Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Orders of the day, item 2, Ministers' statements. Minister of Finance, Honourable Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to provide an update on the government's fiscal situation.

The budget I presented in this House in March laid out a fiscal plan that would allow us to achieve the goals of NWT residents while achieving fiscal sustainability. The budget did not make dramatic changes. We wanted an opportunity to consult with northerners before finalizing our plans for the term of the 15th Assembly. As Premier Handley noted in his sessional statement yesterday, this House has consulted with NWT residents to help us set an overall vision and goals for the government and people of the Northwest Territories. Our vision focuses on self-reliance and shared responsibility.

However, we need to be able to reconcile our goals with our fiscal resources. One of the priorities of the budget was establishing fiscal sustainability. This involved a combination of revenue increases, expenditure reallocations, and achieving a better fiscal deal from Canada. Without these, the GNWT will not have the resources to support our most important goals and priorities. Achieving long-term fiscal sustainability is vital to achieving our vision.

The public accounts for the 2003-04 fiscal year, which I tabled yesterday, show an operating deficit of $65 million, $13 million less than was projected in the March budget.

Mr. Speaker, we are now halfway through the current fiscal year and I am pleased to report that we are on track to meet our fiscal targets.

First, the Legislative Assembly approved three revenue initiatives earlier this year. These will generate an estimated $10 million in 2004-05.

Second, the 2004-05 budget included $15 million in expenditure reallocations and identified the need for a further $40 million in spending reallocations in future years. These reallocations will be a source of funding for priority programs and forced growth.

Third, we believe we have made significant progress in our funding arrangements with Canada.

As the Premier has noted, last month's First Ministers' meeting on health care was a very positive one from the North's perspective. We received good news with respect to funding, both for specific health care and under our formula financing arrangements. On the health side, the GNWT will have about $10 million a year extra to improve access and to help with our high medical travel costs. On the formula financing side, there is a strong indication that we may receive some of the financial relief that we have sought for so long from the federal government. The federal government has put proposals on the table for both the federal/provincial equalization program and for federal/territorial formula financing. The formula proposal means additional funding for the territories, but it also involves some significant changes to the way our funding has been determined for the last 20 years.

The Premier will be meeting with his territorial colleagues and the Prime Minister later this month to discuss how the federal proposal will work and what exactly it means to us in new funding.

In addition, what our formula will look like after 2005-2006 may largely depend on the results of the work of an independent commission, the details of which will not be discussed until the next First Ministers' meeting on October 26th. As a result, we need to be cautious when we forecast our long-term fiscal situation. This uncertainty means that we cannot become complacent or lose our focus on fiscal responsibility.

Once we have a clear picture of our fiscal position, we can decide how to best use our resources. A key priority should be financing our capital investments. Over the last few years, our fiscal situation has limited what we could afford to invest in capital infrastructure and this has resulted in a significant shortfall and must be addressed. To do this, it is not enough just to balance the government's operating budget. We must generate an operating surplus to provide the cash to at least partially finance our capital investments.

The government also has to make a large $300 million cash payment to the federal government in 2006-07 to reimburse Canada for an overpayment on our corporate income tax entitlements in 2002. This repayment must be provided for in our cash planning.

For these reasons, we must be cautious in how we proceed in our fiscal planning for the next few years. As decision-makers, we owe it to the residents of the Northwest Territories to ensure that government is operating efficiently and that our programs are achieving acceptable results for the money we are spending on them. We intend to continue with the budget plan to identify areas for redirecting our spending from lower to higher-priority areas. The measures required to achieve this have been developed through a rigorous planning and prioritization process and we see no reason to alter them at this time.

To conclude, Mr. Speaker, the fiscal position of the Government of the Northwest Territories is brighter than the picture I described last March.

---Applause

We have made substantive progress on the revenue side, both with own-source revenues and transfers, and we have also made progress on the expenditure side. By the time the 2005-06 budget is presented next February, I will provide a more detailed fiscal picture, one that shows how we can achieve our vision and long-term fiscal sustainability. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Minister of Transportation, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, October 4th to 10th was National Fire Prevention Week, so this is a fitting time to announce the recipients of this year's Northwest Territories Fire Service Merit Awards program.

In 2002, our government established the Fire Service Merit Awards, a new program to recognize the contribution of individual firefighters and fire departments in the Northwest Territories.

This year, the department once again sought nominations to recognize the special contribution of individual firefighters. Individual nominations are assessed by a panel of local and territorial fire service officials, against a set of established criteria. These nominations have now been reviewed and I am pleased to announce the 2004 winners.

The individual Fire Service Merit Award recipients for 2004 are: Dustin Smith of the Fort Smith Fire Department, and Duane Debastien of the Inuvik Fire Department.

Mr. Smith has also been chosen as the recipient of the 2004 Territorial Fire Service Merit Award.

The department also received nominations for the Community Fire Service Merit Award. This award is presented to recognize the efforts of one outstanding fire department and the entire community in improving the local fire protection system.

The assessment process to determine the community merit award winner has now been completed and I am pleased to announce that the 2004 Community Fire Service Merit Award goes to the Town of Fort Smith fire division.

