Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was almost concerned for a moment that that was going to be called upon me.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, earlier in my Member's statement I spoke in favour of a centralized human resource centre and unit. Centralized human resources will enable our government to work more efficiently and, ultimately, get us better bang for our buck. In addition, centralized and standardized hiring practices will better enable our government to achieve a high level of consistency and demonstrate fairness in this regard. I expressed my opinion that all government departments, boards, agencies, commissions and corporations should be brought on board. My question for the Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board is will this government be moving to a centralized human resource centre model? Will it be an inclusive policy where all departments, corporations, et cetera, have to participate, and, if not, why not and who? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister responsible for FMBS, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the decision to proceed on this initiative was made with the intention of including all departments and the boards and agencies. We haven't dealt with the issue of including the corporations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Speaker, will the Minister responsible for the FMBS commit to working with these corporations and possibly even boards or whoever may be excluded at this time, to be brought into the plan of this future amalgamation of the HR unit? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we will, as we are going down this road to creating service centres in the regions as well as at headquarters, be working with the departments as well as boards and agencies. Once we have that established and things moving along smoothly, then we can re-look at the issue of whether we should be incorporating those that are not included right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister tell me if this policy will be mandatory, therefore, all departments, boards, commissions, et cetera, need to participate in the centralized human resource centre? Will he ensure that all corporations -- I think as he alluded to -- will be involved in that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated, there is a significant bit of work yet to be done as we go down here, and we need to get that up and running and get things working out and working with my Cabinet colleagues, as well, to ensure that what we have designed is going to be working. So we need to get that down first and then we can look, as I said earlier, at other options that may be out there.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Your final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister refers to when work will be done. Will the Minister commit behind the principle and the rationale of why we centralize resources, such as yesterday when he spoke with enthusiasm to the TSC, as I referenced earlier today? If we do not believe in this process, we shouldn't be doing it. We need a comprehensive plan. Will the Minister assure us that he will be committed to us to demonstrate this, because GNWT staff and potential future staff deserve to know that the same system applies to them everywhere, that the processes and standards will be demonstrated fairly across the board? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated earlier, we are working on this initiative going forward. There has been work now and discussions happening internally as to the process that will be used and what needs to be done. To the principle of pulling our resources together and spending efficiently and effectively, yes, I believe in that, but we must take things in a way that is coordinated and planned to make sure that what we are doing is in fact going to be the right thing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciated Minister Bell's attendance in Hay River to meet with the executive of the NWT Fishermen's Federation. I am sure the Minister can appreciate this is a very unique and interesting industry. I just hope that back in Yellowknife now -- maybe it seems like a long ways away from the centre of commercial fishing -- I hope it's not out of sight, out of mind. There are very many challenges facing the folks involved in commercial fishing on Great Slave Lake, and I would like to ask Minister Bell if upon his return he has any new ideas as to how we could support the commercial fishing industry to ensure its continued viability? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, the Honourable Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me first start, Mr. Speaker, by saying that this sector, like other renewable sectors -- trapping, tourism -- is very important to this government, and we recognize the need to make sure that we have a diversified economy. I think when you see the work that we hope will be coming out in short order on the Northern Economic Development Strategy and the lobbying we've been doing with the federal Minister, that we intend to, on a go-forward basis, target these areas to make sure that the areas that do need our government's support and do need our help receive that. I assure the Members we will focus on these areas.

The issue of support to the fishery and the sustainability of the fishery is a very difficult one. I think there are, certainly, at this point, no easy answers. We do recognize though that we need to do some work and some analysis of the Great Slave Lake fishery and talk about commercial recovery of this industry. One of the first things that we've done towards this was to have an employee of RWED seconded to the Great Slave Lake fishermen's federation to work with them on this issue. It's a multi-faceted issue. As I said, there are no easy solutions. We're hoping that we'll have some constructive approaches, and I assure the Member that it is not out of sight, out of mind and we are working on this problem. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, some people within industry would be of the opinion that part of the problem is that we are locked into a federally-mandated marketing corporation. It is legislated, it is not something we, as a territorial government, have much ability to influence. But some fishermen would say that if they had more flexibility in terms of their ability to export and market the fish themselves, that they could do better than they do currently through the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. Does the Minister, in the foreseeable future, see any opportunity to test whether or not in fact there are markets in southern Canada for Great Slave Lake fish outside of the mandate of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, this is a difficult question. I understand the concern from some segments, at least of the Fishermen's Federation. I recognize that the fishermen feel that they're getting very low prices for their higher-value fish, for the trout and whitefish and pickerel in that lake, and some may feel that they could be more successful marketing on their own. The difficulty is that probably not all of the fishermen have the capacity to engage in those marketing activities; some probably do. But as the Member has pointed out, once you are under the legislation of the FFMS, it is as if you're either in or you're out. We have had discussions about exemptions from that quota, and I'm just not sure that that is the wish of all the fishermen in the federation. If that is the wish of all the fishermen in the federation and they would like to see me lobby the federal Minister on that matter, we can do that.

There is quite a history here. I think almost 10 years ago one of my predecessors wrote a letter to the fisheries Minister at that time asking for an exemption, only to find out that some segments of the Fishermen's Federation were not in support of that. I think the department was soundly criticized for taking that action. Before I would do that, I would want to know that the entire Fishermen's Federation supported that initiative. Obviously, there are questions around how the quota would be divided up in the event we were successful in getting it, but I'm reluctant to lobby a federal Minister to later find out that in fact the Great Slave Lake fishermen's federation is not consolidated behind that position. There are some difficult issues here. I will commit, though, to working with committee and with Members going forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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