Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member mentioned the Joint Cabinet/AOC Pipeline Planning Committee. Underneath that, obviously, is the Deputy Ministers' Planning Committee and that committee will oversee the work of the MVPO, which will coordinate the work of the various departments. I agree with the Member, we are probably talking over 20 positions. I don't have that information handy. I think one of the difficulties is that there may not be dedicated positions in all the departments, but there are portions of positions that are used for this aspect of Mackenzie Valley development, probably development more broadly. So it's not something as easy as it might seem to get that information and provide that reconciliation, but we will do it for the Member and for Members on that side of the House. I think it's important to understand what our entire governmental response to this project is. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am wondering if the Minister could answer whether or not any thought had gone into developing a pipeline secretariat or something of that nature to give this a bit more ground to stand on instead of a Mackenzie Valley pipeline office. The secretariat could be located in Hay River as well, but with more positions and more dedication to this government to address the impending pipeline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn't have any detailed discussions of a model of that nature. That's not to say that they weren't going on in our department or other departments as this planning was underway. Recommendations came to me for the creation of this Mackenzie Valley pipeline office. Admittedly, I think we have said before, this really comprises our first phase response in terms of resource oil and gas development. This isn't it. We do need to work to ensure that we are adequately resourced up and down the valley. I guess the real flashpoint of where we need to quickly get some resources is the Mackenzie Delta. All I can say to Members is we are working on a more comprehensive response and I don't remember discussions of a secretariat that would take departmental positions from other departments and pull them under one roof. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I feel strongly that the government is lagging behind. I think this is probably two years overdue. When will the Mackenzie Valley pipeline office in Hay River be up and fully staffed? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's hard for me to disagree that we shouldn't have been able to move on this more quickly. We have seen this development coming for some time. All I can say is that we are responding now. We are moving very quickly to ensure the office in Hay River is up and running by the end of March. We've had a number of stages here in terms of trying to staff. We went northern first. We didn't get the kind of response we thought we might get, but we are looking for some very specific technical positions. We have broadened the search to include southern Canada. I understand we have had a very good response now and I look forward to being able to staff up the office by April. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The percentage in 2003 from our own stats of aboriginal employees would be in the area of 32 percent, an average between all communities. The affirmative action policy is still something that we use on every position out there and it's a consideration on any options we have to do hiring throughout the government. The affirmative action policy is in place and is used for positions that are advertised. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the percentage, it is 32 percent, however, he doesn't note that it has dropped over two percent the last few years. Can the Minister tell us, Mr. Speaker, what kind of targets our government is looking at? What is the target set by this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the affirmative action policy, we talk about a representative workforce of the population it serves. We don't have a set percentage that each department has to achieve, but what we do is reference the population that we serve. So in the case of the Northwest Territories, we're hopeful that we can see 50 percent of the workforce being of the aboriginal peoples in the Northwest Territories. In some cases, we are very close to that. Some departments are achieving that; in some areas they are not. The average we see now is at 32 percent. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can appreciate that some of the targets the departments are having difficulty matching is because of the recruitment skills or skill level. A lot has to do with education, but just in terms of our business planning, as we're going through the business plans here in the Legislative Assembly this month, what I'm not seeing in our business plans is actual affirmative action targets or recruitment targets for northerners. Apparently it used to be in the business plans, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask the Minister why these targets are not in the business plans this year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the affirmative action statistics information is provided to committee members through the process we go through. We do provide supplemental information. As we've seen, our main estimates documents have grown because we've added additional information in there and I guess the feeling at that time was, as we're going forward, we do supply the information on affirmative action statistics to Members and felt it wasn't necessary in the document itself. But we'll take it under advisement if Members would like to see that changed again. Thank you.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I guess our discussion here related a lot to hiring outside workers, but in terms of the Management Assignment Program, what are the targets? What is the government doing to increase the visibility of northerners in the management sector of our government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Roland.