Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think at this time, I would like to urge this government to ask for an appeal to reconsider that decision. Every one of the 200 people who signed these letters, and even more, would like this to be deemed an essential service. That saves the travelling public. Can this government appeal, on behalf of the Nahendeh residents, that this is an essential service? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a government, we have not appealed this decision passed down by the Canadian Industrial Relations Board. We certainly consider the ferry service at the Liard River very important. We consider all our ferry services of all our five ferries very important; however, we don't consider them to be essential services. There are other modes of transportation. They may prove to be very inconvenient and costly, but we are not in a position where we would declare them as essential; therefore, we will not be appealing their decision. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. The Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been a program review done for the school. It is now in draft form and should be ready to share with the community within the next couple of weeks.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister indicate, with regard to the draft form, whether there were any recommendations out of it, and will they be followed? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Since the report is in draft form, I am happy to share the draft with the Member, but before we get into a public discussion, I would like to conclude the document so that we have it in its final form. That will happen within the next few weeks. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement today, I spoke of the difficulties that NGOs, like the NWT Seniors' Society, face given the lack of multi-year funding arrangements and the failure of this government to allow increased cost to NGOs. Mr. Speaker, since the Minister of Health and Social Services is responsible for the bulk of those agreements with these NGOs, I would like to ask the Minister what he's doing to make multi-year agreements a reality, given the fact that he did say we could do this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I indicated to the Member for Hay River South, we have that capacity, and we are prepared to work with NGOs. If it's not a reality, we will make it a reality. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have no idea what the heck he just said.

---Laughter

Reality, reality...I have no idea. I appreciate whatever that answer murmured out to be. I am going to ask another question, anyway. In recognition of the social agenda that was tabled in 2002, can the Minister tell this Assembly whether Health and Social Services requires their authorities in any way to fund multi-year agreements to work through the NGO process where appropriate? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I didn't quite understand the question. However,...

---Laughter

...Mr. Speaker, I will take a stab at it. The social agenda was an important occurrence and it came out with some directions and recommendations, one of which was multi-year funding, which was seriously considered by the government. As I have indicated, the capacity is there, and I am prepared to work with NGOs to sign multi-year agreements if they don't already exist. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell this Assembly whether any of the funding agreements with his department or authorities that are made with NGOs allowed for increased costs? I am making reference to heating oil, which has spiked significantly in recent days. During the course of their agreements, are they allowed to have increased costs reflected to the times? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.

As I indicated earlier in this House, we don't allow for forced growth right now. We have a third party accountability framework we are working on as a government to try to reconcile the fact that we have a fundamental program being delivered by NGOs on our behalf, and recognizing that they face forced growth pressures, as we do as a government. At this point, the capacity is not there for any kind of automatic increases. Thank you.