Mr. Speaker, ceremonies to recognize the winners will be held in their home communities in the near future. I would ask all Members of the Legislative Assembly to please join me in congratulating the two recipients of the individual wards and the Town of Fort Smith. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 2, Ministers' statements. The Chair will recognize the honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Range Lake, that Minister's Statement 49-15(3) be moved into Committee of the Whole. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. There is a motion on the floor. The motion is in order. To the motion.

Question has been called. All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Minister's Statement 49-15(3) will be moved into Committee of the Whole. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues, for the opportunity to rise in the House today to speak about an issue that just does not seem to want to go away. The issue I'm referring to is the North Slave Correctional Centre. Whether it's an inmate or an employee phoning me, it seems that issues surrounding the facility and its operation continue to pile up.

I'll start firstly with staff morale at the centre. It is taking a continued pounding, even though last spring we had hoped that a change of scenery to a new building would help the state of mind of the employees. Employee issues centre around such items as safety, security, fair hiring practices, and the government dragging its heels on the retroactive monies due and payable to many of the staff at the centre. I find it very interesting that last spring when I was questioning the Minister of Justice about concerns that were raised to me about staff morale and human resource concerns, he did not want to admit that there were some serious concerns at that centre. Just recently, a full internal human resource review began at the centre. Perhaps now the Minister will admit changes have to be made. I'm very concerned about what this review will say and how recommendations flowing from it will be acted upon. If history repeats itself, I will be waiting a very, very long time to see anything from the Minister or his department on this review.

As many of you will recall, I had asked numerous questions about a health services audit that was conducted at the centre months ago. The reason the audit was initiated was the fact that I had received a petition signed by over 100 inmates at the centre about some very grave concerns they had about the way health services were being delivered at the North Slave Correctional Centre. To this day, I still have not received even a watered-down version or any other version of what

that audit said, even though I've asked numerous times for it. What changes have been made -- and I would like to know this, too, and I'll ask questions at the appropriate time -- to address the concerns that were outlined in that audit, and where is the watered-down version from the department that I was looking for?

Mr. Speaker, I certainly will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you. Mr. Ramsay. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to speak in support of the anti-drinking and driving campaign launched by the Minister of Transportation on October 6th.

---Applause

The campaign is aimed at making the public aware of the changes to the rules and consequences of drinking and driving in the Northwest Territories. Approved amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act will come into force on December 1, 2004. These changes are a substantive improvement to the act, providing enforcement officers with another tool to get drivers who insist on getting behind the wheel, after consuming alcohol, off our streets.

Households across the NWT received a pamphlet in the mail alerting them to the tough, new administrative rules. Drivers caught for the first time with blood alcohol levels between .05 and .08 will automatically have their licence suspended for 24 hours. The consequences of subsequent offences are progressively more severe. These changes mean that the legislation finally has some teeth, and drivers under the influence of alcohol will not be tolerated on our streets and highways.

I applaud the work of the many individuals who worked over a period of years to bring about the amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act. I also congratulate the Minister, Mr. McLeod, and his staff for a great job with the advertising campaign alerting northerners to the changes. It is an unnecessary tragedy that over 75,000 Canadians are affected by drinking and driving directly each year, and it is, quite frankly, unacceptable that statistically per capita we are worse off in the North. It gives me great pleasure that, as legislators, we are finally doing something about this problem. The amendments to the act establish the NWT as a Canadian leader in the use of legislation to deter impaired driving. Mr. Speaker, this is something we can all be very proud of. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Before I begin, I would like to say that after the swearing in of the 15th Assembly, I indicated to the Premier that I would show no more emotions. However, with the situation ongoing in Tuktoyaktuk, I became emotional yesterday. I would like to thank my colleagues for the moment of silent prayer. Thank you to my colleague, Mr. Dave Ramsay, for concluding my Member's statement.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday my colleague from Nahendeh talked about the tour he conducted with the Ministers. I, too, at this time would like to thank Premier Joe Handley, Ministers Roland, Bell, Krutko, McLeod, Dent and Miltenberger for touring the riding of Nunakput in June and August, respectively. During the tour, there were many common themes raised for these meetings. Issues were raised for education, health, social services, municipal services, policing services, transportation, and global warming; for example, erosion. Mr. Speaker, many of these issues raised by my constituents will be brought up during the life of the 15th Assembly.

Members may remember that Prime Minister Paul Martin and Ethel Blondin-Andrew visited our beautiful community of Tuktoyaktuk and, although the visit was brief, the mayor and council and myself briefly highlighted some of the issues, such as the all-weather road between Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik and the erosion problem. Although the Tuktoyaktuk-Inuvik highway is not the responsibility of the GNWT, I will continue to pursue this matter with the Minister of Transportation, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, once again, thank you to the Premier and the Ministers for taking the time from their busy schedules to visit my riding of Nunakput. There is a lot of work ahead during the next three years and I will continue to pursue and accomplish some or all of the issues raised by my constituents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, further to the statement by the Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay, I'd like to also speak about the Department of Justice and its human resources management, the morale of the department, the corrections division, and the North Slave Correctional Centre, in particular.

