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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister what assistance is his department prepared to provide to communities like Hay River in developing their proposals and coming to a consensus on their projects? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have indicated to all our communities that our regional staff are available to assist in developing the proposals or working on some of the project detail. We've also indicated to the communities that if there is some concern about building consensus, that we would provide some money to hire facilitators or other people who may be necessary to work out some of the complications that may be coming forward. Those are the areas we are committed to assist in. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister, because there was quite a bit of concern about this because it was a new process and people hadn't taken this approach to finding consensus in the communities before, I would like to ask, how many communities have come back and said they are going to let the territorial government make those decisions on behalf of their community, they do not want to propose the projects? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It seems that the ABC concept can't go away, I guess.

---Laughter

In response to Members posed by my honourable colleague from Hay River South on February 21st, the Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation stated that as part of the human resource strategy attached to the Novel proposal, NWT residents could be eligible for apprenticeships while working at the ATCO facility in Calgary. My questions are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Does the GNWT fund southern companies to hire northern apprentices? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT funds only northern registered businesses for apprenticeship positions, but we have northern registered businesses who have apprentices working in southern locations, even internationally on occasion. So these situations are somewhat unusual, but on occasion they've helped to strengthen the skills and experience apprentices receive. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In that case, would ATCO Structures in Calgary be eligible for a rate subsidy for each northerner that apprentices in Calgary? Can the Minister confirm this for the Assembly? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If ATCO was successful in getting the housing part of this project, they would have to register in the NWT to do business in order to be considered. I am not sure if they are registered already; they could be, Mr. Speaker. As long as they are registered, they would be eligible to receive rate subsidies for apprentices. I think the Minister of Finance has indicated there are a number of factors that would have to be met before we would be involved in developing a human resource plan for this project.

At the present time, the GNWT is monitoring all of the opportunities that might come from a Mackenzie gas project and we would certainly be prepared to ramp up our planning if the project takes off. In particular, I am confident we could take advantage of opportunities that might develop as this project proceeds.

Mr. Speaker, I think we should point out, though, with our training on-the-job funding, we need to make sure that we are targeting it properly. There has to be a balance between smaller companies and big companies and, to their credit, we have a number of large companies in the North, like the diamond mines, that are taking on apprentices right now. While they could qualify for subsidies, they are paying for the entire cost themselves. So we want to take a look at what would be the right approach. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Minister tell this Assembly what he is prepared to do to prepare northerners to take advantage of any and all training opportunities associated with the proposed Novel project, whether those opportunities are north or not? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly. Currently, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment spends over $2 million on apprenticeship and occupational certification programming. We offer the programming at Aurora College, training on-the-job, technical training, as well as we offer tuition for the theory courses when those have to be taken outside of the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, I think Members are also aware that we are developing new high school curriculum that will assist to get kids into, and be aware of, more opportunities in the trades, and we will continue to develop more and more opportunities and watch this project to see where opportunities might present for us to develop better training for northerners to take advantage of economic opportunity. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this morning are for Mr. McLeod, as the Minister for Transportation, and it relates to some of the information he told us earlier today about the new digital drivers' licences. Mr. Speaker, my technological prowess in this neighbourhood...

---Laughter

...has been taken to task on occasion in this Assembly and I need to do a little bit of proving here on this idea of digital drivers' licences. Just what does that mean, Mr. Speaker? To be a bit more specific, how does having a digital driver's licence, what kind of difference are we going to see from the old style of drivers' licences, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. McLeod.