Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Menicoche for your comments. I know that the parking issue that he speaks about is one that has been brought up to the board and to me on a number of occasions and it is one that we know has to be dealt with. Because this year was a year of fiscal restraints, we didn't look at putting any money into that area or anywhere else actually, within the Legislative Assembly budget.

We do have plans going down the road. Right now we are looking at different areas where we could increase the parking around the building and doing some work on getting some cost figures. Down the road, in a couple of years, in the 2006-07 budget, we have earmarked $675,000 to improve roadways in here, which would include some more parking areas. Keeping in mind that there may be some other developments within the area in Justice. That would give us a great ability to work in partnership with them in improving the roadway and the parking in this area. We are looking at that area going down the road; however, we do know that it is an area that has to be addressed in the very near future.

On the other issue that Mr. Menicoche brings up, with security in the building. That was also an issue that was looked at. I think it was somewhere in the year 2000, during the last Assembly; there were different issues that were looked at, at the same time as security was looked at in the building, and extra lighting, and that was one of the issues that was taken out of the plan to take any action on, mostly because of costs. There are a number of issues that come into play with it.

To secure this building properly where you would get into you office with just a pass key, once you are inside this building, the whole building is accessible, so there was a considerable cost -- I can't remember exactly what the cost was -- to have that building secured where you would get in with just a swipe card, but I know there was a considerable cost to it. It was an issue that was looked at before, not to say that we couldn't be looking at it again. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just with respect to the magnetic pass cards; is there an estimated cost, that makes it so prohibitive? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We would have to look back at the estimates that were put forward a few years ago or get a totally new estimate on it, but I wouldn't want to even guess right now. I can't quite remember the figures, so I wouldn't want to guess. It would be something that we could get a cost on fairly easily, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Menicoche beat me to the chase in regard to the parking, but he also brought up another issue that I know I have concern with, although I wasn't on planning on discussing it today, which is the doors. I will speak specifically to the parking and I do have concerns with the issue that this building represents itself as an open opportunity for people to come forward and have celebrations of life: weddings, special ceremonies, et cetera. It truly is one of the buildings for the people, and yet we have people park here, even park illegally, while events happen.

The Speaker I am sure is more than well aware of the circumstances that we have out there, and I just find it very difficult that we are not planning for this now in the short-term. I am looking for some proactive short-term solutions, so that we can address it through a major capital initiative, but we right now have people policing the parking lot. So if we had it during, for example, a concert situation; we have people out there policing it, making sure that folks all park on one side, but again we still are allowing our folks to park illegally. Does the Speaker have any suggestions on how to deal with this on the short term, until we can come forward with a capital initiative to address the roadway? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again on the parking issue, it is an issue that I know is important to Members and to the public that do come here and use the

building. Whenever there is an event here, we do put on extra security to try and prevent people from parking illegally out there, but we do know that when the Members are here and most of the parking stalls are taken, for extra people coming to use the Great Hall, it is an issue.

There may be some very simple things that we could do for the present time to put more awareness out there, to let people know that there is not a lot of extra parking here and that if they do park illegally, they are going to have their vehicles removed. But that is not the answer for the long-run.

People choose to come here to use the building for different events as well, and maybe it is incumbent upon us to maybe let them know the parking situation that we have around here and the importance that we know that it is going to have to be addressed in the near future. Is it possible to look at doing something very quickly? I am sure if people were to come to the Board of Management with that specific request, certainly we would have to put a request into FMBS or whoever to see if we can get some extra funding to get that done in the near future. It is certainly not a matter that we don't want to do it, it is just finding the resources to do it right now. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess at this time then, I would like to put a request into your position right now, as Chairman of the Board of Management as well as Speaker of the building, to get some assurances that we will look into it in this fiscal year about addressing it again.

It is a building that welcomes people. Just at the opening up of this session when Mr. Roland read in his budget, there were cars parked every which way and I have to say that I am embarrassed; truly I am embarrassed that we invite people to come here to see and follow along and be part of our opening budget, but yet we have nowhere for them to park. I would like to hear that the Speaker will look into it, at least in this fiscal cycle and see if we can come up with some at least short-term solution, other than telling people to park and cab it here. If I could get that assurance from the Speaker at this time, that will be more than sufficient. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will do that, I will bring that to the Board of Management and we will see what ways we can address that and see how much commitment there is for extra resources to deal with that situation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A couple of areas, and I appreciate the Speaker's presentation here. This is his first presentation before committee.

