Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that that is the least this government can do. I understand that the federal Minister can do this, but I want to know from the Premier, or Minister of Transportation, as to whether or not they have talked to their legal advisors, or looked into the contract. The Minister indicated earlier where there could be situations where the government could step in under the contract for something essential like the ferry service. It's not like there are a whole bunch of ferries to choose from. That is the only road access in the entire Nahendeh region. Surely, there has to be something

under the government's contract with the employer that could allow the Minister to intervene. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, as we speak here today, our officials, including our Department of Justice, are meeting to look at those very kinds of questions. Mr. Speaker, without the benefit of the advice on that yet, I would have to say that our understanding is that there is very little that we can do, unless the contractor were to abandon his contract, or cease delivering what is required through that contract. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would hope that the contract has more than the government's ability to intervene where the contractor abandons that service. What about a situation where the contractor pulls the ferry, and there is no access for the people to cross? Does that give the government any power to intervene? Does the Minister know why they are pulling the ferry?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, if the contractor ceases to perform in accordance with the contract, then he has violated the terms of the contract, and that would give us reason to intervene. Certainly, if he were to stop operating the ferry, any of our contractors were to stop operating the ferry before the end of the season, then they will have violated their contract. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the Minister of Transportation has indicated that he's been notified that the ferry could be pulled by midnight tonight, or tonight sometime, and given that there are some serious allegations about safety issues, could the Premier commit to this House that he would let us know, by question period tomorrow, that he has some precise action as to how to resolve this situation, other than writing a letter to the Minister of Labour? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the people of the Territories that we are monitoring this on an hourly basis. If there appears to be a course of action that is workable, we will certainly inform the Members immediately. If, for some reason, there are other complications, we would, likewise, inform the Members at least by tomorrow at question period, if not earlier. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I would like to reflect back on questions to the FMBS. Can the Minister commit to working with the communities on identifying registered hunters and trappers that he has highlighted earlier that are registered, but, at the same time, there are other people that are not registered? Can he work with the community to find registered hunters and trappers? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on that particular request the Member has made, I have to work with my colleagues, either through ENR or through ITI, to see what could be done. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi for the answer, Mr. Minister. With that in mind, highlighting the fuel tax relief, I guess, speaking to the isolated northern communities, there is a high cost of fuel in the communities. Can this Minister tell the Assembly if his department is willing, or open to ideas of, tackling fuel tax relief for traditional hunters and trappers, once they get the confirmation on the registered members? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, the area of tax relief would be difficult to administer by individual as, right now, the tax situation we have, we are working with the Canada Revenue Agency. The federal government collects the tax on our behalf, and then pays our portion back here for the Northwest Territories. It would be more difficult to try to come up with some other program that we would have to set up, and run our own tax rebate program, or something of that nature. I think an avenue we could work on would be more through the programs that are set up, to see if those programs could be possibly enhanced or something of that nature. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, we have quietly and gradually been making a lot of progress on this. Most departments now have superintendents that do report to headquarters. In very few cases, they are still with the Inuvik region, where most were, but Education, Health, Housing, ENR, ITI, MACA all have superintendents. FMBS has a staff person there who reports to headquarters. Other departments, for example, in Transportation, where there isn't a lot of activity in the Sahtu because we don't have the highway through there yet, it still is part of the Inuvik region, but we are making a lot of progress in establishing the Sahtu as a stand-alone, independent region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.