Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Justice, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't tell the Member if in fact the RCMP officers have already taken up their posts in Gameti. I do understand they will be serviced and will be from the Yellowknife detachment, and it will be on a roving basis. So a number of different officers will be involved. Obviously the communities had some concerns about access to the community, increased alcohol in the community, and drugs, because of the winter road. This is something that the RCMP agreed that they would try this year and see how it goes. The idea was to really keep the presence in the community for the length of the winter road season. I could check, but I'm not sure if the winter road is, in fact, open yet. I could provide that information to the Member, though. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I'll be interested in monitoring the outcome of this particular program, because when I first read about it I said, well, that's a pretty unique way of doing things of increasing service in the small communities. In fact, Wrigley, one of my communities, have always been asking for an increased presence of, actually, medical service. But the barrier there was that there had to be like a police presence, as well. Then if you get one police presence, then you need, like, another officer because there's another rule or guideline saying that they're not going to put in one-police detachments anymore for safety reasons. So just the fact that we're looking at putting RCMP officers in for a couple of months, it might have implications for Wrigley that we can have an at least increased service with regard to providing health care services. So if the Minister will provide me updates as we go along. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We can certainly provide updates. We do have a working group with the RCMP and Justice officials talking about the provision of service to small communities. There are, I think, 13 communities in the NWT without detachments. The Member is right; the days of single-officer detachments are gone, so we have to be more creative and look at ways that we can provide service to some of our smaller communities. Probably the smallest ones we will be hard pressed to ever see detachments, or for awhile anyway, because of cost pressures in the smallest detachments. But I still believe, and I've had this discussion with Member Pokiak about a detachment in Sachs Harbour. I think Wrigley is another obvious one where we could use a detachment. I think the pressures from development are going to increase. But is a matter, as Members know, of getting it into the federal government's capital plan. It is the federal government that pays for detachments; we share the O and M costs. So really it's about convincing the federal Minister. That is something I want to sit down and talk to the federal Minister about, and we'll do that. But I'll keep the Member updated on the progress that we see in Gameti. I do understand that the winter road is not open yet, but we will follow that for the couple-month period that it is. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I look forward to that, as well. The other component is, of course, to begin discussions with the Department of

Health to see if there can be a concerted effort of providing the policing services as well as the health services. If we pilot in the Nahendeh region, as well, I would suggest the community of Wrigley to increase the health services. So while the Minister also begins discussions with Health and Social Services, just to pre-plan it so we can do something maybe next year, Mr. Speaker. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will take the concerns about the provision of health services back to my department for discussions with health officials. Obviously, the Minister of Health has heard the concerns, and that's something that I'm prepared to have a discussion with him about. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. The honourable Minister responsible for Public Works, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the latest information I received, we had a contractor go up there again to thaw out the line and look at why it froze up again. As I stated last week, between the designer of the water treatment plant, Public Works and Services, and Municipal and Community Affairs, we're working on looking at what needs to be changed. The feeling is that the long piping going from the treatment plant into the water lake is probably the reason why the insulation on the piping has deteriorated, and we're putting a project together to look at replacing that whole length of line. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister of Public Works and Services indicate exactly when that problem will be rectified? He mentioned that they're looking at maybe changing the pipeline. I'm just wondering, when can the people of Sachs Harbour have the water treatment plant running in correct order? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Public Works and Services, along with Municipal and Community Affairs, are going to have to come up with what the actual project will be to get this system repaired and fully operational so that we don't have any more freeze-ups. We're going to have to work with the other department and come up with the budget line, and then put it into the process for review. So I don't have an actual time, but we're working with Municipal and Community Affairs. Obviously we're going to have to come forward with something in a supplementary appropriation at a future date because it's a continuing problem; we need to repair it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm just wondering, I know last week I asked the Minister in regard to if the contract was given out. I'm just wondering, this is 2004, the summer of 2004. It's been very costly finding the contractor, the freezing up of the problem. When I made a visit to Sachs Harbour in early January, Mr. Speaker, you know, I talked with the Minister about this on my return visit back to Yellowknife and it appears that early January to now, and I don't know how much longer it's going to take to rectify the problem. I'm just wondering, what more can the department do? The people in Sachs are having a hard time trying to...They drill holes in the lake. Will the problem actually be done? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the situation that we face right now in Sachs Harbour, along with our problems with the water line itself, as I understand, the water trucks in the community actually had problems as the garage up in Sachs Harbour, I understand the furnace ran out of fuel, froze up the unit. There was a team that went up there to do the repairs, I believe on the 6th or the 7th of this last week to make those types of repairs. So my understanding is that that is now either underway or been repaired, as well as looking at the water treatment plant itself. But as for coming up with a plan to date as to what's the actual fix, right now our discussions with the designer, Public Workers and Services, Municipal and Community Affairs is that it's to do with the length of the line, and we're going to have to look at replacing that length of line. We have to come up with a project itself, a new design and a costing of that. So I can't give the Member an actual date. We're working on it with Municipal and Community Affairs to come up with something as soon as we can, understanding that the community can't be left in a position of having to drill holes in the lake to get their water. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today will be for the Minister of Industry, Tourist and Investment. This morning I received an e-mail regarding the potential dropping of the BIP, Mr. Speaker, and it appears several small businesses are concerned, in the e-mail that I received. It looks like it may be replaced by a two percent reduction, from this e-mail that I have before me. So, Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister is, how is this idea being floated out to northern businesses about the potential dropping of the BIP and replacing it with a small two percent reduction in taxes? How is it being floated out there for their discussion? Thank you.