Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government has been very aware of this issue. It was one

of our initial objectives as a government and continues to be a high priority.

Mr. Speaker, it's not easy to reduce the cost of foods and energy and so on, but we are looking at a number of long-term things, including the highway extension program for up the valley. Mr. Speaker, in the short term there are other things that we have done. We have set up a committee that is looking at the cost of living and seeing if there are ways that we can reduce costs, particularly energy costs. Mr. Speaker, we continue to seek advice from constituents throughout the territory on how we can save these costs, reduce the costs. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Premier made comments to the long term-goals of reducing costs and highway extension. I think that's going to be a long, long time down the road here. So in terms of what can the Minister do in terms of the short-term initiatives to reduce the high cost of living in the communities of the Sahtu, would the Minister look at the issues of the food program? In Country Canada it showed a documentary of Grise Fiord and, in there, the community or government brought down the prices by subsidizing the basic foods and increased the luxury costs by giving that a balance. Would the Minister consider that option? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will continue to look at the Food Mail Program. I recognize that it is a federal program, but we will look at how it's administered. Mr. Speaker, I have personally had meetings with the Northern Stores and their people on the cost of food and how they go about using the Food Mail Program. We will continue to try to be creative on that one and try to figure out ways we can help.

Mr. Speaker, as well, we do regular updates on our food baskets through income support and through trying to ensure that the subsidies that we're providing are done in a way that meets people's needs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again I would like to ask the Premier in terms of supporting the community by bringing in a subsidy that subsidizes bread, milk, butter, the basic foods on the food core supplementary guide, and increase the luxuries -- pop, candy -- we can balance it out so that people in Colville Lake will not have to pay $17.99 for one can of Enfalac. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, certainly in terms of people on income support I think that we're working to try to keep costs and keep the subsidy we provide within reason. Mr. Speaker, in terms of looking at it in a broader sense and picking out those four main foods, that's something that we'd be willing to look at. We'd have to see what the cost would be to our government to do something like that, but, Mr. Speaker, as we said before, we want to be creative in how we continue to make living affordable in the small communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not all people in the Sahtu are on income support. We have people who work hard, people who are paying the high price, making a living to provide for their families. Again, would this government seriously look at subsidy programs in the communities like they did in Grise Fiord in Nunavut where the government came and helped the people subsidize the high costs of food? The Food Mail Program is a federal program. You know how the government is, especially with Ottawa, it takes a long time. Maybe even for ourselves. Would the Premier again look at this issue here that would make our lives more affordable and accessible, bring the cost of living down, and give something to the people in our communities that do not have the luxury of other centres like Yellowknife or Hay River or Inuvik? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, yes, we will look at it. Mr. Speaker, saying that, and again without putting in a lot of thought into how this would work, I would also like to look for the cooperation from the stores to work with us on that and keep the price of those basic, healthy foods down, even if it means they have to increase in some other areas on things that are more optional or aren't essential. So, Mr. Speaker, yes, we'll look at it, but again I would hope that the stores would work with us on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of ITI and follow my Member's statement. I'd just like the Minister to confirm the commitment to work with the community and, of course, ITI and ENR, to arrange for the relocation of the ITI office off the highway to the downtown core. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, Thank you. We're doing a number of things in this regard and I thank the Member for the question and can indicate that he has, a number of times, approached me about the possibility of more of a one-stop shop for business programs in the community. It seems to have quite a deal of support in Fort Smith and I think that's important. I recently met with our BDIC together with my ITI officials to talk about how we might change some program delivery. We recognize it can't be done boilerplate across all communities. Some communities have different needs. The BDIC indicated that they were interested in looking at Fort Smith as an example or potential pilot. So I believe that there are discussions underway between ITI officials and the BDIC to talk about how there could be some collaboration. I can't say what the outcome will be, but I think the location they're looking at is the current Community Futures building. We do know or believe that ENR will need additional space and may need to take some of the ITI space out on the highway, but we're waiting for that to be confirmed and documented in terms of their actual needs. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the mayor, the Metis president, the chief of the Salt River First Nations and myself are all in support, as I believe is the business community in Fort Smith, so the answer wasn't clear to me. Is the Minister confirming that yes, we're going to work towards this in the coming months and maybe the next business planning cycle to make it happen? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, we are talking about a couple of options. We're not sure if the approach will be to move all of the ITI staff to the downtown location with Community Futures. We may relocate some of the staff who deal principally with business development, with loans. There are a number of approaches, but I've asked the stakeholders in that community to get together and discuss best options. Some of the options, obviously, as the Member indicated, would require money and so would have to be brought forward in the business planning process. We're currently in a GNWT facility and if we were going to go out and fit up capital downtown in private space, leased private space, there would not only be capital costs, but there would be additional O and M costs. Now, we may be coming to that conclusion anyway, as ENR needs additional space, but it may be just a matter of which department incurs the bill. So I think it's important for us to work with ENR to know how much space they need and understand what the community thinks the best model is for program delivery. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm aware that ENR was contemplating some renovations which didn't make sense if we were going to arrange this move. I'd just like to ask the Minister if he could give me a timeline when he expects the report back from the community groups. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Bell.