Mr. Speaker, no, I wouldn't interpret it that way. We have an agreement with the union that regardless of when employees start or leave the government, then within the period of time that they are working there, they get whatever salary is accrued to them In this case, in order to be fair to all employees, the agreement is in the collective agreement. It's very clear that this money will not be reimbursed to anyone nor will anyone suffer from either not having a cheque or only a partial cheque during that mandatory leave-without-pay period. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister, also in response to my questions in this area, stated that it's very complicated to try to bring money back to employees if they leave before that time and how they would prorate it. So is he telling me that the system we've invested in as a government and the payroll system, Peoplesoft, can't handle this kind of work?

Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, certainly the system can handle it, but I just want to make the point that it would complicate the whole system to try to get information on every single employee and when they left, when they started and so on. The main reason for doing this, Mr. Speaker, is this is, in our view and the union's view, the fairest arrangement for all of the public service who work with our government. It's a joint agreement, Mr. Speaker, between ourselves and the union. It's in the collective agreement. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member's statement that I made today, my question is for the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development with respect to the work that's been done on consultation and consideration to revisions to the Business Incentive Policy. I would like to ask the Minister what the status of those considerations are because there are people out there in the private sector who are very curious as to what's going to happen. The proposed revisions were quite well broadcast and well known and there is uncertainty out there and I would like to know what the status of the changes are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The honourable Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. Mr. Antoine.

Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated in my Member's statement, in the Northwest Territories we are doing various things to try to promote people to take up opportunities that are opening up here in the North now. One of the areas we are very short of is in the trades department. There are always companies looking for trades people. In October I asked the Minister what his department was doing to promote the trades in the Hay River area, in the South Slave area, particularly in Hay River. The answer that the Minister gave me at that time was he was very happy that I had brought the issue up because it was one of the areas that... "It is my desire, Mr. Speaker, to start concentrating on the usage of facilities that have shops and home economics rooms so that we can get back into that whole area." I would like to ask the Minister what has been done since October and what is his department doing now to promote the trades, in particular in the Hay River area?

The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Speaker, yes, it is a very good program and I am very pleased that this is becoming very successful in Hay River. With regard to the work that the department is doing since October of last year when Mr. Delorey brought this to our attention, we started to work on this in a more concentrated effort throughout the Territories. The first thing we needed to do was to design the curriculum so that we get different pathways for students to enter back into the trades area. We have been very diligent in concentrating in that whole area, Mr. Speaker. It's for the territory, as a whole. We expect that to be finished by this summer, so we have some alternate maths and sciences, not a watered down version by any means, but an alternate pathway that students can get into. From there, we need to identify the resources to address issues, just as Mr. Delorey's project in the school in Hay River is doing. We want to be supportive of that. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that every time I bring up something in the House that would benefit Hay River, it can't be done unless it's reviewed on a territorial basis and it's done every other place across the territories in conjunction with what's happening in Hay River. I am speaking about a specific project that is proving to be very successful in the Hay River area in a partnership between the school and the Housing Corporation and one that is promising for expansion. Will the Minster commit to looking at this project with the possibility of providing more funds to help this project grow and be more successful without having to introduce a territorial-wide project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Speaker, I understand that the Housing Corporation is going to carry on with the contributions they are making to this project. Certainly I will look at it, however, we do deal with a process here of ensuring that we fund the various district education authorities. What I am pointing out is we can't specifically fund specific schools with projects. We do it through a process of our boards. I am very supportive of this project, but I think by this summer we will be in a much better position to say we have the academic programs out of the way, now let's look at resources and target certain areas and I am quite prepared to look at Hay River as a target area where we can bring about some success. I am quite prepared to do that, Mr. Speaker.

Member for Hay River, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In October, I brought up the fact that Diamond Jenness Secondary School, the shop there works on a budget of $4,000. That budget hasn't increased in a number of years, yet they are trying to be more productive. They have picked up probably in the neighbourhood of 14 to 17 kids now who normally would have dropped out of the school system, but they are very strapped as far as having the equipment to be able to take part in a project like this. Will the Minister commit to looking at the funding for the shop at the Diamond Jenness Secondary School with the possibility of increasing some funding? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will look at it. I do have a project as well in Inuvik and, as Members are aware, there are schools in Yellowknife that offer trades training and Fort McPherson has a shop. So I have to be considerate of all schools in the territory, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Member's concern about his school. Certainly I will look at it. I certainly will do my best to provide support for that, but I want to be fair to all schools in the Territories because there are many schools with shops that are not in use at the moment, Mr. Speaker, and I want to get them up and running. I probably will go on the basis of some pilot projects here. We are working with the Housing Corporation on this. They've contributed $80,000 towards this project. We will carry on with it and will continue to seek the support of the Housing Corporation to ensure that it continues next year in Hay River, but as well I need to ensure that we are concerned about Inuvik, Fort McPherson, et cetera. Holman has a new school with a shop and no materials in it, no materials whatsoever. That is of concern to me. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Final supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I could probably name 10 projects that have started off across the Territories in training that haven't happened in Hay River yet.