Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the college has long been interested in finding a way to have a residence built in Yellowknife for college students and the programs here, but we have been unable, at this point, to find the money in the capital program to support that kind of approach. I, like the Member, would dearly love to see us better accommodate students here. I know that we've had to restrict the availability of housing to certain programs to ensure that the people in this program can find housing. So it is a problem, and it's a particular problem because of the cost of housing here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's good to know that the Minister acknowledges that it is a problem. I just don't want to downplay some of the other programs, Mr. Speaker, but I know they are just as important as this Pre-Trades Program, such as the Nurse Practitioner Program. I have to let it be known that this program has received approval and funding, Mr. Speaker, to secure twice as many units for these nursing students this year as compared to last year. Another high demand sector of our labour market, that being trades, does not receive one red cent to put towards one unit available for any of these out-of-town students, Mr. Speaker. So can the Minister tell these trade students why that is the situation today? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will continue to work with the college to see if we can find a way to address the housing issue, but this government has invested heavily in assistance to the nursing program. That's because of the difficulty we are having filling nursing positions across the North. So we put a real emphasis on getting northerners into the field. The Member is right, though, we need to see a similar sort of emphasis on the trades. We have, this year, put an extra $600,000 into trades training. What we are doing there is encouraging employers to take on tradespeople with increased subsidies. One of the benefits there is that the apprentices actually earn a salary while they are studying. So unlike other students like nurses, they don't wind up further in debt as they go through the process. So there is an expectation that they will be able to pay for a bit more. I recognize the Member has talked about the pre-trades where they don't necessarily have a job yet. That is a problem. It's an area I will discuss with the college. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I don't want to downplay the nurses program, but I know there is no guarantee that these nurses who graduate from the program are even going to stick around in the North, because there is a big demand right across Canada for nurses, Mr. Speaker. But in many of the trades programs that these youth in the North enter into, they wind up staying in their communities and developing their trade expertise there. How does the Minister plan on making more programs readily available to out-of-town students who cannot find adequate accommodations in the capital? If it's a big problem for this government to address today, how about sending these smaller pre-trades programs into the smaller communities where sufficient interest has been generated. Has this been considered, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Two questions there, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just for the record, we know that the vast majority of the graduates from our nursing program do stay in the Northwest Territories. That program has proven to be quite successful in getting northerners into nursing.

The Member makes a very good suggestion in terms of getting the training into communities. It's one we encourage the college to pursue. We have, right now, a mobile lab for welding. The college does move from community to community to offer the Pre-Trades Training Program. That is one of the ways in which we are hoping to expand that training. We do hope to be able to provide more training in more communities. One of the things we have discussed, under the Northern Strategy, is the acquisition of six mobile labs for trades training; so we have other opportunities besides welding, and we can bring those into the smaller communities, too. We think it's essential that we take more of this sort of training to the communities, because it becomes more available to more young people to learn what the opportunities are. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I am glad to hear that there will be more mobile labs coming down the line. This pre-trades program was developed last year for this year's enrolment. It's unfortunate to say that enrolment has gone down from the small, outlying communities because of the fact that there are no accommodations. Could the Minister give some reassurance to the directors and the people who work in the Aurora College who have to turn away these students

and say, "You have to find your own place to stay or else you can't enrol in the program"? What kinds of assurances or other options can these people who are dealing directly with the students who would like to enrol in these programs offer these students? Give them some timelines: "In two or three months, we will have something rolling into the community, and we will have more money to develop programs within the community." What kinds of other options can the Minister provide to these directors who deal with students? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have to discuss this with the college -- and I will commit to the Member that I will do that very quickly -- what the options might be, so that I can make sure that the directors can have to see the answers to those questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation Board, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to be careful with this one, because the Member is likely aware that the decision of the governance council is currently under appeal before the courts on this issue. So I am not sure that I can answer that question at this point in time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister's caution on this. I have looked into the same point in raising these questions, and the information I have is the process has actually been concluded and is something that can be looked at in this House. So I would like to continue with my questions on this point.

Mr. Speaker, some of these appeals tribunal processes are now four years old. Workers continue to be stymied by this. While the WCB Act is not specific in allowing employment insurance earnings, and it gives the board, or the tribunal, the discretion to rule on these kinds of things, it certainly seems mean spirited and punitive to backdate its policy on this some 28 years. Why did the board take such a heavy-handed action in backdating this policy for this period of time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I apologize to the Member if a decision has been issued in this case in the last 24 hours, but my information is there is an appeal before the courts in Nunavut on this very issue that has been filed just in the last couple of weeks that has not yet been heard. So I am in a position where, under the rules of sub judice, I don't believe I am able to answer his question.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The Chair will not rule the question out of order, but the Minister can refuse to answer the question or take the question as notice. Mr. Dent.

Mr. Speaker, I will take the question as notice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The question has been taken as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.