The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You have unanimous consent to conclude.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have so much to offer visitors to our Territory such as hunting, fishing, aurora viewing, other outdoor activities, cultural events, festivals and a natural beauty that, Mr. Speaker, rivals anything on our planet. The budget process has concluded this week. I just wanted to mention to the other Members of this House that I do hope we, as a group, can soon set our priorities so that we can give this industry, the 800 jobs and the $50 million it adds to our economy, the attention that it rightly deserves. Thank you.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. Allen.

Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are a couple of events happening that I would like to make mention of here before heading back home. One, Mr. Speaker, is that the Inuvik Ice Devils hockey team an oldtimer's hockey team from Inuvik has just traveled down to Ottawa to take part in the 2004 World Cup. This event is an event of oldtimers' teams from across Canada and international teams as well. Mr. Speaker, if I wasn't in this forum, in this arena, I would be joining the team and hopefully helping them along. But I am wishing that they are successful. They have already had a couple of games, and they play one more today. I hope they are successful and represent us well there.

On another issue of sporting, Mr. Speaker, is the annual event in the Mackenzie Delta area, in Inuvik. It is the 47th annual Muskrat Jamboree which takes in a lot of different sporting events: dog team races, skidoo races, children's events, log sawing, nail pounding, to name a few. Mr. Speaker, this year, the Muskrat Jamboree committee has dedicated this event to the elders past and present and reminds us all to respect our elders as we go about the activities. I hope to be home and watching a lot of events that occur at the 47th annual Muskrat Jamboree. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Roland. This is just a reminder, Members, that you are to make just one statement, not two. Try to keep that in mind. Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise on our last day of this session to talk to you about one of the important issues. I was going to talk to you earlier about issues such as tourism and the fact that this government treats tourism almost like an ugly cousin who is twice removed. But, today, I want to finish this session with the way I started it, to talk to you about legal aid.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that this government could be doing better. Mr. Speaker, I believe that we have good people working out there who make legal aid happen. I believe we have dedicated people who are not being compensated fairly for what they do, but they do it because they take pride in the service that they do and the fact that they know people out there need help. The Minister has recognized this. The Minister has even pointed out that we are only funded at 50 percent. The fact is that he is not exactly sure how long it has been since there has been growth on the government's side of contribution, and he has committed to get back to this House on that measure.

Mr. Speaker, it has also been brought to the attention of this House the fact that annual reports have finally made it to the light of day in this Assembly. We are still absent of one that is only a year late. If we can wait for one that was seven years late, I guess I can wait for one that is only one year late. Mr. Speaker, I cannot tell you enough that this is a frustrating issue. At this rate, I am going to have to wait until something freezes over before we obviously get some serious action knocking at our door.

Mr. Speaker, I have brought to the attention of the House earlier in this Assembly that it is now seven months since this person consulted with legal aid to get their application started, but yet they are still waiting to get a maintenance order, custody order, or divorce in place. There are many issues as well as safety that are always mentioned as a concern for that family. I called for action, yet I have heard none.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I am going to say that I have brought this to the attention of the House, yet very little action has been seen. Therefore, I will be grabbing the reins and whipping these horses. I am going to start calling my own consultations with our community because, if this government doesn't act, somebody needs to take responsibility on this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

----Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today, I want to acknowledge the tremendous contribution to literacy that the Lutselk'e Dene School Literacy Committee has achieved over the past year. Mr. Speaker, the Lutselk'e Dene School Literacy Committee comprises members which include Ms. Dawn Thompson, Miss Jenny English, Miss Doris Bruno, Miss Eleanor Young, and Mr. Geoff Bunckle. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my constituents, my colleagues and the people of the NWT, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to these individuals who have volunteered their time in making a worthwhile difference for the students and members of the Lutselk'e community and for their outstanding commitment to literacy.

I say kudos to the members of this literacy committee for their achievements and being recognized as recipients of the 2003-2004 Ministerial Literacy Award. This award is awarded to individuals or organizations that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to improving personal levels of literacy and have worked to promote and foster literacy within their community.

That being said, Mr. Speaker, I encourage these members to proudly display this literacy recognition certificate in the Lutselk'e Dene School so that all students, staff and parents can not only realize the true value of literacy, but also the value of volunteerism, dedication and hard work in contributing to the well-being of our communities. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

----Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. The Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to take this opportunity to highlight two things that are terribly wrong with the way the Housing Corporation and the Cabinet have exempted themselves from its own BIP. Mr. Speaker, first of all, it's the lack of input from the Regular Members and a major shift in a government policy. Not just the exemption from the BIP, but the major change in the long-held policy of the Housing Corporation. For the entire period of its life, Mr. Speaker, the corporation has insisted on stick built homes rather than mobile homes. This was changed and maybe there was a good reason for this, but it has wider implications and I think we ought to have had a collective say on that. This is something we ought to be given not only prior notice of, but a real opportunity for input.

I'm quite offended that we were sent a letter at the same time the letters and press release went out to the public. I have to ask you, Mr. Speaker, are we a consensus government or not? Who's running this government anyway? Are the Regular Members going to have any input or say on such a major policy shift?

Mr. Speaker, the second issue I have with this is the role of the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development and the department or lack thereof. The Minister responsible -- this is the department and Minister responsible for the BIP and maximizing economic development in the North -- in answering questions says over and over that there was a balancing act of providing the badly needed housing to professionals in communities in the most cost-effective way possible. But in doing the cost-benefit analysis I have to ask what information did the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic

Development bring to the Cabinet table about the loss-of-opportunity cost in sending these projects south?

