Are they all here?

---Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize a Hay River resident up in the gallery, Ms. Wendy Morgan who happens to be a colleague, being Mrs. Groenewegen's constituency assistant.

---Laughter

---Applause

Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for the Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize a former national team member, Mr. Ernie Lennie, originally from Tulita. He is also an esteemed colleague with a Member of the House, Mr. Allen, who were both on the national team together. Welcome.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Antoine.

Item 6, recognition of visitors in the gallery. On behalf of all my colleagues, I would like to welcome you to the Legislative Assembly to see your government. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am sure that Minister Ootes if very well acquainted with the issues that have caused the strife between the Hay River DEA and the South Slave Divisional Education Council, so I will not reiterate what I have already said in my statement today and also the many discussions with the Minister on this matter. But for the record and the benefit of Hay River residents today, I would like to ask the Minister if there is anything that can be changed with our education governance system which would address the circumstances in Hay River which have left our DEA members, parents and teachers feeling as if their concerns cannot be addressed within this system. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased that the Member has asked me a question on this and the opportunity to speak on this, Mr. Speaker. There is a difficult situation between the DEC and the DEA and Hay River representatives. We are doing our best to resolve that issue through mediation. In terms of alternatives to this, we have suggested the process of mediation because we feel that it does need that process to see if some of the issues that are before us can be resolved. There is an opportunity for Hay River, which I have offered before, to have a separate DEA or DEC from the regional DEC. The cost factor has entered into this time and time again, Mr. Speaker, and that extra cost factor is substantial. It is approximately $500,000 or within that range, and as a government we are just not prepared to pay that particular price. I have stated that if the community looked at the possibility then there is some way to resolve it, in that fashion, then certainly we would be very, very interested in doing that. Thank you.

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

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now it is costing a certain amount of money to this government for the education of Hay River students. I was wondering, what does the extra $500,000 that the Minister feels the government would have to come up with, what does that constitute? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. This is a figure that has been provided to me. I have asked my officials to triple check this. It has been done in that fashion by my officials on a frequent number of occasions because the subject has cropped up. The issue is that it diminishes the ability of one organization to have the opportunity to provide services to all of its communities. We need to set up similar services in the Hay River community that is now provided out of one central office. We would be splitting that in essence and adding to the support staff that is in place now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I noticed in the newspaper the other day that there will actually be a question on the ballot with the municipal elections asking whether or not the Hay River residents would like a separate education council. So, is the Minister saying that if the community of Hay River came up with the $500,000.00 to supplement the education budget, that he would be prepared to proceed with a separate district education authority for Hay River? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that is the commitment I have made previously, Mr. Speaker. The issue is one of a cost factor here. We want to ensure the services to the students are not diminished because there is a feeling that it could be provided on a cheaper basis. We know from our studies of this that there is a certain level of service that must be provided for education districts. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that is an interesting proposal for the community of Hay River to consider and I am glad now that we have a dollar figure. However, I would like to ask the Minister, has he ever made a submission to the FMB or to the Cabinet with respect to Hay River's interest for a separate council and with a dollar amount attached to it, $500,000. Has Cabinet or FMB ever considered that proposal? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have briefed Cabinet on an informal basis on that, Mr. Speaker. Nothing formal has been submitted.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, further to my Member's statement earlier today, my questions go to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation. It has to do with the cheques in the amount of $10,000 that he gave to the town council on behalf of 12 residents as a subsidy for them to purchase the lot that their mobile homes are on. I would like to ask the Minister, what were the criteria that these people have to meet to get the $10,000 each? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.