Mr. Speaker, I understand very clearly that the internal management of a government department or division should not be a topic of discussion in the Assembly as a normal course of business. I know that this is something that the Minister feels very strongly about, too. At the same time, Mr. Speaker, I have an obligation as a Member of the Assembly and to the constituents that I serve to see that things they tell me and the information they give me in confidence are given full consideration. Upon such reflections and deliberation of the information I have become privy to, I feel that it is in the interest of the public that we bring this into the public so that we can discuss it and address some of the concerns that are being raised. I can assure you that I will do this in a way that is respectful of the individuals involved.

Mr. Speaker, I must tell you that people are very, very hesitant to talk about what's going on, but they feel compelled to because they feel that it's in the public interest to do so. Mr. Speaker, I want to say that I know personally many of the senior managers in the department and I'm sure that they're working very hard in their jobs with very good intentions. But I feel compelled to raise the red flag at this juncture so that I can motivate them to evaluate themselves more deliberately and see what they're doing well and what they're not doing well and how things can be improved.

In fact, I have always been a strong believer and a supporter of the work being done by the corrections division, especially the community corrections because I used to work there and I believe in the cause. But I need to tell them that the calls of concerns are becoming increasingly more frequent and more disconcerting.

Mr. Speaker, at one point in the last Assembly, it seemed like there was a direct line to my office from the Stanton hospital. Such were the calls and letters that I was receiving from many of the concerned employees there. It turned out that many of their concerns were very legitimate and needed to be taken care of. I can tell you that the similar drum beat is growing at an increasing rate from the corrections division and the North Slave Correctional Centre of the Department of Justice.

I don't think what I'm saying here is coming as a surprise, Mr. Speaker, because the Minister has already initiated an internal review, except that we're not clear at this point what the scope and terms of reference are and I will be pursuing this further at the question period later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, one of the major elements of our society and our economy today, in terms of things that are not working very well for us, continues to be the shortages, and in some areas, some sectors, Mr. Speaker, a crises in social and affordable housing across the Northwest Territories. This applies to small communities and, of course, here in Yellowknife we're on a sustained situation with this difficulty.

Our Housing Corporation tells us that there are across the Territories some 3,000 families in core need of a safe, affordable place to live. Mr. Speaker, this situation continues to erode the quality and stability of life for thousands of our residents. Affordable housing is one of the most common topics that comes up when I speak with constituents and residents of Yellowknife.

There's almost universal agreement that affordability is connected to many family, economic and social issues and is perhaps best illustrated by the never-ending waiting list for transitional housing managed by the YWCA here in Yellowknife and for the waiting list in social housing with the housing authorities across the NWT.

Higher rental and apartment construction has raised the supply of rental units and helped increase availability, and the important role of the private sector should be acknowledged. I've tried to do this whenever I can, Mr. Speaker; to acknowledge the investment that continues to be made, at least here in Yellowknife, in the housing stock we have. Information that I have suggests that we'll see about 120 new rentals under construction in the city this year, adding to about 1,600 that we already have. In normal circumstances, this would improve not only availability, but affordability. But increased construction costs and pressure from a very lively economy are continuing to put upward pressure on the cost of housing, and electricity and heating costs are going to hit hard this year.

As the private sector continues to invest, at least in Yellowknife, other communities are not so fortunate. Mr. Speaker, I want to repeat a message that has often been said in this House and that has had considerable success in other jurisdictions. The message is that government should continue to strive to put incentives and opportunities in place for the private sector to continue to do what they do best. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my constituents and I continue to be very concerned about the plan to reduce the number of police officers working at the Fort Simpson RCMP detachment. I first raised this issue in the House in May of this year. At that time, the elimination of one of the staff positions in question was only proposed. Since then, the plan has been implemented and we now have one less police officer in the Nahendeh riding. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, even though the change has been made, we still have not received a full and comprehensive explanation from the RCMP as to why the staff complement had to be reduced. We have only been told that the RCMP made the decision based on crime statistics and other indicators.

Mr. Speaker, I have been advised by the Minister of Justice that the arrangement we have with the RCMP is essentially a fee-for-service and that it is the sole responsibility of the RCMP to allocate their resources, including personnel, as they think best. Be that as it may, at the same time, I believe my constituents have the right to know why particularly important decisions have been made; decisions that will affect their safety and well-being. We have only been told that the decision may be reversed at some time in the future if conditions change.

But, Mr. Speaker, we need to know why this decision was made in the first place. We need to know precisely what factors were considered when making the decision so we can determine what must change in order to have the position refilled. Already, we are seeing a sizable increase in industrial resource development in my region. Preliminary work has begun on the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline. These developments will have significant impacts on all communities and people. Now is the time to be expanding police services, not cutting them back.

Not only have we lost the position, but it is a senior position, a corporal that we have lost. This raises additional questions about the capacity of the detachment to function adequately given that it is manned with junior officers with little or no northern experience. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

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