Mr. Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There has been a lot of concern and a lot of interest by our government on ensuring that this pipeline moves ahead,

and moves ahead in a timely fashion. Since we have gotten into the new 15th Assembly, I had a meeting with the Prime Minister in late January, and this issue was raised with him. My suggestion to the Prime Minister at the time was that the Mackenzie Valley pipeline was critical enough to all of Canada that it really needed to be directed from the central agencies of the federal government, particularly PCO and by federal Cabinet. Since that time, he has appointed the Deputy Prime Minister, Anne McLellan, as the chair of a federal pipeline committee. Deputy Prime Minister McLellan called me last week; I have had a telephone conversation with her. I have identified with her some of the concerns that we have and we have agreed that we would maintain open communications to ensure that we are doing everything within our capability to keep this pipeline moving on schedule. So, Mr. Speaker, that is an overview of the main issues we have been dealing with. We have also worked closely with aboriginal governments on the ownership issue as well as other matters. We have also begun the process of negotiating a socioeconomic agreement. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Premier agree to put in place a joint committee with the lead Minister on the governance side and participation from Regular Members to address and respond to issues related to the Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline?

Mr. Premier.

Mr. Speaker, that is certainly one consideration I think when we talked about setting joint special committees, the pipeline was one topic that was mentioned earlier on, in the early days of our government. Certainly, I will consider that. I like the idea of a joint committee, and if that's the wish of the Members of this House, then definitely we would give it favourable consideration. Thank you.

---Applause

Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further, would the Premier commit to assist, in terms of both financial and logistical support of local and regional aboriginal governments, to develop positions to negotiate things such as access and benefits agreements, protected areas, social impact responses and so forth? We really need help in our region with regard to this issue, Mr. Speaker.

Premier Handley.

Mr. Speaker, our interests as a territorial government are within the areas of training, employment, contracting and so on. We are taking the lead on negotiating a socioeconomic agreement. As was the case with the communities in the areas impacted by mining, any impact benefit agreements that they were negotiating were issues that were really within their jurisdictions, so we did not contribute financially to any of the negotiations for those impact benefit agreements. That was something they worked out between themselves and the federal government, and I expect that expectation would be the same in the case of the pipeline. Thank you.

Item 7, oral questions. Mr. Menicoche.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister of Health and Social Services with regard to cross-cultural training. I am aware that years ago it used to be the practice that we gave our new employees cross-cultural training. In this particular instance, I am referencing Fort Simpson and the health and social services workers. I'm just wondering if there is a requirement or do we have a program that allows them to have cross-cultural training as they get hired into our government to work in the smaller communities.

Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, human resources offers cross-cultural training, as does the college. But as a department, we don't have a formal policy that directs cross-cultural training being a requirement.

Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much. Just to follow up on that, I believe it should almost be standard these days, because we are experiencing quite a few difficulties, particularly with our health centre in Fort Simpson which affects all the outlying communities. I would just like to ask the Minister if he's willing to consider beefing up the cross-cultural training that I do believe the health care and frontline workers need to serve in the smaller communities. Thank you.

Minister of Health and Social Services.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has raised a point that identifies a gap and it's not necessarily one that's going to cost a lot of money, but is more a point of providing the appropriate services the best way we can. Yes, I will raise this issue with the authorities and the department, and we will look at ways that we can get more organized in a formal, ongoing way in the area of cross-cultural training. Thank you.

Item 7, oral questions. Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a question on the budget statement, and I must preface it by saying that I do understand that the Minister of Finance has worked diligently and very hard and it was not an easy thing. I think it is a modest, conservative budget that would hopefully get us on a good financial footing in the future. I realize we're going to have lots of questions in the debates, but there's something that I want to ask a question about. It's on page 14, and this happened to me twice already, Mr. Speaker. As all other Members, when the Minister of Finance is reading the budget, we pay attention to every word and you hear words that you really like. I will read it here. It says: "Mr. Speaker, there is a shortage of affordable housing for both government and industry workers in our communities. Opening up new subdivisions and providing services to new properties is very costly. To ensure enough lots are ready for developers..."

It's like music to your ears. It's like somebody is recognizing the high cost of developing lots. Knowing what's happening in Yellowknife and many other places, wow, the government is going to do something. Then you get totally crushed because the amount is only $300,000 and when you keep waiting and read on, you realize everything is for non-tax-based communities. So I would like to know from the Minister if he has given any thought to any possibility of any assistance going to some of those heated markets where the costs of developing lots are skyrocketing. Thank you.

---Applause

Minister of Finance, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the area that the Member has highlighted, this, of course, is an initiative that we're trying to address in non-market communities where it's very difficult right now and a lot of businesses and bankers are not keen to go in because of the high cost and the shortage of dollars and things from communities because of the way they're funded. So this program, through MACA, is doing that one little bit to try to help them in those communities. Members will have an opportunity to address the concerns through this budget process with Municipal and Community Affairs, but we feel that the market communities, tax-based communities, have the ability to develop and sell lots and recoup their costs right now. That avenue isn't available in smaller communities, although we are changing how communities can finance to go forward. So this is one of the initiatives we feel could be taken to try to help them along the process. Thank you.

Supplementary, Ms. Lee.