Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Please be seated. Good afternoon. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Antoine. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During our last session, my honourable colleague, Michael Miltenberger, told us of the outstanding accomplishments of Richard Van Camp. Mr. Van Camp is an award-winning writer who has been recognized internationally for his outstanding talent and literary accomplishments. A proud member of the Dogrib Nation, he was born and raised in Fort Smith. He is currently working toward his master's degree in creative writing at the University of Victoria.

I am happy to tell you that Mr. Van Camp has graciously agreed to give up his reading week to visit schools and libraries throughout the NWT.

Mr. Speaker, the students who will have the opportunity to meet Mr. Van Camp are very lucky and we are fortunate that we can introduce our young people to Northerners like Mr. Van Camp, whose writing often reflects the lives of young Northerners with honesty and compassion. An excellent role model, Mr. Van Camp is a Northerner who is a shining example of personal and professional success. In addition to winning a major literary award in Germany last fall, Mr. Van Camp will represent Canada at the European Association of Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, next month.

Throughout the month of February, Mr. Van Camp will visit numerous NWT communities, including Norman Wells, Inuvik, Fort Simpson, Wekweti, Rae-Edzo and Yellowknife.

Mr. Speaker, this tour is a remarkable opportunity to encourage young Northerners to embrace literacy and develop a lifelong passion for reading and writing. Mr. Van Camp's tour will wrap up just prior to the beginning of Education Week, which begins March 4th. The theme for this year's Education Week is Changing Land, Changing Peoples. I am certain you will agree that young Northerners like Mr. Van Camp are at the vanguard of those changes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to provide Members with information on the 2002 NWT Outstanding Volunteer Awards Program.

Municipal and Community Affairs began the Outstanding Volunteer Awards Program in 1991. The awards program recognizes the important contribution that volunteers make to our communities and the whole NWT. Since 1991, awards have been presented to individuals and organizations nominated by the public for their volunteer work. By drawing attention to these volunteers, the awards also highlight the role that all NWT volunteers play.

I am pleased to announce that the NWT Power Corporation joined the department as the corporate sponsor for the awards program this past year. With the assistance of the Power Corporation, we have been able to improve promotion of the NWT Outstanding Volunteer Awards Program and expand the recognition all volunteers receive.

Mr. Speaker, helping our friends and neighbours is a way of life for Northerners. Sometimes we help out by volunteering with a group or organization. Often we help out in more informal ways. Some examples may include shoveling snow for a neighbour or sharing food from a hunt. The NWT Volunteer Awards Program presents awards in several categories to highlight the many different ways that people may volunteer. These include:

• • Respected Elder Award
• • High Five Youth Award
• • Good Neighbour Award
• • Outstanding Volunteer Award
• • Board Member Award
• • Outstanding Community/Regional/Territorial Organization Award

Mr. Speaker, I am also pleased to advise Members that the department will be introducing a special volunteer recognition program later this spring. This program will recognize fire fighters and their fire departments for their service and dedication to community safety. We plan to present the first fire fighter awards during Fire Safety Week in October. I will have more information on this program for Members this spring.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to remind Members that nominations for the 2002 NWT Outstanding Volunteer Awards close on February 28th. Awards will be presented in the categories I mentioned at the territorial level and in each region. I would like to invite all Members and their constituents to nominate a volunteer from their communities for an award. Nomination forms are available from MACA and Power Corporation offices. I will announce award recipients in April during National Volunteer Week, when we will also hold events to recognize all NWT volunteers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Minister. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to talk about a subject that has been raised in this House before and is now coming to a head in regard to Metis health benefits, the program and its administration.

We received different calls from local presidents in our different communities and heard there is a concern. There is a move in hand to allow the South Slave Metis Council to take over and administer the Metis Health Benefit Programs.

Again, Mr. Speaker, we talk about our relationship with First Nations governments. Metis locals are First Nations governments and the whole process for consultation, involvement and ensuring that anything that this government does, it does in conjunction with the aboriginal leaders.