Mr. Speaker, questions like the benefit of all the money the department spends on giving loans and guarantees to the businesses who could do this work. The benefit of all the transfer payments we get from the federal government for having people and businesses live and work here. That finances our whole government budget. The benefit of the money businesses and people put into our local economy from working and living here, and what about the taxes they pay? What about the community services and donations that these people and their businesses make to our local charities? What about the benefit of the reduced social cost from people getting jobs from these projects in the North?

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I finally received a package from the Housing Corporation about how cheap...Mr. Speaker, may I get unanimous consent to conclude my statement? Thank you.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You have unanimous consent to conclude your statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, my colleagues. Mr. Speaker, yesterday we finally received the package from the Housing Corporation about how cheap they can buy 22 mobile homes at factory cost from down south. Well, Mr. Speaker, I could have done that. I could have just called the number and got the costs. I would certainly expect that Cabinet will make decisions like this on the basis of more comprehensive information and cost-benefit analysis.

Just yesterday we approved the government budget and RWED got $83 million and PYs of 480 people. I know that somewhere in there that department has economists and business advisors. I would suggest to the Minister of RWED that he puts them to work and gets them to start crunching the real numbers and have them ready for the Cabinet meeting tomorrow morning. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

----Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. The Member for North Slave, Mr. Zoe.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, (Translation) I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the seven Pages who served this House in the last three days. These students are constituents of mine from Chief Jimmy Bruneau Regional High School in Edzo and were selected by Principal Rita Mueller with their hard work and dedication shown in their studies. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank these following students: Kevin Crookedhand, Cassandra Camsell, Tia Marissa Gon, Rambo MacKenzie, Mandy Mantla, John Paul Rabesca and Ernest Smith for a job well done.

I'd like to welcome these Pages here for this week and I wish to see them back here and hope to see if they will be at the Youth Parliament we will be holding in May. For the Pages, I'd like to thank you all; the ones that were here earlier and during session and the ones that have gone back home to their communities. Thank you very much and we look forward to seeing you back here again. Thank you.

----Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement today I addressed the area of the Liquor Licensing Board so my questions are for the Minister of Finance who has responsibility for that area. I contrasted a statement by the Minister in which -- I'm paraphrasing here -- he indicated that it's difficult for the board to go into social aspects in expanding its mandate. Yet a judge of our court indicated that considerations, which focus on public safety and public peace that are consistent within the purpose of the Liquor Act and the intention of the legislature. My question for the Minister, Mr. Roland, is can the Minister explain the discrepancy between his views on the matter and that of the judiciary? Thank you.

Minister responsible for the Liquor Licensing Board, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think in responding to that question we should look at more than just one very small section of what was stated in that ruling. In fact, there's an area that refers to the enactment of the Liquor Act as an exercise of the legislature of its authority to make laws in relation to property and civil rights and also in relation to intoxicants. There are a number of factors there. By the language of the act in section 6(2) and section 13 in particular, the legislature intended to give broad discretion to the Liquor Licensing Board, section 6.2(2) subject to this act, the board shall control (a) the conduct of licence holders; (b) the management of equipment of licensed premises; and, (c) the conditions under which liquor may be sold or consumed on licensed premises. This is coming from the actual ruling that was made. I don't think I differ from what's been there and, in fact, how the board would carry out and conduct its affairs that would have an impact on the public safety of individuals in the Northwest Territories.

My comments to the media are more when you look at the other aspects of social conditions in the Northwest Territories, when it comes to our concerns as we've heard raised many times in this Assembly from the Minister of Health and Social Services and the cost that it has on our system and the lives of the people in the Northwest Territories, how far do we go as a quasi-judicial board into the area of social response or morale, in a sense? How do we legislate that? How do we control that? They do play a role and it's an important role and I support them in that initiative. They've been tough on a number of recent rulings and I met with them and said it's within their authority. If they want to make their rulings harder and harsher, as long as they're being consistent across the

board that was okay with me. I met with them and discussed that issue and then said if they had concerns about other areas I'd be glad to meet with them and discuss those concerns.

We should be clear that I don't see myself as differing from the judicial aspect of the role. The concern that I have is, as a quasi-judicial board, if they in fact go beyond their mandate -- which was also laid down in the report from the judge -- into the socialism and into advocacy, then we have some blurring of the lines. So we have to be careful there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you. This, indeed, is the kind of discussion that is useful to the whole topic, but it is one that I think really needs to be broadly expanded, Mr. Speaker, if we're going to sit here and debate the fine points of a mandate and judicial ruling, we could be here for a long time and not address what really is at issue here. That is the cost in human terms of the abuse and mismanagement of alcohol. So at least in consideration of the environment we're in today, what steps will the Minister take to endorse our Liquor Licensing Board's new and more proactive approach to enforcing our laws? Thank you.

Minister responsible for the Liquor Licensing Board, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated, I did meet with the Liquor Licensing Board here in Yellowknife a number of weeks ago and discussed a number of things such as mandate, goals, a number of their concerns over who has authority over the budget, how things were working, communications. I said I gladly open the door to having a good, healthy working relationship. It caught me by surprise that the letter indicated the resignation of the chairperson.

As well, Mr. Speaker, I think we will be proactive. Number one, the Department of Finance has the Liquor Act under our authority and we're intending to move forward with some work in that area and looking possibly at a rewrite of the act. There's work going on there. We need to go further and clarify what actual roles and responsibilities will be for enforcement and how the board would look at itself. Again, the bigger broader picture is can that act and the Liquor Licensing Board deal with the full gamut of the social responsibility that we would have as a government? I think we're again going into a different area.

This Assembly, as a whole, can set a direction and a policy and try to work to that area through Health and Social Services, through Education, Culture and Employment, but can we combine that all into one act and one board, that being the Liquor Licensing Board? Thank you.