Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Sahtu. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to start off with the saying, "and they lived happily ever after." I want to talk about the Novel manufactured homes here.

---Laughter

I want to emphasize the point to live, Mr. Speaker. Knowing that the high core needs in the communities, Fort McPherson has 33 percent, Paulatuk has 35 percent, Colville Lake has an astonishing number of 75 percent of core need of homes, Wrigley 50 percent, Ndilo 40 percent. Taking out the equation of the Yellowknife and Hay River market in homes, the extent of the problem in our communities, Mr. Speaker, is very, very clear. If anybody has a vision and has the commitment and dedication to put housing in, I think it's up to all the Members in the House here to put suitable and affordable homes in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, where will we find such an opportunity like this?

Where will we see them come into our communities as large-scale developments? Where will we see workplaces and workforces in our regions specifically dedicated to the housing sector? Where will we see where we can deal with the chronic situation of housing issues? Mr. Speaker, I understand in 2005-2014 that we're going to need new homes; 1,600 new homes, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is an innovative idea that's supported by my region. Used trailers, they call them. I call them affordable homes that we can build up with our own people. We have ingenuity that we can use in our region, that we could build this in our region. You know? We need these homes.

There's TB, there's sickness, overcrowding. You go into our communities and you'll see these. We have to figure out how we're going to do them. To stick build they say it's going to cost us more. There's opportunities like this, as businesspeople and communities, expect the deal when the iron's hot here.

The families need it, the communities need it. So we need it in our region and I'll be darned if we're pushing this through. I'm not a paid lobbyist, but I speak for my people and my people want these homes. They want the development, they want the training. You know, this is a once in a lifetime. So this is a good opportunity and I applaud the government and I applaud the people who put the deal first. Thank you very much.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was advised yesterday about an incident in Sachs Harbour involving the dangerous use of a firearm. This incident was confirmed later by my constituent assistant. The RCMP in Inuvik was notified and immediately chartered an aircraft to Sachs Harbour that afternoon. Thank God the weather cooperated for the RCMP to charter to the community. They were able to apprehend the suspect and transport the suspect to Inuvik. I would like to report there was no immediate injury to the victim and the suspect involved. A couple of RCMP members have remained in Sachs Harbour to conduct an investigation.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure that it will come as no surprise to you again that the number one concern of the residents of Sachs Harbour has been the RCMP presence in the community. With this recent incident it is more evident that the RCMP should provide their presence to protect the people in Sachs Harbour.

In a previous Minister's statement, Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Justice advised this Assembly that he will address the concern. Mr. Speaker, the residents of Sachs Harbour are entitled to the same level of public protection as all the residents of Canada. When will the Department of Justice provide the necessary personnel in Sachs Harbour? When, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to speak on the so-called "letter of comfort," or, as some people have referred to it as, the "letter of surrender." The only certainty I know, Mr. Speaker, is that Imperial Oil and the other gas producers are laughing all the way to the bank.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier has said time and time again this is just a letter and there's nothing to worry about. Well, the same thing was said about the gun registry, Mr. Speaker. It's just going to cost a couple million dollars; there's nothing to worry about. The same thing was said about the sponsorship scandal just a couple years ago with the Liberals; nothing to worry about, just a couple Liberals out of control. I think, Mr. Speaker, whenever a politician utters the words "nothing to worry about," Canadians start to get nervous.

One thing is safe to say, Mr. Speaker, is that the Premier and myself truly do disagree on the implications...

Mr. Handley, you're rising on a point of order. What is your point of order?

Point Of Order

Mr. Speaker, thank you, Mr. Speaker, I have a point of order. The Member is imputing false or hidden motives, talking about whenever a politician says something that you have to be careful how you interpret it. There are no false motives on my part, Mr. Speaker. So Mr. Speaker, under section 23(i), I believe, there is a point of order. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Handley has risen on a point of order. I'm going to allow some debate on this one, on the point of order. To the point of order. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn't say that the Premier did something ill. I'm making a point of saying there's nothing to worry about. So I'm speaking about the letter and the implications that the letter will have over the long term. You never know what will happen over the long term and so nothing to worry about, and we have to worry about it. It is all in the context of who knows where we're going with this. Nothing was directly pointed to the Premier, so I personally believe the Premier misunderstood the point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. To the point of order. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take particular offence at this in the Member saying that whenever a Member, a politician, makes a statement, you have to wonder about it and then drawing an inference to the Gomery situation, which is criminal wrongdoing. Mr. Speaker, I want to say I highly resent that and that is very clearly an effort to impute some false or hidden motive on my part for something that's criminal, in fact. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. To the point of order. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Hawkins says that he doesn't impute any motive. Why is the Premier picking this up? Well, it's because he's talking about the letter of comfort. I believe that the Premier and the Finance Minister, one of them signed the letter of comfort and he has in the context, in setting up the context of this, he has made reference to politicians who say don't worry about it and he's put it in the context of the sponsorship scandal. Those were his words. He didn't say the Gomery inquiry. He said the sponsorship scandal, which to me says that when someone is defending something they've done by saying, you know, it's good or don't worry about it, that inherently there must be some scandal attached to it. In a broader context, that's how I would perceive that he's putting this on the same footing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. To the point of order. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to say something about this and just state my observation in this regard. I don't really have a position on either side and I await to hear your decision regarding this debate, but I really think how we conduct ourselves and the decisions in this regard should reflect the balance between the right of Members to speak and how much room you have to speak. We may not like what we hear necessarily and I don't know exactly what was said, so I can't really comment on that, but I would ask you to look at the overall role. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. To the point of order. The honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to the point of order, we, in this Assembly, have a certain amount of latitude, for sure, in how we represent our constituents in the case or the issues we raise in this House. But, Mr. Speaker, when the reference is drawn in such a clear line and the people of the Territories or those listening get to see just a piece of what we do here in this House and all they'll hear is the fact the Premier and myself, the Finance Minister, signed a letter of comfort, and then drawing a direct relationship with the sponsorship scandal is not truly representative of what the situation is there.

So, Mr. Speaker, though we may have latitude in how we reference the issues to the people of the Territories, we also have a responsibility not to be setting and saying things that would have people out there believing that we've broken some rule or broken the law in how we carry on our business. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. To the point of order. Members, I am going to take this matter under advisement and return with my ruling on the point of order at a later date. Mr. Hawkins, you may continue with your statement, but I will caution you to steer clear of any controversial issues. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I respectfully thank you and the Members for their input on that matter.

Mr. Speaker, the final thing that I want to say on this matter is the implications of this letter and what it will have down the road. The fact is that we don't know what's happening, and the only time we're going to truly understand the implications of this letter is when someone such as a high-priced lawyer, maybe from Calgary, shows up with this letter of comfort and only then will we truly understand the consequences of what we sign. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause