I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman, I was preoccupied with another discussion. Can the Minister repeat please?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm informed that, yes, we would have to lease those back from the developer but we have the right to do so.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In looking at the stats that have been provided to us, we've seen a couple more slight changes from the last bit of information. So as a Member, I'll just raise my concern that the information provided can either help us make the decision or help us make a different decision. Right now, as I see it, without a lot more detail, it is becoming even more difficult to go with this. So, hopefully the Minister will be able to make his list available on the fire issues as soon as possible, understanding that we will go through this process and, hopefully, we would like to bring a conclusion to the department soon and go forward from there.

I must just put on record again, my serious concerns with the information that is available and the date of it and knowing that the Minister has said one of his main criteria for the replacements is the fire safety issue and the fire marshal saying that they are potentially shutting down these facilities. Hopefully, it is much more formal, I guess, the paper trail leading up to closing a facility, besides a couple of e-mails. So I look forward to that information and, again, I just have concerns. I guess you can call them fairly selfish concerns from my constituency. Hopefully along with this the Minister can also continue to do his work and show how this government will address the shortage or the housing situation, seeing we are building a new residence that is quite different from the old residence. It will be much newer for classrooms, but much smaller in size compared to where they are operating out of now. We'll look at the places they have available. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we will do our best for the Member to get as much information as fast as we can on that, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to just say that I am really frustrated with the lack of action that we have been able to take in addressing the concerns from Hay River, as far as how the DEA fits into the DEC. The Minister has been aware of this ongoing issue for a long time now. I have brought it up on a continual basis and it really disturbs me, Mr. Chair, when I hear now that Members of the board are getting so frustrated that they are thinking about filling out their term and packing it in because they are beating their heads against the wall and there just doesn't seem to be any willingness to do anything.

I would like the Minister to comment again, what is the reason why we can't address the issue, apart from the money because we have seen so much money come on stream for anything else that the department has wanted to do. Money is no longer an issue with me. I think if there was a will to do it, the money could be found no problem at all. So I would like to ask the Minister again; why is it so hard to do something in Hay River? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The system that has been established in the territory is a board system that encompasses a number of communities and this was established in that fashion. There were difficulties with regard to the relationships between the Hay River board and communities at the board level, and so we did commission a group to look at how we could help address the particular concerns. That report came forward and added a number of recommendations. The recommendations, I believe, we implemented and it seemed for a period of time to work.

Recently there was a concern expressed about some funding that was split among a number of communities, and that has been raised again. On the question of Hay River wanting its own board, I appreciate the Member commenting that money shouldn't be the issue, but it does enter in to it. It's additionally an issue, Mr. Chair, if every board has difficulties that can't be addressed outside of the funding issue. Then we may have a lot of other boards asking the same question, why can't they just go independently and create their own board and administer it directly and then we could end up with a lot of other boards in the Territories, which does become expensive and we would have to be concerned about that, Mr. Chair. We recognize that there seems to be an ongoing question of communication between the boards and the South Slave, and I think it is important for us to work on that.

I am not sure I have the answer for the particular board, however, without addressing the whole question of if they wish to set up their own board, how to address that without getting into the financial aspects of it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister mentions there's been a problem on a number of occasions with communications. Yes, there is a problem with communications, but the problem goes a little bit further than communications, from everything I am hearing. I have heard it said many times that if we allow Hay River to go ahead, it will create an anomaly and everybody could be after the same board. I just don't see it. When an issue has been around for as long as it has about the South Slave...We hear about Lutselk'e wanting out of the South Slave. They want to be part of Yellowknife. They've even approached the chair of the Hay River board to write up a proposal for them. I don't think there's any question. It's been mentioned many times by different people that Hay River has a good board. YK one and YK two, when they were set up, they were set up under a different arrangement. They have to raise 25 percent of their money. How did they establish the 25 percent that they have to raise? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am not sure how it was established or under what conditions, but the way it works is that the boards in Yellowknife raise funding through local taxation. Their funding from this government is at 75 percent for the K to 9 program and 100 percent for the 10 to 12 program, which works out to an average of about 80 percent, Mr. Chair, for funding. That funding comes from the taxpayers of Yellowknife. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I realize that it comes from the taxpayers in Yellowknife. What I was wondering about is, if we were to set up a different board in Hay River, would those same figures have to be applicable if a certain amount has to be raised from the taxpayers. Is the 25 percent what we would have to work with? Can that be a negotiated figure?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think it's something we would have to look at, Mr. Chair, to see how we have worked it. I have mentioned before, that in the event that Hay River as a tax-based community did wish to look at the possibility, then I would be receptive to discussing that possibility. The costs of doing so have to be somehow covered in this by some party.

In a community like Hay River, if Hay River wanted to form its own board, I mentioned before that we have a very strong manufacturing base there. There's lots of industry and lots of companies there if they wanted to pursue the trades a bit more. Would the department look at something of an in-kind contribution that businesses or industry can bring to the school system to promote the trades? Would the department be willing to look at something like that?

Thank you. Minister Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We do have a number of programs that could be supportive of this. The schools north apprenticeship program, for example. There are a number of areas that we could be supportive of industry involvement, business involvement with respect to trades and encouragement of our students to enter the trades. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.