Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have to tell you that this inequity is caused because of overall shortage of health care workers and it is really playing on the morale of the nurses, because nurses are being treated differently and the policy is based on the lack of nurses and this is just a catch-22 thing that's making the whole situation worse. I would urge the Minister, could the Minister just commit to looking further and talking to his managers and really revisiting this, because I'm telling you, this is...

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think we can show on a number of fronts where we take very seriously the issues that employees face who work for us here in the Government of the Northwest Territories no matter what department. We have looked at this. We need to bring some consistency back. We have tried to be flexible where operational requirements are looked at, and feel that this is the avenue we need to work with for the time period and see how it works out. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to direct my questions today to the Premier and it gets back to my Member's statement today where I talked about a connection, and what I see from this side of the House is a disconnection between Cabinet and the rank and file employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Premier when was the last time he instructed his Cabinet Ministers to go on a tour of the various departments or corporations that they represent and actually sit down and talk to the rank and file employees they represent? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Mr. Speaker, I don't recall the last discussion or direction from me to a Minister to do that. But certainly it is expected that Ministers will visit their departments and while they're there they will be speaking with whoever. Now, I don't know if they can speak to everybody, that's a tall order in some cases, but, yes, Ministers are expected to visit their departments both at headquarters and the regional levels. Thank you.

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

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to know if Cabinet has a policy in dealing with employees in the various departments and corporations that the government represents or has control over. Is there a policy in place where an employee in whatever -- pick a department -- has direct access to the Minister? Is there a policy that says an employee in, let's say, Justice cannot contact the Minister directly? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, we don't have a formal policy that any staff member can be phoning the Minister's office directly, but there is a chain of authority within an organization and normally we would expect people to talk to their supervisor. But, Mr. Speaker, certainly all employees have an opportunity speak to their MLA, and if their MLA happens to be the Minister, then, of course, they do that as well. But I don't think any Minister has ever said that I will not speak or I will not be open to any person in the public, whether they work for government or whoever they may work for. We are open to everyone. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think it would be beneficial to the Cabinet members if they did get out and had more on-the-ground contact with the employees that they represent and, in fact, they represent us as well. So I'd like to see you out there more, having that hand-to-hand contact and discussions with rank and file government employees so you can actually hear and discuss issues that are of a concern to them. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to ask, where in the development stage is any type of whistle-blower legislation from this government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A discussion paper is being prepared and will be ready for distribution this fall. I don't have an exact date, but it's being handled through Human Resources. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay. Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I don't have the luxury of having the letter in front of me. I'm not sure what letter he's referencing. The federal cuts have had impact on some of our partnerships that we have been working on, especially in the area of volunteerism. It's a working relationship that we've been working very hard on to develop over the last while, since the year 2000. The federal government had been providing core funding. We've been offering support on different areas where we could support Volunteer NWT. We are now in a situation where the core funding for Volunteer NWT is no longer available. We're looking at ways to see if we can rectify it. We've done a number of things, including action plans, and those things, of course, are in jeopardy now because of the Volunteer NWT situation. I've written a letter to the Minister of Heritage voicing our concerns. Of course, if at the end of this fiscal year there are no new resources found, Volunteer NWT would more than likely have to close its doors. So we're trying to avoid that right now. We're looking to see how we can be of assistance. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I won't reference the letter anymore, Mr. Speaker. I guess the whole point is, has the Minister of Community Affairs taken the time to look at the impacts and come up with a detailed presentation to the communities of what impacts there were? I guess that's the confusion, Mr. Speaker. Some of them are known quite quickly, like the volunteerism which lost I think it was $190,000. But has the ministry assessed other areas of impacts to the communities, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, there has been some work that has been ongoing. Our deputy ministers have been looking at the situation. Sport North, who is a partner in this with Volunteer NWT, has also been looking at discussions. The Volunteer Canada has also had a lot of discussion with their members on this. They've taken a position that they'd like to start lobbying the government, rather than...They want to take the position that they would take the opportunity to lobby the government to change their mind. Of course, we in the NWT have still the responsibility of trying to get the organization to continue working. We had, last year, supported the declaration towards volunteers in the NWT. We also developed a related action plan. We have not come to any conclusion as to the total impact of this, but it's something we're looking at and, of course, we're very concerned about. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.