Thank you, Madam Speaker and colleagues. May I just conclude by saying that, Madam Speaker, we have to understand that all over the NWT we have an alarming statistic of children with severe cases of behavioural, emotional and mental health needs, whether they be caused by FASD, a dysfunctional home environment or clinical issues. This centre in Yellowknife is the only network of specialized care we have and surrounding it are a web of highly specialized services that these children desperately need.

The right thing for the government to do is to strengthen what we have so that you can serve all of the North and that we are ready for the increasing needs in future. This decentralization move is nothing short of a destruction and dismantling of something very fragile that we need to have for the children of the North. If we could for one moment forget that this is in Yellowknife, I know that everyone here would agree that there is no need to move it or change it or dismantle it or fix something that is not broken. I believe there are lots of other issues of the fiscal matters that we'll be discussing throughout the day today. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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Thank you, Ms. Lee. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Minister of Health and Social Services and, I believe, the Premier yesterday did indeed offer to provide Members with further substantiation of the move of the Territorial Treatment Centre to Hay River. Without getting into it in detail, Madam Speaker, it was quite an extensive document, but did not provide me with the substantiation that I was looking for, Madam Speaker, and that is the consultation, the collaboration, the cooperation of the many stakeholders that this community has in providing services to the children with severe behavioural problems who are the residents of the Territorial Treatment Centre.

The core of this issue is the confidence of the community to know that a relocation will not disrupt or disturb what is already a very significant part of the lives of these children, of their families, and indeed of a number of other organizations in the city of Yellowknife that have over the past decade, collaborated, cooperated, and worked with each other to build this very vital service.

I just wanted to comment, Madam Speaker, that despite receiving, I don't know, almost 200 pages yesterday, it is void of any evidence that they have really thought this plan through and that is why I am one Member, and I know there are others on this side, who will continue to seek the deferral of this program at least until there is a consultative plan that can restore the confidence of the communities and the families and the kids involved in continuing this plan. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Item 3, Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I'm honoured today to welcome to our Legislative Assembly the Consul General of Indonesia, Bunyan Saptomo...

---Applause

...and Consul for Consul Affairs for Indonesia, Bebeb Djundjunan.

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Madam Speaker, they're accompanied today by our protocol and communications officer, Carmen Moore, and summer student working with Ms. Moore, Anne Marie Summerfield.

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Madam Speaker, I'd also like to recognize my loyal constituent, Major Karen Hoeft.

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Thank you, Premier Handley, and welcome to our visitors in the gallery today. Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, it's with pleasure I get to introduce in the gallery my constituency assistant who is down on training, Brenda Dillon.

---Applause

Item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As I was saying in my Member's statement today, I am concerned that possibly we could be reaching an area of stalemate between the City of Yellowknife and the Yellowknives Dene. I firmly believe the Yellowknives Dene have a right to land, and land that belongs to them and their personal development, so do I believe in the growth of the city of Yellowknife and I'd hate to see that impeded in any way. My question to the Premier is would he use his mediation skills, talents and abilities to help mediate the situation before a stalemate reaches an untimely death? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. There is a process, an agreed to process, for dealing with transfer of land between the Government of the Northwest Territories, the City of Yellowknife, and there's also an interim measures agreement with the Yellowknives Dene on how we will do that; the Akaitcho, sorry, more than the Yellowknives Dene. That is managed through the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs and, Madam Speaker, I believe that Municipal and Community Affairs along with Aboriginal Affairs are working very effectively and cooperatively with both the city and with the Yellowknives Dene. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, I do recognize the process and it was set up by this government many years ago. It was a one-year moratorium on land so we could settle the land claim process. But, Madam Speaker, the Yellowknives do have an entitlement to land, as does the city of Yellowknife have an entitlement for growth. Unfortunately, I would never like to see them conflict. That being said, would the Premier assure me that he's working towards a mediation process or even just being there to help assist this process, so no stalemate ever exists between these two groups, so the City of Yellowknife is not forced to go back to gobbling up their nature preserves for residential development? Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. There is no need for a mediation process. It's working effectively now. To my understanding, all the parties are working in accordance with the agreements that we have and I'm optimistic, in fact I'm fairly certain that there will be an agreement of how to accommodate everyone's needs; the needs of the Yellowknives Dene and their rights to land, as well as the needs of the city.

Madam Speaker, I might add that even though the city has prepared and had approval of a general plan, I don't know of them ever asking for residential land. I wouldn't want people to believe that somehow things are being held up here, because I don't believe there has been a request for residential land from the city. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I guess what I'm getting at is the City of Yellowknife may feel the pressure of the Yellowknives Dene and their right to entitlement of land, so maybe they haven't applied for those particular lands, recognizing there is a right. Yet the City of Yellowknife is going back and looking seriously at its nature preserves and its green space. I'm looking for the Premier to make sure he plays a role in this process. I'm asking the Premier in his capacity of possibly Minister of Aboriginal Affairs to make sure that the selection process goes forward and we can get that moving along again so the city of Yellowknife isn't impeded in its growth. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Premier.

Madam Speaker, I wouldn't want the public to believe that somehow the city is doing an in-fill study, if that's what it's called -- and I'm not familiar with the detail of it -- because they can't get any land for residential development. The fact is they have not applied to us for more residential land. I believe the in-fill study they're doing is simply a study they're doing as part of

their planning for the city and that's something that's totally within the mandate of the city. It's something we wouldn't get involved in. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. I wasn't getting a sense whether this was if the city applied for land and if the city applies for land would the Premier be involved. It's a hypothetical question. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. My questions today are for the Premier. Madam Speaker, the Northern Strategy that we've talked numerous times about in this House and in the Great Hall of this Assembly sets out some guiding principles and it does recognize the fact that we have unique challenges here in Northern Canada. I've mentioned, in this House, tax credits, trust funds, and, today, exemption from the GST as ways that we can get a competitive edge on attracting and retaining residents. We've been waiting quite patiently some 13 years for the federal government to come up with this Northern Strategy. I'd like to ask the Premier today if he could start a dialogue with Ottawa on exempting the Northwest Territories from paying the goods and services tax. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.