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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I ask, what assurance can this government give to the residents of Enterprise that what happened in Toulouse will not happen here? What safety regulations are in place to ensure that this facility is a safe facility? What monitoring agency is responsible for ensuring that residents of Enterprise are not killed in an explosion similar to Toulouse?

It alarms me greatly, Mr. Speaker, to read of the seemingly slipshod manner in which the facility has been built. Mr. Speaker, the News/North report of February 25th states, and again I quote, "the depot was set up without safeguards, including a fire code requirement for fencing." This situation is quite intolerable, Mr. Speaker. There needs to be an immediate and thorough investigation into this facility in Enterprise and a complete report prepared. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on an initiative the Minister of Health and Social Services just spoke about, and that is early childhood development and the work of this government.

Mr. Speaker, it is an important area to focus on and try to help out as a government, to be out there doing our part to ensure that families start off in a healthy and secure environment.

Mr. Speaker, with a lot of the initiatives that have been started to date, one could say we were tinkering or working around the edges of media campaigns. I would be interested in how the Minister is going to respond when I ask him later about what is in a child development resource kit or a healthy family kit.

Mr. Speaker, the important thing is that we do have to give parents, especially new parents and those looking at families, information to understand what can occur during a pregnancy, because a lot of our problems in the Northwest Territories, we have heard it for a number of years now and there has been some work started in the area of FAS/FAE. It is something that we have to try and stop. It is something that is completely preventable if all of the precautions are taken. Mr. Speaker, it is not something that is hereditary. It is a result of one's actions while being pregnant.

Mr. Speaker, I have heard suggestions that as a government if we are going to really do something and really make a difference, we are going to have to get tough with how we treat and look at these situations. It is no longer good enough to work around the edges, so to speak, Mr. Speaker, we need to get to the core of the problem and start trying to do something as a government and possibly even look at legislation in some cases, to see what we can do as a government to prevent this kind of occurrence from continuing.

It would take strong political will to try and move in these areas because we would have the very same situation as trying to impose wills on people who have the freedom of choice when it comes to what they do and how they carry on with their own lives. Here in the Northwest Territories we have bad examples of what happens when mothers take to drinking while they are pregnant and the rest of society has to pick up the tab, so to speak, and try to work with those children who are left to deal with the problems that occur as a result of FAS/FAE. I will have questions for the Minister. Thank you.

-- Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the biggest challenges we face in our communities is the delivery mechanisms for programs and services that we deliver on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories. The Government of the Northwest Territories has a program to transfer programs and services to communities. The current policy of the government is community empowerment programs.

The fault of the program is not the program. The program that transfers does not have enough resources to allow the communities to properly administer and deliver those programs and services for the residents of the Northwest Territories. The programs that have been transferred to date are income support workers, mental health workers, economic development officers and, in some cases, renewable resource officers.

Yet, Mr. Speaker, the programs that have been delivered have been delivered from 1994 onward and we have not seen increases in those amounts in over eight years. Mr. Speaker, the work that these people do is just as crucial as any government employee's is. The human resources that are needed to run these programs have to be qualified. The financial resources that we need to pay and accommodate these employees to carry out their responsibilities has to be adequate.

The transfer of community programs is there to improve social and economic conditions, not to burden them with a lack of people and a lack of resources. Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories' transfer of programs and services has forced communities, because of the lack of resources, to transfer those programs and services back to this government because of the inadequate resources to administer and hire the people to carry out those responsibilities.

Mr. Speaker, one of the key positions that I talk about is the mental health workers in our communities. The mental health workers program assists communities dealing with health and emotional matters such as suicide, alcohol and drug abuse, violence and looking at the problem we have with FAS/FAE in the communities.

