Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to ask the Premier what exactly his government is doing to address the high cost of living to the residents of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Premier Handley.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. That's a bit of a different question, Madam Speaker. Rather than get into the detail of what we are doing in the taxation area, I think the question deals with a whole list of things that have been included in our first budget and in the last budget. Madam Speaker, taxation and tax benefits are one piece of it. Our government did make changes, the last government, the 14th Assembly, to the way personal income tax is handled. I think that was beneficial to everyone. We have increased the cost of living allowance. We've made those kinds of changes.

Madam Speaker, there are also issues that we think are much broader. For example, we've done a lot of work on promoting hydro development as a way of getting the cost of living down, as another example. Madam Speaker, it's a very broad question and I could stand here for two hours and list the things we have been doing, but I don't think that's what the Member wants right now. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Premier Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am sure the Premier and the Finance Minister do get the point that I am getting at, which is the fact that anything in this Northern Strategy and anything I have seen since becoming a Member of this Legislative Assembly, the only thing I have seen is us raising taxes. I don't believe we have taken a good, solid look at how we can decrease the cost of living on our residents. I know other countries around the world have identified certain areas of their country as economic areas of development and things of that nature. I don't know why the federal government wouldn't look at Northern Canada as having a similar feel and take a look at us as being different and respect the fact that it does cost more to live in the Northwest Territories and in the other two territories, as well. I would like to ask the Premier if he will take this issue seriously. I do believe the Premier will take it seriously and take it up with the other two northern Premiers and at least start a dialogue on what the federal government can do to help reduce the high cost of living in the three northern territories. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Premier Handley.

Madam Speaker, yes, I will take that very seriously and so do the other northern Premiers. I will raise it again with them. I have to say that the Prime Minister has shown a lot of personal interest in the Northern Strategy and I know that he is also interested. Yes, I will follow up with this, Madam Speaker. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Education. I was at a briefing today with respect to tobacco addictions, Madam Speaker. I was thinking in addictions overall, how much of a role does our Education department play in the

curriculum of teaching our children about addictions? How much time do we have set aside in our education system, Madam Speaker, with respect to teaching our children about addictions?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I can't answer the question as to how many minutes or hours might be involved, but I can say that our curriculum includes the teaching of issues around additions starting from the earliest grades. There is a much heavier emphasis in the health curriculum by the time students get to the junior high level and then it carries on into the high school. It is something that is included in all levels of schooling in the discussions. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am aware of some of the initiatives, particularly by the RCMP or the Justice department in terms of the DARE program. I am just wondering about some of the content about what is available to our youth in the schools. I recently quit smoking cigarettes...

---Applause

....and many years ago I had a personal battle with alcohol and I was able to deal with that by myself. I was just thinking does our curriculum or some of the things we are teaching our children help them know where to turn for help. Is that within what we are teaching them, Madam Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister Dent.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The curriculum focuses on helping young people understand how to make healthy choices. Healthy choices include how to make choices around issues of alcohol, drugs and tobacco. Yes, there is a discussion included around where to get assistance and how to get assistance if that is needed. Many of our schools have incorporated counselling, not just career counselling, but counselling within the schools to help young people so they have a resource, a person they can talk to about making those healthy choices. For instance, in Norman Wells they have brought a regular counsellor into the school system and it's really made a positive change in the behaviour in the schools, they have found, including how children are interacting with the law. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Minister Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Is it the priority of this government to continue with the expansion of these programs if they feel it's necessary? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister Dent.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As I said, this is definitely part of the curriculum already. It's something we can work on with our partners in the education system to find out if we need to strengthen the resources that are available. If they do, we will certainly look to do that. We do encourage the schools to take advantage of partnerships with the RCMP, Health and Social Services and other caregivers in the communities to make sure the resources are brought into the classroom to help with this whole process. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Dent. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, in my statement, I quoted John Diefenbaker's vision to the northern frontier, building roads. In John Diefenbaker's roads in the past 30 years of that vision being voiced in Ottawa, I would like to ask the Minister of Transportation if he could outline a brief strategy of his department's intentions to move on building an all-weather road in the Sahtu region. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, like the Member, we share Mr. Diefenbaker's vision to see an all-weather road along the Mackenzie Valley.

---Applause

However, the final decision is not ours to make. We continue to seek funding to improve the road system, extend the season and put the bridge into the Mackenzie Valley winter road. However, we need the federal government onside to provide the dollars to bring it to the point where it is an all-weather road. It's something we strive towards. We've used every avenue that we have to bring that message to Ottawa. We have included it in our long-term strategy. We have a document called Investing in Roads that was put together in 2000 that has the strategy in there to include the Mackenzie Valley winter road, the Tuk road and all other roads that are needed in the NWT.

We are also dealing with this road when we discuss the resource development impacts that are happening in the Northwest Territories. We have raised it with the pipeline proponents. We have increasing meetings with all

developers in the area to see if we can partner with them to raise some funds.

We are also developing a new proposal that we will be sharing with committee that looks at putting a request in to the federal government again along the same lines as the Corridors for Canada.

We also had our Premier raise this issue at his Western Premiers Conference. So we are using every avenue we have out there to bring the message to the federal government and we certainly agree with the Member that this is a well needed structured road that has to be continued to be improved to the point where it's an all-weather road. Thank you.