---Applause

Welcome to the witness chair, Mr. Delorey, Mr. Speaker. In his comments he mentioned one of the innovations we are undertaking here is the creation of the Cultural Enhancement Advisory Committee to this Assembly. Mr. Speaker, this committee had its origins in the last Assembly, in the 14th, when one of Mr. Delorey's predecessors commissioned the report on what could be done in and around the building to more dramatically reflect the cultures and the peoples of the NWT. The Board of Management undertook to take this report up, and one of its prime recommendations was the creation of this committee.

The board will recall that in a meeting, I think it was late last year, I took a concern to the board about the policy base by which this Assembly had enacted this committee and by which it was going to guide its affairs. The question that I would like to put to the Speaker, given that I fully support a much broader cultural program for this building and certainly don't want to interfere at all with what the committee will undertake, but I have not seen evidence of a development of a policy or the basis of how we want this program to continue. Would the Speaker please advise where and how we might expect that aspect of our governance to develop? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The new Cultural Enhancement Commission that has been formed came out of a recommendation from the report that came to the Board of Management from the previous Assembly, and one of the recommendations in there was the creation of this Cultural Enhancement Commission.

We did receive Mr. Braden's comments and his concerns with this commission. We discussed them at the board level and the board felt that there had been enough input into the preparing of that proposal, that document, that report to the Assembly, that we could proceed with establishing that commission.

The commission has not gotten together yet, but there were some guiding principles in there about what they were meant to do and they will be strictly an advisory board, advising the Board of Management on different areas of cultural enhancement around the building. I know that it is a very important area for the building and for all the Members here. I think if there was one area that we lost on when there was a division between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, a lot of the cultural works in the building went with the Nunavut government. I know that there is a lot of interest in increasing the cultural enhancement of the building, so I look forward to the work of this commission.

The policy that Mr. Braden is talking about; we haven't established a policy per se, but they do have a mandate or guiding principles of what they will be looking at. Once they come together, they will be establishing what kind of working relationship they are going to have with the board and on what areas they are going to be looking at. It is pretty broad in what areas they can make recommendations back to the Board of Management. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Some of the things that the Speaker has outlined are indeed still of

concern to me. We are creating this advisory committee, and to paraphrase the Speaker -- to work out the basis of its relationship with the Board of Management -- I would respectfully suggest that that is backwards. It should be the Board of Management that is laying out the terms of reference and how we would like the commission to serve the Assembly.

I look at this, Mr. Chairman, in the overall context of good governance, that we have a responsibility here to be clear and direct in our expectations of these boards and agencies and commissions. In fact there is major review underway right now, more than 100, that have been created over 30 years. Here we are creating a new one and yet we don't have a policy base or the kinds of things that I think should be in place.

Mr. Chairman, I don't want to get into an argument here tonight, but I would like to place on public record my concerns that this is a very welcome and a very valuable part of how this building and how this institution reflects the people of the North, and I would hope that in the coming months as this commission does come together that a constructive working relationship can indeed be created and hopefully through that a policy base that we can all rely on.

I can stop there, Mr. Chairman. I did have one other item I wanted to bring to the committee's attention, but if the Speaker would have any further comment to what I have just said.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the comments that the Member is making and I know that this an area that is near and dear to the heart. The Outcrop report that was accepted or turned into the Legislative Assembly, did lay out a number of areas that this committee would be responsible for and some of the art work and some of the types of art work that should be displayed here. There were recommendations that they be strictly northern and different areas.

I know that we also, before we put this committee together, not a policy per se but there was definitely a terms of reference drawn up for this committee and those terms of reference had input from everybody in Caucus. There are areas that outline what their job will be, but we will for sure look at...Maybe once the board gets together, there will be further talks on that, and I am sure that Mr. Braden will be making his views known to that commission as well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In a somewhat related vein, I have noticed sitting here and working for the past month in this session, Mr. Speaker, the number of visitors, especially Japanese visitors, that were seen here in the Legislative Assembly has grown considerably over what I have seen here in past winter months.

From being here on a steady basis throughout the year, I know that the Legislative Assembly and our grounds are very much a part of the tourism product of Yellowknife as the capital, and justly so; it is a magnificent building and we are all very proud of it. One of the things I am wondering if we could do a more extensive or a broader job of, Mr. Chairman, is actually demonstrating and embracing the role that we have, the place that we have in the tourism menu, that the capital city offers. We are an attraction, we certainly have a story to tell, and we are proud of it.

But, Mr. Chairman, to the audiences, especially like the Japanese, we have no literature, no interpretation in their language, either in signs or audio tapes or brochures. I wanted to ask the Speaker if he might consider a plan, perhaps even a bit of a pilot project, in this coming fiscal year to see what we could do to become a part of the tourism world here and make some effort. I suggest that it would not have to be an extensive nor an expensive effort to be effective, but to demonstrate that we really do appreciate the role that we have and that we could send that message out to some of those visitors. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.