Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I also hope that the federal government comes to their senses on many other issues, but this one, particularly in this case here, in that the federal government allows the Northwest Territories to give some flexibility in terms of how this program can be and should be administrated to include the forgotten people, the Metis people into this program. I think the Minister has spoken in the past about his difficulty, and a lot of people in the Northwest Territories have spoken to me in my region about the discrimination of this program in terms of the policies, and I certainly will support the Minister on this in terms of his position because I think it's flawed, it's wrong, the federal government has got it wrong and we should give it back to them. So again, this program I want to ask the Minister, the reduction, but he's also indicated that his department were into administering this program. Is there a deadline here, or just as of April 1st, or when will we see that the federal government will assume the responsibility of this program that does not recognize Metis people in their program as advertised in the News/North as use a program that encourages all aboriginal people. They forget the Metis people, so it's bad advertising on behalf of their part. So I'm not going to say anything further on that. I just want to ask the Minister on this shameful program.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We gave notice to the federal government that as of March 31st we would no longer be responsible for delivering the program. About two weeks ago, I was talking to the parliamentary secretary, to Mr. Prentice, and asked him if he had any idea of how this program was going to be delivered in the Northwest Territories. He, at that time, couldn't tell me, but invited me to follow up with him by

phone to see if we could get some information on that. As soon as I'm able to find out how the federal government plans to administer the program, I'll endeavour to let Members know so that they can let their constituents know how to apply in the future for the program.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Yakeleya, anything else?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the future conversations that the Minister is going to have with Minister Prentice, I'd like to ask the Minister, has he noticed any type of a shift in terms of the Minister's or the department's view, the Department of Indian Affair's view on this program in terms of its changing of the definition that will include Metis people that will be into this program? Or it's just business as usual and that they're going to just advise the Minister on how this program is going to be administered should the GNWT continue to be firm on their commitment not to have this program administered as part of our programs. I just want to know if there's any light or hope that maybe the department would reconsider on this specific definition on aboriginal that must include the Metis people. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The last letter I received from Minister Prentice clearly stated that the federal government was not prepared to change the definition or to change the parameters for how the program was operated.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Yakeleya.

I look forward to the Minister's, again, communication to us and so we can communicate to our people in our region. I hope we don't have to wait for another hundred years before he gives us an answer. Louis Riel must be rolling in his grave on this issue here, Mr. Speaker. I think a lot of other Metis people in the Northwest Territories are quite upset with Minister Prentice in terms of how this program is rolling out and no one is really speaking on it. I think the Minister is doing the honourable thing by giving it back to the horse.

---Interjection

That's right. I think Metis people are being treated as second-class aboriginals in Canada. I'm going to leave it at that, Mr. Chairman, in terms of this issue here.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Dent, would you like to make any comments?

I'll make sure that we report back to the Members as soon as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. We're on page 8-45, information item, work performed on behalf of others continued, $6.479 million.

Can I ask the Members to turn to page 8-7? Department summary, Education, Culture and Employment, operations expenditure summary, $286.150 million.

Thank you. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Oh, sorry. I was just trying to tell you that I have questions when you get to capital. Sorry.

At this time, Members, can you turn to 7-5, infrastructure (inaudible) capital, education and culture, tangible capital assets, total tangible capital assets, $24.253 million. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, one of the line items in this capital budget is Diamond Jenness School change room upgrade, $250,000 for 2007-2008. This number and this project has been in the capital plan now for a while. I'm not exactly sure why it hasn't been, the work hasn't been performed yet. But I'd like to ask the Minister if he is still confident that that is a sufficiently high enough number to undertake those upgrades. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At this point we think that the project should be able to be completed. There may be, we're talking just about the change rooms, but there may be some changes, but at this point the information that I have is that it should be going ahead with that budget.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With almost all estimates that are done on capital projects, this is a relatively small one, but almost all estimates on capital projects after they've sat for a little while seem to increase by 10, 15, 20 percent. I guess what I really want from the Minister is assurance that this small project is going to proceed if the estimates when it goes to tender come in for slightly higher. I just don't want to see this have to go back into the capital planning process. Again, the school in Hay River has been waiting for this for quite a while. So I guess what I would like from the Minister then is assurance that even though this number is a bit old that the work will proceed regardless. We won't be going back through another costing exercise. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.