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. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, these people have just as many rights as government employees in the Government of the Northwest Territories, but they do not have a union or someone there speaking for them. We hear about programs for pay equity, for equal pay for people who work within the Government of the Northwest Territories. The employees we have in our communities carry out the same responsibilities and the same duties as any government employee, either in the social services area or the health area.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is crucial that this government increases the amount of resources that it presently transfers to communities to ensure that those programs and services can be implemented and supplied with the financial means and the professional people to do them. At the appropriate time, Mr. Speaker, I will be asking the Minister of Health and Social Services questions on this matter. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and acknowledge the good work done by the WCB Legislative Review Panel in its review of the WCB legislation. Mr. Speaker, this panel submitted its final report in December 2001 and public input is being sought on the report.

The report, Mr. Speaker, is titled, Act Now, and it says a lot. It is also significant to note it is an acronym for Accountable to stakeholders, Compensation that is fair, Transparency in decision making, Non-adversarial adjudication not litigation, Operations that are respectful and responsive, Workplace safety to prevent work-related injuries.

Having participated in some of these meetings, Mr. Speaker, I believe these are very clear and meaningful headlines that reflect closely what the stakeholders were telling the panel. I have had a chance to review the report itself and I appreciated very much the informative and organized way in which the report sticks to what the panel heard from the stakeholders. I also found it very helpful to read the background statements and the context the panel is giving to what conclusions it is arriving at from the information and the input they heard from the public.

Mr. Speaker, I believe this is a very good piece of work and the chairperson, Ms. Louise Vertes and the panel members are to be recognized and congratulated for the good work and the commitment they have shown in this work. At the same time, Mr. Speaker, I would like to urge both Ministers responsible for the WCB in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut to push this important work forward and to implement the findings and the recommendations in the report as much as and as soon as possible. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, while I was watching the closing ceremonies of the 19th Winter Olympic Games it provided me with some memorable thoughts of the 1972 Winter Olympic Games in which I participated. The memory of the atmosphere and the new friendships that were developed of which some remain today.

One important way of keeping the Olympic flame glowing in the minds of our young athletes is to give them the opportunity to compete in games of their own. Mr. Speaker, today I want to convey that very real message to my young constituents of Inuvik Twin Lakes who are destined to participate in the Arctic Winter Games in Nuuk, Greenland or in Iqaluit, Nunavut.

I want to personally congratulate and extend my most heartfelt good wishes to the Inuvik Twin Lakes competitors in each of the following categories: in speed skating, Alyssa Carpenter and Chris Lennie; in hockey, Kelly McLeod and Phillip Harry; Arctic sports, Paden Gordon-Ruben; dog mushing, Josephine Arey; cross-country skiing, Shaylene Allen.

Part of the mission's staff and regional coordinator is Theresa Ross, who is now scheduled to participate in the Arctic Winter Games as an official.

Mr. Speaker, these games provide enormous motivation for the competitors from my riding of Inuvik Twin Lakes and I know they will do very well. Like the 19th Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, the Arctic Winter Games will inspire these athletes to compete in their own circumpolar games, develop new friendships and they too in the future will pass a similar torch onto others.

I want to wish the athletes from my riding of Inuvik Twin Lakes the very best of luck and do enjoy the competitions whether you are in Nuuk or Iqaluit. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Allen. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Mr. Speaker, I have a return to an oral question asked by Mrs. Groenewegen on Monday, February 25, 2002, regarding revisions to the Affirmative Action Policy.

The Grant Thornton report, provided to Members in January 2001, recommended a move from the Affirmative Action Policy to an employment equity approach. This recommendation has been accepted but will take some time to implement. Initial research to determine best practices and the most appropriate way to make this change is underway. This work includes reviewing previous work such as the report of the working group on affirmative action and human resource management and other reviews of the Affirmative Action Policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Jennifer Tilden who is with the CBC here in Yellowknife and reports on matters throughout the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Welcome to the visitor's gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my responsibility in Transportation on this matter will be with the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act and the regulations that are part of that piece of legislation. Certainly, if there are specific issues that can be better handled with regard to transporting ammonium nitrate and other toxins I would be very much open to reviewing the legislation. Thank you.

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