Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member's correct; there was a review done working with the Foster Family Coalition of the NWT and the department was a part of that. We recognized, in fact, that the service they provide is an important one. The work was done in a number of areas. One, looking at standardizing rates across the NWT, as well as looking at what's the actual amount paid to foster families as a basic supplement. The Department of Health and Social Services has brought that forward as one of their new initiatives but, unfortunately, at this time it's not included in the budget that we have before us. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister if he could highlight some of the recommendations and results of that report. I'm not sure if the Social Programs committee or the Members on this side of the House have seen that report, but I'd like to ask the Minister if he could highlight some of the key findings and recommendations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there's three key areas that we're looking at and that could be brought in a number of phases, but until we get approval to proceed, at this time it's a plan that we'd like to see go forward, but we have to get the necessary funding. One is to look at standardizing what we consider the age of the child as they proceed or progress through a foster family process. The second is looking at the daily basis or rates that are needed. In fact, for example, right now in the foster family situation as a foster family deals with a child they would deal with a worker who would categorize if the child needed special care and that would change the way the funding is flowed to that family. That's almost a case-by-case, an individual worker doing the definition of what is needed. We plan to standardize that and come up with one rate across the board. There's work that needs to continue to be done in this area. We feel it's important enough to have included in going forward. Hopefully we can see that addressed in the near future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to have the Minister clarify somewhat, if he could, the issue of rates. One standard rate would be very difficult, in my opinion. You'd need a range. There are regional differences, cost differences, care needs of the children are not all going to be the same. So I'd just like to ask the Minister if that kind of recognition is going to be built into the scale that is going to be brought forward as a way to better compensate foster parents. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, indeed we talk about a basic rate as where we'd start from, but we'd also look at, for example, the cost of living index is one of those things that would play a factor as it does in many of our programs that we already deliver on part of people across the North. Looking at our income support programs is one of those ways we can include it. So that has been incorporated into it, but what we find now is there's so many different ways out there. There's a need to come up with a basic amount, deal with some of the special needs areas and adjust it according to costs across the North. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Finally for the Minister, I would like to ask the Minister if the report has been shared with the Social Programs committee and, if it hasn't, would he be prepared to do that? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm not aware if it's been shared with the committee and if it hasn't, I'll gladly provide it to them. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is in following up to the budget yesterday. I guess my questions could be answered by the Minister of Finance or Premier; I'll leave it to them. I'm reflecting more on the budget. Yesterday I talked about it. It's something that we repeat all the time about the importance of the role and the need for the federal government to step up to the plate and we have made very successfully, for many years I think, a case for our economy, our numbers, our potential, our resources in the North, and the money that the federal government has started making, actually. We are almost taking as much as we're giving.

Another missing piece in the budget that I think is important that was not discussed as much, and there's no mention of that in this report, is the fact that we may not have unanimity or consensus within the leaders in the North to present a united front to lobby together. So I'd like to know why it is that there's no mention of that requirement in this budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Unanimity by northern leaders is certainly desirable and something we would want. At the same time, every leader has a right to represent the issues from their own perspective. Mr. Speaker, we don't have unanimity here when we bring this issue to Ottawa. I regret that we don't have that. I wish we did. We make a lot of effort to do it, but for various reasons, it doesn't happen.

Now, Mr. Speaker, we have taken this issue on directly with Ottawa ourselves through devolution and resource revenue sharing. We have also taken it on in cooperation with all of the Premiers across the country. First of all, with the Premiers' report, the Council of the Federation report and there was the O'Brien report. There was the federal report on fiscal imbalance. We have gone forward. I have attended probably five or six Premiers' meetings where we tried to get unanimity among all of the Premiers to have one position. That has proven to be impossible.

Mr. Speaker, I wish we could get that, but we can't. It has left us at a situation now where it is very much up to the federal government and the Prime Minister to make the decision. He has, in a recent speech this week, said that he was going to make that decision with regard to fiscal

imbalance and straightening out how that is right across the country, including us, in the upcoming federal budget. He was very clear in his statement of that. That includes both the formulas, or equalization in the case of the provinces, and also resource revenue sharing. So, Mr. Speaker, it is a national problem. It is an issue. I wish we had unanimity among all of the leaders, but there are a lot of different agendas at play. I have given up thinking that we will ever get to the point where we all agree. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess when I speak of unanimity, I don't mean all the leaders in the North agreeing to all of the finer points. I think leaders with common interests and common objectives and agreement on the bigger picture could agree to disagree on some of the finer points, but agree on some of the major ticket items so we can move our agenda forward. I am not specifically thinking about intergovernmental Premiers' agreement, I am just thinking about the in-house agreement among northern leaders. I guess we could say we wish this could happen and that could happen, but we don't get marked on wishes. We get marked on results. I am concerned about something that I hear all the time from aboriginal leaders in the North, which is that the communication is not clear, aboriginal leaders are not at the table. I think we are not going to get a result unless we do something about this. I would like to know if the Premier could tell us what the latest is on that, on his effort to bring all of the leaders together, aboriginal leaders in the North. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last face-to-face meeting I had with all of the regional aboriginal leaders and our government was on December 5th. At that time, we had agreement on principles. This is a statement of principles by all of the leaders who were present. One of the leaders, the Akaitcho, said he wanted to take it back to his elders and get more consultation before he would confirm, but at the table he said, no, these look fine to me. The only other regional leader who was not there, or the region that was not represented, was the Deh Cho. They were fairly clear to me that they felt that they would prefer to work on their own process. But the other leaders, from the Inuvialuit, the Gwich'in, the Sahtu, were onside. Sorry, Mr. Speaker, but I should also say that the Tlicho leaders were not there either, although MLA Jackson attended the meeting but not representing them. So we had two who were not there and couldn't confirm. We are now, Mr. Speaker, going through a process of holding workshops in every region, at the request of the aboriginal leaders, to help the leaders at the community level and in the region to better understand this. That is where we are at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Short supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On that basis then, we have the Premier of this government and all past governments have worked on getting support from Premiers on economic reports, academia. I think there is a sense or we need to at the latter part of any Assembly that you want to get things done. Is the Premier saying that he is working on the premise that he has enough support from the aboriginal leaders to push for that AIP on resource revenue sharing that he mentioned I think in this House about his hope, or in the media perhaps, that he has hoped that he will have an AIP signed in the next month or so? Thank you.