Mr. Speaker, the previous Minister of Health, Mrs. Groenewegen, through a letter she wrote on August 28th, made it clear to the Metis organizations that she was not going to move on this matter. In the letter, it clearly states:

Please be assured that the NWT Metis Council will also be consulted if any changes to the Metis Health Benefits Programs are to be considered.

Yet, Mr. Speaker, through the new Minister of Health and Social Services, he seems to be taking this thing full speed ahead and no consultation whatsoever with our Metis locals and Metis organizations. Now there is talk that the Minister may be out taking advantage of his new portfolio and being the Member for Thebacha and who basically wants to -- and who, through his electorate who put him in office to deliver on some of those commitments, knowing this has a detrimental threat to the Metis Nations up and down the valley.

We have had a Metis organization, which was the Metis Nation...

Mr. Krutko, we have a point of order. Whose point of order? The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Point of Order

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My colleague, Mr. Krutko, I believe is imputing false motive, which I think is unacceptable and completely erroneous, that I am somehow using my position to benefit my constituency directly. Thank you.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Thebacha rose on a point of order that comments made by the honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta may or may not have been out of parliamentary language. I will reserve judgment on that until I have had a chance to review the unedited Hansard.

I would just ask the honourable Members to observe and to follow the rules, your rules, in the House as far as language is concerned and inference of what is being said. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta still has 23 seconds left in his statement if he wishes to continue. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the whole discussion is on process. I think the lack of process, in which sometimes going full speed ahead, can cause us to have collisions. In this case, there is a collision occurring between the Metis locals and this Minister. The conduct of the Minister has had an affect on the Metis locals with the concern of a major benefit they receive...

Your time for your Member's statement has ended, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Krutko.

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

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays, Mr. Krutko. You may conclude your statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Metis health benefit program is very important to all Metis locals, especially the ones I represent. Up and down the valley, we cannot simply allow for one Metis organization to take over a program that includes all Metis up and down the Mackenzie Valley. I for one, Mr. Speaker, will be asking the Minister questions on this matter, knowing that his predecessor, in a letter that I have and will table in this House later, is to the contrary of what he is doing. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on February 11th, the Member of Parliament for the Northwest Territories, Ethel Blondin-Andrew, Minister responsible for Youth, was in Yellowknife to formally celebrate the signing of an agreement between the Homelessness Coalition and the federal government, which makes more than $790,000 available for projects aimed at the homeless. This is truly timely.

I would like to extend my congratulations to the Homelessness Coalition, which is now a partnership of more than 15 agencies, both non-government and government, on how they have moved the strategy along. This is only because of unprecedented cooperation among the non-government agencies in particular.

Our Member of Parliament commented on the partnership and reinforced that this organization is so effective because of the nature of their partnership. It is working effectively to address a problem that reaches across the mandate of all agencies involved.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories made a welcome move by agreeing to have the NWT Housing Corporation formally join the coalition. Having a senior official participate has been very helpful.

With the funding now in place, the coalition is now looking for a community housing coordinator. They will soon be ready to review proposals and put the money to work helping the homeless.

Mr. Speaker, homelessness remains a critical issue. The YWCA of Yellowknife currently operates the only transitional housing for families in Yellowknife and those 20 units are always full. There is a waiting list so homeless families are being turned away.

Mr. Speaker, one of the first initiatives that the coalition will undertake will see two coalition partners taking over houses that will be renovated and used for transitional housing to help people progress into the wage economy.

Mr. Speaker, in a Member's statement in a previous session, I asked Premier Kakfwi to appoint a Minister responsible for homelessness. In response to questions that day, he said he would commit to giving us a response before this session of the House began. I recognize that the Premier was travelling with Team Canada before this session and has been away for a while so he missed the opportunity to follow through on that promise.

Mr. Speaker, given the growing number of homeless people in the North, I hope he will commit today to name a Member of Cabinet responsible for the issue of homelessness. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be following up on this issue in question period.

-- Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my statement today concerns consultation between resource development companies and communities and a role that this government plays in ensuring that traditional harvesters are adequately compensated for lost income.

Mr. Speaker, on December 3, 2001, the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board issued a report on the Cameron Hills gathering system of pipeline development as proposed by Paramount Resources Limited. Several of the conclusions of the report were directly linked in some way to the role of the GNWT. In addition to the environmental issues, the board also made comment upon several socio-economic matters, such as the development of a benefit plan and the usage of traditional knowledge in the project.

Item number 13 in the measures recommended by the review board recommends:

INAC ensures that Paramount discusses its proposed compensation plan for the affected communities and the GNWT. Paramount should widen the scope of the proposed benefits plan to ensure that reasonable and credible land and resource impacts caused by the development and identified by communities are eligible for compensation.

However, in the main body of its report, the review board noted that the GNWT does not have any resource harvesting compensation policy.

The review board pointed out that in the absence of any policy, regulation or requirement for compensation framework by either the territorial or federal government, the developer has no legal obligation to enter into such negotiations.

Mr. Speaker, the statement of principles upon which INAC bases its approval for benefits plans for first applicable territorial policies in respect of compensation. INAC obviously assumed that there would be some in place when they drafted their benefit plan criteria. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, there is no such territorial government policy in place.

The review board is actually recommending that INAC remove this reference to territorial policies until such time as this government decides that there should be some.

Mr. Speaker, I find this to be a significant and disturbing gap in the GNWT regulations. This government must ensure that harvesting rights and traditional land users are treated fairly. What type of message is this lack of policy...

Mr. McLeod, the time for your Member's statement has ended. Mr. McLeod.

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

Thank you. The honourable Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays, Mr. McLeod. You may conclude.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what type of message is this lack of policy and regulations sending to the resource developers when they arrive on traditional lands wanting to conduct business? Mr. Speaker, I agree with the review board when they state that compensation for resource harvesting should be part of a benefits plan. I further agree with them when they state that data collection processes by the GNWT should be improved to allow for proper calculation of resource harvesting compensation.

Mr. Speaker, it should be a priority area for this government that it plays a strong support role for communities that are faced with resource development pressures. It is therefore incumbent on the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development to develop an adequate data collection procedure and analysis methods to assist communities.

This government should also be providing training courses and workshops in the communities to help train community environmental and heritage monitors so they can meaningfully represent their communities in the important jobs they hold.

Mr. Speaker, let us get our act together and start helping communities, rather than unwittingly working against them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you. Good to see there was a lot of barking. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as you know, I recently questioned our government about personnel policies for excluded employees. I was expressing concern that excluded and management employees of the Northwest Territories public service have little protection regarding employment-related issues.

The Minister responsible for the public service has, to his credit, responded to me very quickly. I will be tabling that letter later today. He did point out that there is a degree of protection provided in several acts and policies that we have; the Public Service Act, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Northwest Territories Fair Practices Act, the Workplace Conflict Resolution Policy, Code of Conduct, Job Evaluation Policy and the human resource manual.

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of my statement today is not to quibble with the Minister over the relative strengths or shortcomings of these acts and policies. I do want to point out though, Mr. Speaker, that I was surprised to learn that although the Public Service Act enables the Minister for the public service or his delegates, typically deputy ministers or CEOs of boards, to appoint and terminate public service employees, it does not specifically prohibit Ministers from involving themselves in staffing actions.

Mr. Speaker, this clearly is not appropriate and I think it is something we need to address in our legislation or policies. Mr. Speaker, I simply think we owe it to our public service to tackle these very important issues and let them know how highly we value them. Thank you.

-- Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last week I raised the issue of adequate resources and training for drug and alcohol counsellors because of the important role they play in addressing addictions in our communities.

In a related matter, Mr. Speaker, there is also an issue of the adequacy of the number of positions and the staffing of these positions funded through our health and social services boards. For many years, the Hay River Drug and Alcohol Society operated as an NGO. They had their own board of directors; community volunteers who were concerned about addictions issues in the community.

