Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The honourable Member is correct; that in the last government we were very successful in working in partnership with the business community through the Business Coalition, especially on the transportation infrastructure funding side. We had a lot of success; $65 million of success.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of RWED and myself have had discussions with the business community. We are very interested in working with them again as we put our strategy together in partnership with all the other leaders in the Territories to again mount a successful campaign in Ottawa that is very focussed and very clear with one message from the North. So, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to hear that Mr. Ramsay is also hearing from the business community that they want to work with us. We want to work with them, too. Thank you.

---Applause

Item 7, oral questions. Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of MACA. With respect to my Member's statement earlier, the Village of Fort Simpson has been looking at this idea about reverting to hamlet from village status. In light of the recent budget figures that they're looking at, they want to speed up the process. My question for the Minister is if things are kind of heating up with this debate, I was wondering if the Minister is willing to meet with officials of the Village of Fort Simpson in the near future to resolve this issue and look at some alternatives. Thank you.

Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Zoe.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member had indicated to me a situation that is happening in Fort Simpson earlier on. I indicated to him that in the letter that I wrote a month ago, I suggested to the municipality that my officials at the regional level would meet with them to discuss the various alternatives that they would like to look at. One of the suggestions that I made to the municipality was to assist them with funding to undertake a study to determine the pros and cons of becoming a hamlet from village status. In my correspondence, I also indicated that my officials are recommending a company to them that could undertake this type of work. My understanding to date is that the village council is considering either putting out an RFP for a company to undertake that work, or to hire a contractor directly to undertake the review for them. I haven't had any other correspondence from the Village of Fort Simpson. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think what's necessitating the burning desire right now is that the projected budget for 2004-05 for the Village of Fort Simpson is being reduced by $400,000, and that's a very, very huge hit for any community or any municipality to take, especially when in December they thought they had a secure arrangement for funding at $1.2 million. So that's what is necessitating this. I'm just trying to get the Minister to assure the Village of Fort Simpson that he will meet with them in the near future to resolve this. They would like to meet the Minister either in Yellowknife or perhaps the Minister can come over to the Village of Fort Simpson. Thank you.

Minister of MACA, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, maybe the honourable Member for Nahendeh doesn't know the background of the situation with the Village of Fort Simpson. Maybe I can give him a little bit of clarification.

Three years ago, Mr. Speaker, the new community government funding policy was implemented. At that time, the funding for a number of communities was reduced. One of them was the Village of Fort Simpson. To ease the pain of the drastic reduction in the new funding formula, the Financial Management Board of the day decided to assist the Village of Fort Simpson for a three-year period. That period is ending this current year, 2003-2004. The Village of Fort Simpson knew that this funding was going to sunset this year. The honourable Member is implying that the government is making a drastic cut to the village's formula funding. That's not the case, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the municipality had ample time. We, as a government and the government of the day in the 14th Assembly, didn't want to burden them with this drastic situation. That's why they gave them additional funding for three years. My department has also offered to assist them to look at reverting to municipal status. I have already offered to give them funding to undertake this review. So they knew that this funding was going to be sunsetted, and I instructed my officials to meet with the municipality and their officials to see what other alternative we could look at in terms of getting additional resources for the municipality.

Mr. Speaker, to date, I don't believe that the officials of the Village of Fort Simpson and my departmental officials have met to discuss this important issue. Thank you.

Just to remind Members, I still have five Members on my list who would like to ask questions. We have 15 minutes left to go and we had 60 minutes on the clock when we started. So if we can, would you try to

speed up your questions and shorten your answers? Supplementary, Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister has gladly agreed to have a tour of the Nahendeh riding, but that's not until some time in May. This matter is urgent; I was just trying to get a commitment that perhaps the Minister could come to Simpson or meet with the village officials here to resolve this issue of reverting, as well as the budgeting procedures. Thank you very much.

Minister of MACA, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am willing to meet with the Village of Fort Simpson at any time, but if the honourable Member for Nahendeh wants me to go next week, I'm willing to go as soon as we're out of session. I would like to add, Mr. Speaker, I would like my officials to first of all meet with the village officials to see what alternatives they could come up with so the political people when they're meeting, like myself and Mayor Michaud of the Village of Fort Simpson and his councillors, so we have something to talk about. We know the situation they are in and I've made a commitment to the honourable Member that I'm willing to go in there and to the Village of Fort Simpson. Again, if I could ask the honourable Member to convey to his community that the officials from the municipality and my department officials should meet right away so that they can start looking at different alternatives so that we can discuss them at our future meeting. Thank you.

Final supplementary. Item 7, oral questions. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Minister of FMBS, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the requirements are that the Ministers responsible for agencies or boards would gather the information and table it in this House. I would work through those Ministers to ensure that they're getting the accurate information as part of the process, but it is clearly spelled out in legislation what type of information to report and the timing and so on, and how I would be involved. So it's clear right now, as I've reviewed the situation since the previous concern was raised, that my only recourse is to work with the Minister and through them try to get the appropriate information and the timing of those reports tabled in this House. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Minister. If the Minister would be willing to work with the other honourable Ministers and see if any recommendations on updates could be done in this fiscal year, therefore, they could be included in the next annual reports that do show up in this Assembly. Thank you.

Minister of FMBS, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I've committed to work with my Cabinet colleagues in the areas that they have a relationship with these boards and agencies to ensure that we're meeting our commitments as a government and I will continue to do so in that vein. Thank you.

Item 7, oral questions. The Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Premier again, he may pass this question on to another one of his Ministers. I would like the Premier to update the House as to where we are with the winter road bridge project and the Mackenzie River bridge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.