Thank you, Madam Speaker. I have tremendous confidence in the people who administer and deliver the education program in the Northwest Territories and I spoke about that earlier today in the successes that we've seen in education. We have a tremendous cadre of professional people who are well qualified to deliver the programs that are offered in education across the Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. That very mundane, feel good, general statement that the Minister is making is showing just more clearly than ever before how little he knows about the needs of these youth in the centre. These are not people who can benefit from the mainstream programming that we have. They are in need of very, very specialized services, which if the Minister

would take time talking to them would tell him that it is in jeopardy of being dismantled. So would the Minister direct his senior officials to talk to the educators and those who provide services to these people, talk to the real people on the ground and find out exactly what they do provide and then find out from Hay River what they have there? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Dent.

Madam Speaker, the Member has presented herself as an expert as to whether or not the people in Yellowknife are more expert themselves than the people in the other communities. I don't accept that. I would say that we have people with the same qualifications available to us across the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Minister Dent. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Going by the very defensive answer of the Minister, I know I have the Cabinet cornered and they do not have answers.

They do not have the answers that the people are entitled to know. Now let me ask the Minister...Now I just forgot a very good question that I had for the Minister. I was just too excited about having you cornered. Madam Speaker, would the Minister of Education please direct his senior officials to find out this information as soon as possible and present exactly what the educational needs are? Because I'm telling you the Minister will find that there are a lot of special needs that he's not aware of. Thank you.

Thank you for the question and the answer, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I don't know if it's because we're in a round building, but I haven't felt cornered by the Member in her questions.

I was offended that the Member would make the statements she was making, categorizing some of the people in other communities as not being as capable.

That is not right. I have said in this House that I am satisfied that the programs can be delivered adequately in the Northwest Territories in communities other than Yellowknife. We are not the only community that has experts. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Minister Dent. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there has been some preliminary work done on that request but, as the Member knows, the herd is currently under quarantine and we're waiting for some secondary test results to come back so that we can determine the future of the herd more definitively. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yes, the Minister has made my office aware that June 20th is the big day that these tests are supposed to come back and are going to determine the fate of the Hook Lake bison recovery project. Either way I am trying to let the community know that either way the bison are going to go, come positive or negative results from the lab. So I just want to make sure that the department is actually prepared to move should the tests come back negative for tuberculosis or whatever bison diseases they are looking for, and would the department be in there within a timely manner, hopefully by this summer, to move the herd away from the community as is the wishes of the community and the constituents? They all want the herd relocated, come positive or negative. Could the Minister let us know that this will happen this summer if the tests do come back negative? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Minister Miltenberger.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, there are two significant issues; one is more short-term and one is longer term. In the short term we're waiting for the test results to come back to confirm or not the initial potential findings of one of the tests that were done on the buffalo of the Hook Lake herd that are outside of the community. The other bigger piece is if there was a broader plan here at play to try to

deal with the issue of diseased bison that exist in the park and outside of the park in the Northwest Territories and down into Alberta, and the point of the Hook Lake herd was to have a disease-free herd that could be maintained for a relatively short period of time until the issue of diseased bison is dealt with in the Wood Buffalo Park and in the Northwest Territories and Alberta. There has been almost no movement on that broader outside issue. So we have to make a program decision, as well.

We've been carrying this herd, we've been maintaining it. There's no money currently in the budget. It is being funded from other sources. If the tests prove that the herd is still healthy, then the other issue is what's the point? Are we going to continue to keep them, and if we are going to keep them, for how long, and are we going to have any movement on the broader issue of these bison? The point is not just to keep them for no other purpose than just having them in a corral where there are crowding issues and there are other fundamental issues to deal with. So I think the Member is aware this is a very complex issue, and we're going to try to look at it carefully to make the right decision. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Miltenberger. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.