Last year it was decided that the Hay River Drug and Alcohol Society would come under the management and governance of the Hay River Community Health and Social Services Board. There were five positions; an executive director, three counsellors and an office manager. Since the health board takeover, the executive director's position was redefined, requiring a Master's degree, making the incumbent ineligible and creating one vacancy that was not subsequently filled.

One counsellor position was reprofiled to that of a mental health worker, decreasing the complement by a further counsellor position and leaving two drug and alcohol counsellors with the entire program delivery and counselling responsibilities.

Mr. Speaker, because of this, not only are valuable community programs being cut or modified, the caseload for the remaining two counsellors is such that client follow-up visits that should occur weekly are booked bi-weekly or monthly. In most cases, a client in crisis needs to wait a week in order to have a session with a counsellor.

It is untenable for the clients and it is untenable for the counsellors trying to meet the demands on their services. A serious loss to our community occurs when these positions are left vacant or are reprofiled to other areas. How many people are not receiving the help they need in a timely manner? What is an acceptable waiting time and waiting list to exist for these services?

Important programs aimed at youth, at preventing smoking, referrals from court ordered counselling for persons on probation cannot be accommodated and this is an unacceptable situation. This has an enormous ripple effect in the community when these positions are not staffed and counselling services are not available.

Later today, I will have questions for the Minister of Health and Social Services regarding these vacancies and changes in staffing in Hay River. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month on February 1st, I had the privilege of taking part in the First Annual Young Women's Conference in Yellowknife. This was a phenomenal conference organized by Skills Canada, Northwest Territories and Nunavut to provide an opportunity for all young women in grade 8 from schools across the Northwest Territories and Nunavut to meet female mentors who work in the areas of trades, technology and non-traditional occupations, and to participate in networking and hands-on activities.

Some 180 girls from Inuvik, Fort McPherson, Rae-Edzo, Fort Providence, Kugluktuk, Gjoa Haven, Fort Good Hope, Kugaaruk, Wha Ti and Yellowknife attended the event. There were dozens more chaperones and volunteers, as well as the female mentors, filling the room to capacity.

I must say, Mr. Speaker, it was quite a sight to see 180 girls chatting to each other and with the female mentors, to share their interests and to absorb all the current information that was made available to them. There were also a lot of smiles and laughter. I can tell you first-hand it was truly a learning and rewarding experience for the mentors, just as it was for the students.

The female mentors came from engineering, aviation, RCMP, military, fire fighting, broadcasting and some of them were even wildlife officers and politicians. Many in attendance recognized that this could not have been such a success without the focus, determination and hard work of Allyson Stroeder, the executive director of Skills Canada.

She brought together government agencies and sought and found major corporate sponsors to give generously to make this happen. She was also instrumental in collecting dozens of volunteers to make sure 180 girls did exactly what they were supposed to do every minute of the day, which is not always easy.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to send my sincere thanks and congratulations to Ms. Stroeder for the excellent job and the corporate sponsors and volunteers and mentors for giving so generously. I look forward to the event next year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, along with my colleague for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland, I have congratulations as well on the Inuvik hockey tournament. Mr. Speaker, not all of the exciting hockey tournaments were held in Salt Lake City, Utah over the past few days.

The annual IRC Native Hockey Tournament was held in Inuvik this past weekend as well. As usual, it was a very popular event, which was well attended by all of the Delta community residents and athletes.

The results of the competition were as follows: in the B division, the finals were won by the Inuvik Old Dogs, as my colleague from Inuvik said, over the Tuk Warriors four to two. However, in the A division, it was the Tuk E. Gruben's Transport team over the Inuvik Northwinds by a score of seven to four.

My congratulations to the winning Tuk team and thanks to all the players who took part in the tournament, including the teams from Holman and Paulatuk for their contribution to a successful tournament.

