occupations to look at that and vocational training. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Minister for his answers and the interest in this subject. I know that it is one thing that he talks about employing Northerners. Will the Minister commit to reviewing the budget allocations in our schools, particularly in the South Slave region with the view of allocating more dollars to the industrial arts programs in order to properly train our youth for careers in trades? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will be meeting with the chair and chairs this evening. I think we will have a discussion on this whole area this evening, no doubt, Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased that the Member is bringing this up because it has been a subject I have discussed and I am trying to move forward on this whole area. I should state as well, Mr. Speaker, that we are looking at the third pathway in our school system, we are making investment from internal funding in order to do that. It addresses the area of occupations and trades that we need to do in addition to apprenticeship, Mr. Speaker. That is not, Mr. Speaker, to ever diminish the need for excellence in our academic programs or to diminish these programs as well. We have a tremendous opportunity in the Territory to move forward on this for our young people. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Yes, I saw them taking notes on that. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

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