Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, was the Premier involved in this decision? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, the request came to myself, as the Minister of MACA, to consider allowing the Yellowknives Dene to access this property so they could do some testing. I had some discussion with our staff and looked at the situation. We thought it would make sense to allow them to take a look at this property and do some sampling while the application was going through the process, because it was indicated to us that if the land wasn't suitable, then they would move away from this project and if it was suitable, then they would pursue it through the city for a lease. We didn't see anything wrong with that. It's not something new; we've done it in other situations. The city and the Yellowknives Dene have had some early discussions; they've had agreement that they're going to be presenting their proposal to the city on the 21st. There has to be discussion around whether this could be included as part of the Yellowknives development plan. There has to be discussion on whether or not the city will allow changes to the zoning. All of those things have to take place. What we've done is we've allowed the Yellowknives Dene access so they can do some testing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Minister, for your short response, but my question was what was the Premier's involvement in this decision. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and the Minister didn't answer that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure the Premier was wearing his Premier's hat that day, but he certainly was wearing his Minister's hat as the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, and the discussions were initially set up because we have a commitment to meet with the political

leaders on a regular basis -- with the Yellowknives Dene and the city and Aboriginal Affairs along with MACA -- and we meet on a regular basis to discuss land issues around Yellowknife because there are a lot of challenges about having some of these applications processed and developing a system that would be satisfactory to everybody. So we have regular meetings. We meet, if not every month, every second month. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Will the Minister tell this Assembly and the community of Nahanni Butte what is being done to achieve their dream of getting a gymnasium for Nahanni Butte? Mahsi cho.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think I've answered this question in several different ways already, but we have this year been fortunate to access some new dollars, some federal dollars. Along with our new budget, we were looking at adding to or supporting our new deal initiative with some capital dollars. We have had some discussions already with the NWT Association of Communities as to how we would allocate these dollars. We're looking at the criteria and the guidelines that we'd be using. That's as far as we've gone so far. We're anticipating to do a lot more strategizing and have more meetings in the next little while. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. All I hear is words; I'd like to see some action by this government.

Can the Minister tell this Member what is actually being done to plan the gymnasium in Nahanni Butte? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, considering all the hours I've spent on all these initiatives I would say there is plenty of action happening by a number of different organizations, including us as a government. The Member is asking us what we're doing specifically on Nahanni Butte. We're not doing anything specifically on Nahanni Butte.

We are looking at the recreation facilities in the small communities. We are looking at bringing forward maybe some emphasis on priorities in communities that are land-locked and maybe need a little more attention in terms of recreation facilities; for example, such as Nahanni Butte and gymnasiums in communities such as those. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Mr. Speaker, this again frustrates me because this is the real need brought up from the communities, and government just is not responding once again. Yet again they are not responding, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to know how communities get involved in the capital planning process to get their needs met. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.