Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister please indicate to this House if he is aware of any support his department has given to the heritage centre in Hay River in the past. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't answer that question. I will certainly get the answer for the Member on whether we have and the amounts that we have, if we have supported the heritage centre.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I wonder if the Minister could commit to having his staff direct the department to look into the situation at the heritage centre and look at the possibility of maybe providing a contribution so that centre can stay open this year and be open to the public. Also, maybe the department could give some help deciding other areas where they could obtain help, maybe federally. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can commit to have my staff assist the Hay River organization to see first of all, if we can support any applications for their organization in Hay River, if we can find funding from our particular operations. Additionally, we can assist to identify possible funding from Heritage Canada. Heritage Canada does have programs, as well, in addition to our own. We have a program for small museums for revitalization and safety areas. We can look at that possibility for the community, Mr. Speaker. I can commit to have my staff deal with the organization in Hay River.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am going to direct my questions to the Premier today. A number of constituents have approached me and are very alarmed at the escalating costs of insurance, whether that be general insurance, automobile insurance. There have been some real upswings in the cost, anywhere between 25 and 35 percent, which is having quite an impact on consumers. It was interesting to note recently that this became an election issue in New Brunswick when the Maritimes were particularly suffering with high insurance rates and there was pressure put on the government and there was an expectation that the government would step forward with a program, so that the people in that province could realize some lower rates. So the province is now committed to getting involved in the insurance business.

In response to my constituents' concerns, I would like to ask the Premier if there has ever been any thought given to that in this jurisdiction? We are remote. It's difficult for Northerners to get insurance in other jurisdictions. As a consumer protection measure, has there ever been any consideration given to that?

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will take that question as notice.

Thank you. The question has been taken as notice. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation about the long-suffering harmonization initiative, Mr. Speaker. Some 20 months ago, this was first announced in the Assembly. It's had a pretty rough ride. In the last session, Mr. Speaker, Members passed a motion to defer it once again and we created a committee of Ministers and Members to look at how this could be overcome and harmonization implemented. The Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation was the lead Minister, but nothing has happened with this committee, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister to explain the progress or lack of it, of this committee. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to apologize. There has been difficulty with the logistics of trying to construct a meeting date with the workload of my colleagues from this side of the House. We have been trying to convey to the chair that we want to meet and again the dates have changed. Now we are rescheduled to the latter part of August when we are all back in the business cycle. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, I am afraid as one of the Members who volunteered from this side to assist on this committee, I must say I am not aware of any dates that were proposed by the Minister. I guess I would like to ask the Minister if he could show some evidence of this invitation or these arrangements being made. Could he provide some proof of that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The existing method of communication was strictly oral. If the Member cares, we can have a written notice. I will give instruction of the specific dates. In the interim, we have tried to establish many meeting dates without success. So our proposal now is to hold a meeting in the latter part of October when all Members are back to work.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, earlier I heard the Minister say the end of August and not October, so we will work with August. That's still a considerable delay, Mr. Speaker, to engage in anything that will insist in implementation of this by the agreed upon April 1, 2004. I think we really should get working on it sooner. I would like to think that my colleagues and I would like to get to work sooner. Would the Minister be able to meet us on that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For the record, I stand to be corrected. I meant to say the latter part of August. I would like to sit down with each member of that committee to start working on some time frames and see what our committee days can be. From that, we can certainly take the lead role in establishing those dates and ensure we do have an agenda set. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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