Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we don't have any programs directly titled after-school programs or any in-house school programs. We do provide money for the school athletic association. We provide the schools with funding towards the phys ed teachers to take in-service training for the phys ed teachers that are dealing with after-school programs. All our programs are geared towards support. We do also provide funding to the communities as part of the community operations budget for recreation officers in each community. We also have earmarked a specific amount of money in each community within the community government to deal with recreation, specifically earmarked for recreation so that it can't be spent on anything else.

So, Mr. Speaker, we have a number of programs in that area. We also have initiated the Community Initiatives Program, which is $1 million application-based programs the community can access to deal with issues around the youth. A lot of the communities are using it to build youth centres. We still have a real void, I think, in the area of operations dollars for the youth centres; however, we are working with the federal government and the federal government is providing money through some of the friendship centres in the communities to operate them. Of course, they're more native outreach programs, but there is still money flowing from the federal government. There are a number of things we are doing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has indicated that we don't have the funding for the after-school programs; however, he listed funding for school associations. I'm not too sure how many small schools have athletic associations or even a physical education teacher to have this type of funding available. Can the Minister tell me what MACA is doing in terms of providing a policy that will provide after-school programs that do not have these athletic associations, or physical education for the small people to get into these after-school programs so that they can make healthy choices in terms of the other visions that this government has outlined. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Honourable Michael McLeod, the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. I apologize if I have misinterpreted the after-school programs. My apologies to the Minister. I'm asking the Minister if his department would consider a policy to specifically label after-school programs that could fund certain programs in the schools for the children in small communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker, of course we'll consider it. Every time we look at a new program, it requires new money. We

have been, as I indicated earlier, talking to the Minister of Sport, Stephen Owen, and also the Minister of State for Health and looking at some of their new monies that are coming forward in the areas of healthy living and more physical activity-type programs. This is something that we certainly can see if it fits within the after-school programming for the Minister's question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm sure enjoying these two-hour question periods. I think we should amend the rules to do this every day.

My questions are for the Minister of the Housing Corporation, in follow-up to my Member's statements and some of the questions that I asked yesterday. I just want to say that, as a result of that, I have certainly received a lot of phone calls and input from different people. I was quite surprised to see the reaction. Yesterday when I was talking about some of the things that I thought the Housing Corporation could do better, I made a reference to the Novel housing project. I want to be very clear that what I was talking about was whether or not money had been clearly budgeted for the Novel housing project so that people could be taken to the plant and look at it, and all the kinds of explorations that need to be done to see if this is a good project or not, could be done. I thought it should have been a line item in a budget someplace so that we just don't have kind of an open-ended experiment or research being done that isn't well thought out and well planned. Having said that, though, I need to tell you that I have been to the plant, and I have toured it, and I have seen the Novel prototypes and, quite honestly, I've shared this with the Minister before, I think the concept is quite brilliant to build the conversion into the units, the camp units, at the plant level before they ever go into the field. It recycles, it reuses, it saves the proponents of the pipeline money in the end because there's residual value left there for them. It also provides this government with a legacy which could address housing shortages in the North. I want to say that I think it's quite a good idea and I didn't want it to come across that I was opposed to it.

What I want to ask the Minister now in follow-up to that is, are you able to see other benefits than what I have just listed off? I'm thinking of northern participation in the manufacturing. I'm thinking about tradespeople being trained as a result of this project. Maybe the Minister could elaborate on those kinds of benefits. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank the Member for the question. I believe that we do have a real opportunity here. Yes, it will cost in the range of $200 million to convert some 1,400 units, but $180 million of that will be left in the Northwest Territories, which leaves a large portion of that capital investment spent in the North, from on-site development, transportation, northern materials from northern manufacturers with their products, and site development costs. More importantly, to do the conversion, we will have local opportunities for local residents in our communities. We're looking at a two or three-year employment opportunity, whereas, in most cases after development, everything shuts down and nothing happens in the North.

Because of that, the benefits outweigh the investment by what we're looking at. As I stated, we're looking at a capital investment where $180 million from this project will remain in the North for northern manufacturers and communities and, more importantly, the residents of the Northwest Territories to generate long-term employment over two or three years. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously the Minister has had a number of times to visit with the folks who have put this concept forward. I'd like to ask the Minister what kind of response he's had from the proponent who has wanted to provide these camp units for conversion to houses. What kind of response have they had to our needs to add on these benefits, like training and northern manufacturing and things like that? Was there an open mind to those issues? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have been in those discussions with ATCO out of Calgary. They are willing to train people to take advantage of these job opportunities, especially in the area of conversion, but more importantly in the construction of these camps. There is the possibility of doing some of the manufacturing here in the North, by putting plants in the North, and looking at certain construction of different facilities with respect to the larger facilities they're going to need, such as cooking facilities and the different modular units needed due to the design of the camps. I think more importantly, the federal Minister and myself also did a tour of that facility, and the federal Minister made it clear that the condition they're putting forward on any federal dollars that are going into it had to have a strong human resource component, which included training, some sort of manufacturing component. Also, the energy efficiency compliances had to be used to make these units energy efficient to meet our zero housing construction. We are working with the federal government to make it clear that the developer has to have human resources, economic and energy efficient components to that proposal. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister what kind of response he's had from people like Imperial Oil. Obviously, for units like this, we are talking about a larger investment up front on the part of the pipeline proponents than would be in a traditional type camp. Understanding there's a residual value at the end, as well, but what kind of response has he had from Imperial Oil on the initial larger investment? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there have been meetings held between myself, the Minister of Finance and the Premier with Imperial Oil to look at the social and economic benefits that will flow from the pipeline. Out of that, there are two main components that we're after. One is looking at Novel with respect to the possibility of these family dwellings for use after the construction of the camps, but also it included a hydro component. So there have been meetings between myself, the Minister of Finance and the Premier with Imperial Oil to make it clear that this is a fundamental component of any pipeline being built, that we have to have some win-win situations here. That we all win at the end of the day and, especially with an $8 billion project, we want to have a living legacy of what's going to fall out from the pipeline, that we have something at the end of the day to show for it. I think the Novel concept is probably one of the best opportunities we'll have and probably the only opportunity we'll have to do it in the life of this project and this decade. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my final question to the Minister is, in all these meetings with the producers, with the manufacturers, with potential interests in the North, is that consultation all taking place by the Minister himself? Is it all being done in-house in the Housing Corporation? Or is there a consultant on contract to the Housing Corporation to oversee these consultations and negotiations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.