Mr. Speaker, this is a great annual sporting event that promotes sportsmanship, teamwork and good fellowship by all participants. I look forward to next year's event. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Captain Karen Hoeft of the Salvation Army, who is also the chair of the Homelessness Coalition in Yellowknife.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, recognizing a very serious problem throughout Canada, the federal government appointed the Honourable Claudette Bradshaw as the federal coordinator on homelessness. Since then, other jurisdictions, including Nunavut, have appointed Ministers to similar positions.

Mr. Speaker, with the number of homeless people on the rise, will the Premier appoint a Minister in this government with responsibility for the homelessness issue?

Thank you. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There will be an announcement, a Minister's statement, on this issue tomorrow. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Supplementary, Mr. Dent. No further supplementary? Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the information I have is that in October, 2001, the then Minister and the Minister of Health and Social Services and the respective deputies, as well as the North Slave MLA and a MACA superintendent and municipal engineer, all attended a council meeting to review the water source option. It was decided that the...(inaudible)...for Marion Lake and Russell Lake be taken to cover a period of time over the whole year, whereby different turbulence would be able to be analyzed. As well, specific sites identified by elders as to where preferred sources would be located were also indicated.

The department has not moved away from this approach. We are still awaiting a Public Works and Service report from the consultants as to the results of these studies. I believe that some samples are still to come this spring, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the figures I have been given are three different figures. One was $1.75 million for the existing location, and $4.1 million for a truck from Russell Lake, and $5.5 million if it is piped from Russell Lake. The department's main concern is to bring safe water into the community. It is not the price. So whatever source is safe and meets the standards set by Health and Social Services and national standards as well, will be the deciding factor. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Member that the department will keep in mind the expansion plans for the community, as well as keep the community involved in the discussions and the decision-making as to where the source would be, as well as the Member. So nothing is going to happen until everybody agrees on the source here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and Social Services. Mr. Speaker, prior to the take-over of the Drug and Alcohol Society in Hay River, this NGO received funding for five positions, which flowed from the Department of Health and Social Services to the health board and then to the society. For the benefit of my constituents who are having difficulty understanding this reduction in positions, programs and services, I would like the Minister to explain what role the government, through his department, plays in ensuring the adequacy of resources and staff positions in the communities? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the role of the government is to provide the base funding to work with the communities and the health boards in the communities to make sure that core services are provided and that programs that have traditionally been funded, such as alcohol and drug programs, are funded.

In terms of dictating to the community or telling the community exactly how things are to be structured, that falls within the purview of the health boards. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, so if the position for the director or the program coordinator has been vacant for almost a year, and if this government is providing funding to the health board to fund that particular position, is the Minister still saying that has been the purview of the health board and he has no ability to intervene in that situation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, very clearly, now that the issue has been raised and brought to my attention, I will be following up with the chair of the board in Hay River, and as well with the department, to find out the particulars of this situation raised by my colleague and the detail that she has put before this House in terms of what has happened and transpired with those specific positions. Thank you

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. What support is the Minister in a position to offer through the resources of his department to ensure that this very important position is staffed in the very near future? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, very clearly as I indicated, the issue has been raised and brought to my attention. I will be following up with the appropriate authorities in Hay River. It is clearly the role of the health board in determining the structure of the services provided in the community. I will definitely be discussing the concerns raised here by my colleague, Mrs. Groenewegen. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, for the benefit of my constituents who have raised a concern about this issue, what happens to the money that is funded to the health board when a position remains vacant for almost a year and that money is obviously not spent on the purpose for which it was provided to the board? Does that money just become discretionary in the hands of the board to do with what they will? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is clear in how she answered the question she posed. The money is in the health boards' budget and we tend to look at the bottom line figures over the course of the year and try to make sure they do not have deficits. In this particular case, once again an issue has been raised about funds and how they were allocated and possibly not spent. We will be checking on that. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. I would like to ask the Minister of RWED to explain why the Government of the Northwest Territories does not have any resource harvesting compensation policies and regulations in place that resource developers can refer to when they are developing benefit plans as required by INAC? 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. The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board recommended that the Government of the Northwest Territories devote more resources to the collection of analysis of data related to the economic value of traditional economy in communities affected by development activities. Can the Minister of RWED explain what his department is doing in regard to this need? 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. Mr. Speaker, item 16 of the measures recommended by the review board in its December 3rd decision on the Cameron Hills gathering system and pipeline development, as proposed by Paramount Resources Limited, recommended that an amended benefits plan different than the one by INAC on September 15th be provided to a number of agencies, including the Government of the Northwest Territories. Item 13 recommends that INAC discuss this amended plan with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister confirm whether or not his department has received a copy of the amended benefits plan? Can he indicate whether or not the community rules approve of the amended benefits plan are attached?

