Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I commend the Minister for trying, I guess, to resolve the issue, because I think I heard "try" about five times in that response. I guess I wanted to ask the Minister, have there been any discussions with the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs about how this issue can be dealt with at the community level and with the effects that these communities are going to feel with the burden of these outstanding property tax issues breathing down their necks, the Department of Finance breathing down the community's neck when this new deal rolls out and the communities assume responsibility for their property taxation issues. I'm just wondering what discussions are going on between the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs and with the communities that are affected with these outstanding issues. Has there been any progress to date? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the first area we're working on is to ensure the transition from where we are today with our existing tax structure and to transition to the new community deal, is to ensure that process moves smoothly. For example, in the upcoming year of 2005-06 what will happen is the communities will get a grant of the taxes collected in that community. So the taxes that are collected, that community will get a grant for those. So if the taxes are not collected, then that would reduce the amount of grant they would receive. Following that, in 2006-07 the plan is with the same situation to issue a grant to that community, based on the taxes collected. As well, in that year of 2006-07, a community can request an increase to the mill rate and we will apply that increase. In 2007-08, the full transfer will happen where the municipality can set its own mill rate and start its collection process. The arrears portion is under review. We haven't come up with a solution yet. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So I guess the bottom line is these community governments are going to receive this tax revenue and they're going to be receiving a grant-in-lieu of these taxes that are supposedly collected and administered by the territorial government. But the territorial government hasn't collected any taxes yet and they're still having a hard time collecting anything out of these communities. Is the government just passing the buck on to the community level and saying, well, we can't collect the taxes so you might as well collect the taxes? We still have the issue of the outstanding taxes, not to mention the taxes for the upcoming years of 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 when this new deal rolls out. How is a community's financial status going to be able to stand if they are just handed a $160,000 outstanding bill from the government saying you have to collect taxes for the next 20 years and it all comes back to the government, or they just don't get any grants?

What is the government going to do to ensure that the communities are going to get a fair deal and a new deal with reference to their outstanding arrears? How is the Department of Finance going to address that?

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let's make sure that the understanding from people out there is correct. There are taxes being collected. Not all of the properties are in arrears. There are 315 assessed properties in that community; 92 of them are private; about 41 are in arrears. So there are people paying taxes, businesses paying taxes, and those monies collected will go to the community. On the arrears side, we still have to work with Municipal and Community Affairs and the government overall to see how we would deal with that situation. On an ongoing basis, as the act sits now, we are, on an annual basis, sending out the tax notice of what's being owed and the arrears. That is in legislation; we do that every year and it causes some grief at this time of year. But we've tried to open the door to finding some solutions and we can't find it on our own; the community is going to have to work with us on this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister is not short in saying that it does cause a lot of grief in communities. I just want to get the Minister to maybe put some constituents' minds at ease. I know over the last few years they have mentioned to myself and told me to tell my constituents that the letter that they get from FMBS, or the Department of Finance, which basically states that your property may be offered for sale at a public auction, pursuant to the PATA, should you not remit your outstanding property taxes. In the past I've had recommendations saying to just tell my constituents to disregard the letter; it's just part of the Property Assessment Taxation Act, the Finance Act, that we have to send out this letter. But a lot of people don't...

Do you have a question, Mr. Villeneuve? Do you have a question?

My question is, can the Minister tell all the people that are going to be receiving this notice that it is okay to put it aside or just put it in the garbage, because obviously...

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. I'll allow the Minister to answer that question. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess if I were to say that, then all over the North people would be throwing their tax filing notice into the garbage bin. I cannot say that. The notice goes out, it lists the value of the taxes that are attached to that property, and the arrears. At some point we're going to have to move on this. We're going to have to act. The government has been trying to work with them in the situation of those arrears. At one point we had sat back, because there was a court case that was going forward that may have affected the government's ability to collect on tax arrears with First Nations. That has now concluded. In fact, it has been proven, as a government, that we have the authority to collect those taxes. Now we have to work with the community and ensure that we come up with some arrangement that is workable. So our door is open to work out that arrangement. The arrears have to go out on an annual basis. We don't have a plan to go in there and clear out a bunch people and sell those properties, but we have to work with them. At some point somebody is going to have to act on that. In tax-based municipalities in this day, if somebody is in arrears, it's that community council that acts on that, not the GNWT. So at some point we're going to have to clear that up and hopefully we can work an arrangement out with the community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I'd like to ask questions in regard to healthy eating, because I truly think healthy eating is everyone's business in this Assembly. Mr. Speaker, more specifically, I am bringing the attention to this cause regarding the kids and their healthy eating. My questions will be directed to the Minister of Health and Social Services about what are we truly doing about getting healthy eating into our schools. Mr. Speaker, I could speak about endless statistics, but simply I'll start off by saying what is the Minister of Health and Social Services doing to help promote healthy eating in our schools and to our families? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first I'd like to give credit to a region that has taken the initiative. I understand in Inuvik the mayor has been bugging me to match what was done by the DEA, where I understand that they've set up a policy where they don't have pop and chips and junk food in the schools anymore.

---Applause

I think they're to be commended for that. As well, I have, in fact, written to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about how we can move ahead to further that kind of initiative. I've also indicated to the Department of Health and Social Services that I would like to come out in the very near future with a directive that in all the facilities that Health and Social Services operates and funds, that we have the same kind of approach in terms of healthy eating. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister jumping to my third question so quickly, which was what are we doing about this? Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister is obviously on cue with the fact that obviously we know the kids don't do well if they're not fed. We know they miss a lot of school if they're not fed well and healthy living is very important. One last thing I want to acknowledge before my question is, in the city of Yellowknife, the Rotary Club, a service organization, helps provide breakfast to a group of kids at Mildred Hall. So we have community groups stepping up to the cause of making sure our kids eat healthy. All of that being said, can the Minister tell me if he's willing to come forward with some type of policy to at least investigate the pros and cons about taking on a mandate that we eliminate junk food from our schools? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I've indicated, I've been in written communication with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment and clearly today with the kickoff of the "Get Active" campaign that's going to be part of what we're talking about, leading by example, making sure that in fact we do as the Member suggests to a greater degree, which is making sure there are healthy choices for the youth to make, not to mention the adults. So, yes, Mr. Speaker, I intend to follow up with the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment further. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Ontario was proceeding down this road and investigating this quite seriously about eliminating junk food from our schools. Mr. Speaker, could we maybe get some timelines and time frames on the seriousness of this issue that this Minister has agreed to sort of follow down that road of questioning and ideas of eliminating junk food from our schools? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.