Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would agree with the Member that we need to do all that we can to encourage our students to pursue post-secondary. I was having trouble understanding why we had the arbitrary time limit in there when I first had it brought to my attention by Members and constituents in this House. So in August I asked the department to contact Justice about getting the regulation changed. As I understand it, it is in the process right now of being translated in Justice, so it's very close to finally being changed; probably within the next week or two.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

This is just so much good news. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The fact is that there are a number of students who are already enrolled in their classes for this semester, as we speak now, who did miss the previously imposed deadline. They have gone to school; they're there. I want to know about retroactivity. Once the regulation goes in place, will the Minister consider those who had missed the deadline, had to enrol anyway, and are facing financial hardship? Can we have a retroactivity, a period of grace, for those who are enrolled at this time? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're aware that there were 23 this year who applied after the deadline and the current regulation doesn't allow any consideration past that deadline, but the new regulation will allow it and as long as the regulation gets changed before the end of this semester, a person will be able to apply for consideration.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So just to clarify then, the 23 students who filed their applications late who are enrolled in post-secondary education right now, with the time frame and the anticipation the Minister has of getting the regulation in place, they need to know that there may be an opportunity for them to apply for financial assistance for this semester they are currently enrolled in. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I've just been assured by the Minister of Justice that he will ensure that we have the regulation in time for students to get consideration this semester.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We're very aware of some of these issues that appear in some

communities, and certainly the issues in Liard have been brought to our attention. Mr. Speaker, there's a couple of things we want to do. One of them, of course, is to give the local leaders in the community more authority to be able to determine how the houses are to be allocated, the sequence for repairing, for replacing and so on. Mr. Speaker, I think it doesn't matter if it's a teacher's house or a house for someone else who's in need of accommodation. We need to have the maximum amount of input from local leaders. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I think I addressed it in writing; I think the government did say that we're not in the business of providing housing for staff, and I can see that there may be some difficulties if they have to provide housing for all staff. But I think one of the ways that other jurisdictions, particularly like B.C., got around it, Mr. Speaker, is they provided temporary housing for staff accommodations. Is that something this government is prepared to look at, Mr. Speaker?

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

Mr. Speaker, certainly one way of dealing with the shortage of housing for teachers and for other staff is to bring in more market housing. We have two units, I think, in Fort Liard. We're prepared to bring more market housing units in if there's demand for it. In the meantime, Mr. Speaker, what we would like to see would be to have, in the community, a housing board and we're working on that with the local leadership. If there's a housing board and teachers need temporary accommodation when they first arrive in a community, then we would like to work that through the local leaderships so they have a say on how the teachers that they need in their communities will be housed even on a temporary basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Just in terms of market housing, there was a commitment made by our government to provide a duplex for October delivery in Fort Liard. Is that still underway for the community of Fort Liard, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, yes, that is still our intention to have that unit delivered this fall; hopefully in November.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are in following up to my Member's statement with regard to the whistle-blower legislation, Mr. Speaker. I believe my question will be directed to the Minister of Justice. Yesterday, I believe, in the House, the Premier confirmed that there is a discussion paper in the works. Well, I guess it could be either Minister Bell or the Premier, whoever wants to answer. But I was a little taken aback, in a good way, that in fact this legislation is in the works, and I have to reiterate, once again, how many times during the course of my work that I get calls from constituents or whoever that has a concern, and without fail, every person is afraid of speaking out for whatever reason, rightly or wrongly, whether it's about their job, or their contract, their business, government policy or whatever. In a free and democratic society like Canada, which is supposed to be one of the most advanced, I don't think we should be tolerating that and we should do all we can to improve that situation. So I am encouraged by the Premier's statement that this is in the works, but he stated that it's in the works for the fall and this is already the middle of October. So I'd like to know if he could give us better information on the timing of it. Thank you.