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

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is difficult to ask my supplementary because my next question was based on his answer. However, I would like to ask if the Minister is aware if the company and INAC have been meeting with the communities and consulting with them in a proper sense in terms of traditional knowledge gathering and the community benefits plan? 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, my question today goes to the Minister responsible for the Liquor Licensing Commission. I would like to follow up on the statement I made yesterday about special licensing for special events to have liquor available. As I stated yesterday, Mr. Speaker, I am not advocating making liquor available at all occasions at all times, but the more I think about it, this policy the board follows does not make any sense to me. It says that they would grant special licences for only two occasions, one is the Grey Cup and one is the Super Bowl.

I do not play football and I do not play hockey or anything like that, but I think there are more people up North who play hockey than football. What about the Masters golf game or curling? Why only the two sports and why only two occasions? Has the Minister had a chance to look at that?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The responsibility for issuing licences and permits for special occasions is clearly within the authority of the liquor board. My responsibility is to appoint the board. I cannot interfere in their responsibilities as long as they perform their duties within the act.

With regard to why not more special occasions or more flexibility in there, I have not yet had a chance to write to the board, but I have spoken to the board chairman on this issue and certainly intend to follow it up further, and would suggest to the board that they review the situation and maybe have more flexibility in their policy for their staff to follow. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his answer. I appreciate that politicians are not supposed to interfere in the work of boards, but at the same time we are accountable to the public on the judgments they make. We appoint them and we have the right to tell them of some of our concerns. When the Minister communicates with the board about this matter, would the Minister also be able to talk to them about giving the reply with sufficient time so there might be some time for responses? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, yes, I will raise that issue with the board as well. I think often these special occasions happen with very little notice and I know for the establishment operators and the board itself, there is sometimes very little time to deal with the issue.

In this particular occasion that came up, it was a case of our Canadian men's Olympic hockey team playing for a gold medal. There was little notice, little time, so things were happening very fast. I will ask them to do everything they can to ensure good time frames. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand that some of the special events come very quickly, but I do know the board had at least a week to consider this application.

The other side of the concern is that one of the operators in Yellowknife did not get a response until Friday night for something that was supposed to happen on Sunday. I am talking about giving enough notice so there can be some leeway for operators to respond.

Would the Minister commit to relaying that information to the board? I think it should be both ways. People should be expected to apply as soon as possible and the board should respond as soon as possible.

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

Yes, Mr. Speaker, the Member has a good point and I will get that message to the board. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the big budget, the main budget, flows through the Inuvik Regional Health Authority and they in turn make arrangements with the NGOs in the various communities. They make the decisions in terms of what they want to fund and how they want to fund it.

We, the government, monitor how funds are spent, and that the legislative mandate is adhered to. Do we comply with all the other statutory obligations of the programs that we have under our purview? At the level the Member is talking about in terms of a decision made by a local group to bring in some type of traditional knowledge healer, that is something that would be dealt with at the community level. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, without the benefit of the detailed information regarding the types of traditional healing that my colleague is referring to, I am unable to give a real definitive response. The whole area of traditional knowledge, traditional healing, is one where there is no black and white kind of description.

If the Member would share that information with me I would be very willing to follow-up on that. I would also, just by virtue of the fact that it has been raised in this House, be raising that information and passing it on with people in Inuvik. Thank you.

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