Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the intent would be to make sure that the curriculum includes reference to those sorts of documents, documents that are important to the history of the Northwest Territories and how they helped shape the culture and our lives here in the North. They are certainly ones that should be included in the social studies program for children in the Northwest Territories.

Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Minister. Would the Minister commit to some information not only for the schools, but also for the Aurora College programs in the Sahtu region with regard to a curriculum or a course in terms of the land claims for the younger adults? Thank you.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would have to discuss with the college what sorts of courses are being offered in the region. I know that as part of the TEP program, there is some work done to make sure that teachers who come through that program are made aware of treaty and land claims, and are able to work with those documents and include them in a social studies program. Thank you.

Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Sahtu land claims have been negotiated and were settled 10 years ago. I would like to ask the Minister if he would commit to fully looking at the Aurora College programs again, as he mentioned in his comments to me about looking at the possibility of having some programs next year in the Sahtu that reflect the Sahtu land claim agreement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will certainly undertake to discuss with my department and the college what's being offered in the region, and see if there are any ties to the documents. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask some more questions about the government's decision to waive the BIP in the purchasing of 22 mobile homes. I must say, Mr. Speaker, in listening to the Premier's statements and other Ministers, I am truly disheartened by the condescending and patronizing ways in which they are suggesting that we had full consultation on this issue; I don't believe that is correct. I would challenge the government to provide us with documentation that would show that.

Mr. Speaker, I'm going to ask at this time, a question to the Minister of RWED, who is the Minister responsible for this policy. I want to read from the Hansard yesterday, on page 773, wherein the Minister, Mr. Michael McLeod, stated, "Madam Chair, the whole idea behind this concept of waiving the BIP was to get the cheapest rates possible." So I would like to know from the Minister of RWED, whether or not he agrees with this view that seems to be implied from the government that the cheapest way possible to do business is to waive the BIP. Thank you.

Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don't, I guess in this case, know what the cost of the program will be and we won't know that until the tenders are evaluated. I guess I would say that, potentially, with the application of BIP, there could be an additional cost. Thank you.

Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not sure if I understand what the Minister said. Mr. Speaker, potentially there might be some cost. Minister McLeod suggested that he had to look at the worst and the best scenarios in coming up with the prices. Like I stated yesterday, I'm sure it might be the cheapest if we dialled up a 1-800 number out of Las Vegas and ordered 50 mobile homes. But as a government, you have to think about the opportunity cost of having this kind of policy. So I would like to know from the Minister of RWED, in his discussions -- and I'm assuming that he approved this policy -- what is his knowledge about what the extra cost of BIP is in this tender contract? Thank you.

Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation has committed to the Member and to committee to come back with the information that was analyzed by Cabinet, and he will provide that so you can get a sense of the decision that we made, the information we had at our fingertips. I think it's important, and something I'd like to point out to committee Members, that the government has acknowledged that it doesn't have a handle on the true cost of BIP. I think what we've said we're going to do -- and I commit to this -- is when the new contracts registry is up and running and functioning, we will be able to measure the cost of BIP where it has been applied in certain contracts. We can look where BIP is applied, and that is with the successful contracts, we will have a sense of what that premium was.

Now as far as a true cost of BIP, we may never be able to fully know the true cost of BIP. Potentially, there could be southern applicants who don't submit bids on BIP tenders because they believe that they won't be able to be competitive with the BIP. There are many other scenarios. But I would say that after a year of tracking this, we will know, where the BIP was applied, what the premium was. At that point, I will come back to committee and we can have a discussion. Whatever that number would be at that time, we can then have an informed discussion about whether or not this program makes sense and what the cost of this program is. Thank you.

Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Mr. Speaker, I must say there is an epidemic of inconsistent thinking going on on that side of the floor. Yesterday we had to argue with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment who was cutting a program before an evaluation was done, now I have the Minister of RWED telling me that this thing will be evaluated afterwards. Afterwards. After the tender has gone out and somebody from Las Vegas has won the contract to provide 22 mobile homes in the North, then he's going to do the evaluation, and after the contract registries. How is he going to know, Mr. Speaker? How is he going to know how much the BIP cost if none of the northerners bid because they will think there's no point, they can't complete with Las Vegas prices. How is he going to know, Mr. Speaker?

---Applause

Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not evaluating the cost of BIP on the program that the Housing Minister is conducting, but I am going to look at the cost of BIP once we have the contracts registry up and running, track it for a year on all of this government's contracting. Thank you.

Time for oral questions is up, but I will allow Ms. Lee her final supplementary.

Thank you. I must say, Mr. Speaker, I don't know what happens when the Minister is going to these departments. They talk the same line as the previous Minister. Mr. Speaker, I need to get a commitment from the RWED Minister that he provides and his Cabinet colleagues provide us with the figures that have been committed all morning today. I would like to know if he can provide us with that on Monday, prior to the session. Thank you.