Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the whole area of human resources and how we attract qualified people covers a very broad area. Is it the manner of how we advertise the equivalencies or what's required? That's been an issue that's been brought up on probably countless times in this forum, about whether we're requiring too many specifics or we're being too broad, to general, and, in fact, are we writing a job description to fit an individual? Those are some of the issues that we've had to deal with and why we've gone towards the human resource service centre process, so that we can be more consistent in how we do that and, as well, how we deal with those who would apply for jobs in the territory. So I think we've started to bring things together and then hopefully time will tell if, in fact, we're following the right path and ensuring we're getting the job done right. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, Mr. Speaker, I think the opportunity is before us. We have an opportunity to stop giving people a fish and we have an opportunity to start teaching them how to do it on their own. What I mean by that is we can show them where that secret spot of going to create your own opportunities for you. I know we have territorial employees that help people write resumes. I know we have people who go out of their way to ensure that when they write the equivalencies, they take the extra step to ensure their experience and knowledge gets on paper, but, Mr. Speaker, the ideas I have suggested out there about posting resume samples on the web, interview coaching and maybe even acknowledging resumes have gone into the abyss of human resources. Mr. Speaker, those are the types of

examples. Would the Minister consider those examples seriously so we can start help serving our people and putting the human side into human resources again? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, putting the human side into human resources is something we are trying to do already. As the Member stated, we already do a lot of things to try to make people as comfortable as possible, provide the information. Is putting a link on the web site one of the things we can do? It's a possibility. Adding one more piece to what we do provide. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think that was a yes, but I will wait until I reread the transcripts. Mr. Speaker, equivalencies are a problem and I think the Minister knows that very well. So one of the problems I see is that northerners have trouble maybe articulating that, not in all cases but I want to ensure that we get northerners who have ample experience, who are qualified individuals, who are committed to the North, who want to stay here but want to work. I want to ensure that we give them the best opportunity rather than just automatically hiring someone with a degree from Calgary, Toronto or who knows where. I am talking about opportunity for local people who have experience and can bring their wherewithal to the job through these opportunities. Can the Minister look at opportunities where we can put examples and help people with their equivalence and experience to bring that forward on their resumes through our hiring practice? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think we already do a fair bit in this area of trying to ensure northerners have the opportunity to apply on the jobs and provide that they do have equivalencies, and we've made that allocation through years of trying to ensure northerners are able to take on the jobs that the government does have. So we do have and have implemented many things to try to encourage northerners to put their names forward and we will look at continuing to evolve in this area to ensure we are doing what we can. Ultimately, Mr. Speaker, what we need to have are qualified people doing the right job. If we don't have that, we will continue to run into other problem areas of not getting the job done right and causing more problems. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am going to change gears a little bit and ask questions of the Minister of MACA. During our debate of the budget, I asked questions about government's readiness to deal with any potential catastrophic disasters that might befall the Territories. I don't want to sound negative, but we have seen situations around the world where all communication systems fail and we have to get to the basics and not everyone is able to do that; assuming, for example, there are no telephone lines. We have been experiencing lots of power outages and if everything shuts down for a few hours and we are dealing with minus 40 degree temperatures, I tell you I am not sure if everybody is ready to get to the basics. I asked these questions of MACA and I was kind of looked at, and maybe it's just my feeling, but why are you being so morbid.

I would just like to highlight the seriousness of this issue and ask the Minister when he's planning on giving us the information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what information the Member is requesting. We had indicated that we would provide a briefing to committee if there was a desire for us to do so. The emergency plans that we have rest with each community and municipality. The community governments have their own plans for emergency preparedness. The territorial government coordinates the territorial emergency measures plan and the actions on emergencies that are broader than one community. Any plans that are done within the municipality are with the community government. That includes emergency generators, if there are facilities that require them, then the building owners usually take that responsibility on. If there is communications that need to be dealt with, then we, as government, if it affects more than one community, we work together with the different agencies to try to deal with that. We have a territorial-wide committee that deals with emergencies. We meet on a regular basis. We also have staff that deal with emergencies and we have a partnership arrangement with the RCMP in search and rescue, if it's emergency based. So there are a number of things we have, Mr. Speaker. I have offered that to the committee and I still continue to have that offer on the table. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do appreciate that there are EMR staff and we do have funding and there is coordination required, but I don't believe that any of those organizations are ready for cases where there is no means of communication. If something happened and we had a power outage for a very long time and there is no telephone service and people don't know what the

problem is, and I don't think there is readily available information or people-friendly information. There is no information...We can't call 911. Well, actually 911 wouldn't work if the telephone goes down. I was looking for the Minister to make a commitment to work with all the communities and the Territories to notch up the level of readiness further to contemplate situations where we have catastrophic failure of communication and people should have basic information readily available at their fingertips. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lee. Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure what that means, "notch up the readiness" of the communities. Each community in the Northwest Territories has an emergency plan. Each community in the Northwest Territories reviews the plans; it's required we review the plans on an ongoing basis. Our department provides support to the communities to ensure that the plan is complete, to ensure the details that are required in the plan are worked out. We provide the backup staff; we provide the backup to the communities in a case of emergency. If there are other concerns such as communication if the power goes out, the phones still work because the land lines certainly work. The concern would have to be a lot more clearer for me to work towards ramping up or ensuring that there's more. I am not sure what else can be done that the Member is raising as a concern. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If he keeps going like this, I am likely to take back all the compliments I have given him through this session, Mr. Speaker. I don't understand what there is for him not to understand. We've had an experience in Tuktoyaktuk where the whole town was...not the whole town, but much of it was under water. It was flooded. We've had tsunamis in Thailand. We had a hurricane situation in New Orleans. We could experience situations where all of our communication links could go down and I am telling you that people do not know what to do. Let me ask this specific question to the Minister: Would the Minister, if you would be listening to me, would the Minister make a commitment to ask his staff -- and I know that he has staff that looks at this -- would they contact all the municipal emergency response organizations and see if they are ready and how are they ready to respond to catastrophic crisis situations, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. McLeod.

I apologize if the Member thought I wasn't listening. I was trying to ask my colleagues when Tuk ever flooded. I think maybe we were referring to Fort McPherson when we had some concern over flooding last spring. Mr. Speaker, again I want to assure the Member that we do talk to the communities. We talk to them on a regular basis. Each community has an emergency plan. If she's asking to go back and make sure every community has an emergency plan, I guess we could do that, but we do that already. We have emergency plans in each community and it outlines who is the lead contact, who would be in charge of the community, who declares emergency measures in the community, where people would go in case of an emergency, and which vehicles would be used and who would be contacted to evacuate the community. I am not sure what else we can do. She's asking me to go back and check. Okay, we'll go back and check, but we do that anyway as part of our routine operations, but I am not sure where we go with this. Each community has their plan; each community follows their plans. In the case of Tuktoyaktuk where we had a storm, in the case of Fort McPherson where we had concern over fire, and in Tulita over smoke, and Fort McPherson where we had a flood, the plans were followed and they worked well. I am not sure where else we go with it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.