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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is no legislative requirement to route a special bypass road for hazardous material at this point. It makes good planning sense, I would assume. The responsibility would fall in the hands of the municipality. If that was the desire of the community to put in a special bypass road to re-route hazardous material, the municipality would have to pay for it. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when you travel anywhere in Southern Canada, you always see designated routes with markers, which indicate that there are specified areas in which you can take heavy traffic with tankers containing certain materials and I'd be very surprised if there is no such legislation in the Northwest Territories and, if there isn't, perhaps there should be. Mr. Speaker, who would be liable today if there was an incident that resulted in injury in Yellowknife because of this type of traffic on our roads? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, that would probably have to be decided by the courts, but I'm assuming that the shipper would be assuming responsibility for the liability. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

So, Mr. Speaker, then the Minister does not feel that Municipal and Community Affairs has any responsibility towards ensuring that municipalities have legislation in place to protect the traveling public when it comes to busy routes and heavily populated areas for hazardous materials. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is a concern, of course, of Municipal and Community Affairs. We've had numbers of complaints. We have an issue in the town of Tulita where the trucks go right through the centre of the community and we have looked at our legislation. At this point there is no current legislation requiring us to have a bypass road. We'd like to have bypass roads in the communities where there are hazardous materials transported. There is no requirement even through the Emergency Measures Act. However, there is a requirement to conduct a risk assessment and develop a response plan by the community in order to deal with some of these issues, but that's the extent of what the requirements are under our legislation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The time for oral questions has expired; however, I will allow the Member a final supplementary. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would a risk assessment or an emergency measures plan include not only the transportation of hazardous materials but, as referred to by Mr. Ramsay earlier, for instance, like in the recent incident where we had the airport and the only road out of the city closed for quite a period of time? I believe eight to 10 hours with absolutely no possibility to either get out by road or by air. Would something like that be covered in a city's emergency plan and would it not make sense to have alternate routes? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you. It may, depending on the community. Each community has a different plan and, for the most part, the plans are different because of the specific and different needs of each community. The plan deals with the issues that are potentially there and would deal with them as required. So it really depends on the specifics. There is no general plan, as the Member has indicated. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Time for oral questions has expired. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to oral questions, item number 6 on the agenda. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Hawkins is seeking unanimous consent to return to item 6, oral questions. Are there any nays? I've heard a nay in the question. We will continue on the order paper. Item 7, written questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speasker. I have a written question directed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Speaker, this question originates from numerous enquiries to my office from current and past students and more so from studesnt who have received student financial assistance but have been cut off suddenly by this government when they are into a three out of a four-year program,either be it in the South or in the NWT.

My question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

1. Can the Minister provide information on the number of aboriginal and non-aboriginal students who have received Student Financial Assistance to attend two-year or four-year post-secondary education in the past five years?

2. How many have completed their studies and received diplomas or degrees and how many have returned to work in the NWT?

3. How many have not completed their post-secondary educations for reasons related to: accounts with the government; not passing a certain number of courses; financial difficulties; or attendance?

1. 4. What changes to the Student Financial Assistance Program have been identified by the department and will these hurdles be removed or reassessed?

Mahsi.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Item 7, written questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Item 7, written questions. Item 8, returns to written questions. Item 9, replies to opening address. Item 10, replies to budget address. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, colleagues, for your indulgence as I proceed with my first reply to a budget address. I've been a Member of this Assembly for just over a year and I wanted to share with you today some of my thoughts and observations. I'd like to begin by saying how interesting our financial situation

is. Last year after taking office we were faced with impending doom and gloom, debt wall discussions and straight cuts here for new Members. We were basically forced to stomach some new tax initiatives to increase our revenue and that meant that the public had to pay, as well. The payroll tax doubled from one percent to two percent and here we are a year later with a $44 million surplus, still flying by the seat of our pants.

Fiscal responsibility should go in tandem with fiscal surety and obviously things like resource revenue sharing, devolution and aboriginal self-government are going to impact our operation and the sooner we get the surety on our financial situation, the better off we will be. I do hope the new rules for formula financing, after the 2005-06 period, are beneficial to the Northwest Territories.

An Expert Panel on Equalization and Territorial Formula Financing will provide recommendations on how funding should be allocated amongst the three territories. Through this process, although this process has a certain amount of the unknown, I do think it will be an opportunity for the Northwest Territories to get additional surety on our finances going into the future.

All indications are that our tourism industry is rebounding from the 9-11 terrorism attacks, SARS and the mad cow scares. The GNWT has to ante up to this industry. Again, this year's budget is void of any increases to what government spends on tourism. There continues to be only lip service paid to the industry. Where is the evidence that we are going to put our money where our mouth is in terms of support for our tourism industry?

---Applause

This will not be the last time I say this, but tourism needs more resources. Through the next year, I do look forward to working with the government and Economic Development Committee, as well as the Minister of soon-to-be ITI, to find some money for tourism.

As a territory, we have come a long way in addressing social needs and we still have a long way to go. As a government, we've increased base spending by over $200 million in the last five years in the social agenda. Where are the results of this investment? Our graduation rate is 43 percent. If you compare this to the smallest populated province in the country, Prince Edward Island, which has a graduation rate of 85 percent, it's abysmal and I think we have a great deal of work to do in this regard. I think it's time maybe that we even re-evaluate where the resources are spent and what our priorities really are.

Addictions are also an area that I believe this government is falling down on. Whether it's crack, gambling, cocaine, alcohol and other drugs, addiction and addiction services should be a high priority of this government.

The ongoing negotiations between our government and the federal government over resource revenue sharing and devolution continue to come with a hefty price. There's something fundamentally wrong when a territory with a finite amount of resources such as the Northwest Territories is left having to pay the tab chasing what basically is our money. There is something that is absolutely fundamentally wrong with how this works and I don't agree that we should have to use what little resources we have chasing the money. We should actually go back to the federal government and demand that they pay us back the money that we have spent trying to get what is rightfully ours. It is just something that doesn't sit well with me.

I just wanted to mention, too, that I have enjoyed working with my colleagues in the government over the course of the past year. We have a long road ahead of us and I feel that we have to have more of a vision for where we are going, for what we are doing and how we are going to get there. This vision, Mr. Speaker, has to include everyone that calls the Northwest Territories home. Thank you.

---Applause