Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Cabinet made the decision -- I don't think it's an arbitrary decision -- but they made the decision not to proceed with it in this budget for the 2007-08 year. This work can still be done. The work is not wasted. The work has been partly done and a big piece of it is done through the third-party accountability framework. That's already done. In fact, I would say more than half, 50 percent of what's left has already been completed through that. Mr. Speaker, we always have conflicting priorities and we hear from Members saying we don't want to build more staff into headquarters. The proposal was to put more staff into headquarters. We can go that route and at the last few months of our government's term we can probably get people hired up by this summer and we would just begin doing that work. Mr. Speaker, it's my intention that this important task be put into the transition plan for the next government with a strong recommendation that they move it ahead at the beginning of the next government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The fact of the matter remains the work should have been done by the 15th Legislative Assembly; it shouldn't be included in a transition for the 16th and left to the next government to deal with. It should have been dealt with by this government. Mr. Speaker, Members have heard me stand up in the House on previous occasions questioning job growth and questioning new positions being added. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Premier, why can't the government task the regional directors who know communities, know the regions intimately well where some of these boards and agencies are located, and task them with getting the work done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I like those kinds of recommendations rather than the route we're on here of just building more and more people into managed boards and agencies. I like the idea of reviewing the boards and agencies we have now to determine whether or not there is overlap or duplication or where there's ways of doing things more efficiently. I like those kinds of things. That is the kind of action that I think will make for better governance in the long term than just jumping on this, adding more people, putting it in a secretariat and so on.

Mr. Speaker, when we put this forward in the transition document for the new government, I intend that we will look at options like taking some of the people we have now and seeing whether or not they can contribute or possibly handle some of these tasks themselves. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last night, I attended a community meeting held at William McDonald and it was about their funding adjustment and pressure on the YK 1 to give up a school to YCS. Mr. Speaker, if I could make a simple observation that I would describe as ECE needs a brand new philosophy that I haven't heard of lately.

I strictly say I am not suggesting in any way we should do this. But according to the philosophy they are now applying on financial dollars and how they should fund schools, is the Minister going to proceed with combining the two schools in Fort Simpson down to one because we theoretically could? Is he now going to take the three schools in Hay River and make two? This is something we need to be aware of and very concerned of. Is ECE singling out one school board, or is this a trend that we have to be very aware of? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At this moment, we have some pressures in Yellowknife in terms of finding space for students who will be affected by a construction project and that is what has led to us moving forward on this issue. The government has to be careful with how it spends its dollars, so as we look at how educational facilities are being used, we will continue to examine them. We always look for ways in which we can save money and schools are always encouraged to find ways to reduce their expenditures. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I say pressures are territorial pressures. Mr. Speaker, when the Minister says careful, the Minister has singled out one school board, not territorial policy, one school board. How can he demonstrate that that is a fair process? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We don't have another community in which we have a school board that has 900 empty seats. Sorry, let me rephrase

that, 840 empty seats. Even if you look at it with an 85 percent occupancy rate, which is the rate at which ECE says that schools should not operate over, there are more than 400 empty seats in that system. We don't have another community with that many spare seats. So, Mr. Speaker, what we are talking about here is a unique situation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Mr. Speaker, well, this is off the ECE website which is the fact that we have some schools that run at 27 percent, we have some schools that run at 31 percent. The list goes on; we don't need to hear it today. The fact is we have schools that are running with big percentage gaps here. So the fact is he did single out one school board. I want to hear how he is doing this. He needs to go back and redo his calculations of space. Will he go back and sit down to work out a sharing arrangement as opposed to a push and shove arrangement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's important that we talk apples to apples. The Member says we have some schools with very small percentages. Sure, we have a school that has a 32 percent occupancy rate. That's a one-room school. So it has one classroom that is sized for 22 and it holds seven students. We can't make it any smaller than that.

In this community, we have the equivalent of almost two schools that could be freed up. So there is a big difference in that situation. Mr. Speaker we are interested in the best solution for kids. We want to put money into the classroom, into the teachers, into the programming and not into bricks and mortar. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, I raised an important point about building a positive relationship specifically with our neighbouring government, the Tlicho Government. Mr. Speaker, the Tlicho Community Government in each community appoints representatives to sit on a regional board for this agency, the Tlicho Community Services Agency. The chairperson is jointly appointed by the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, in consultation with the Tlicho Government. However, under 4(2) under the Tlicho Community Services Act, the legislation says that a person is not eligible for appointment to the board if their spouse or dependents work for the agency. This has been interpreted to mean that, once appointed, spouses and children of the board members cannot work for the agency, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs is would the Minister please tell us is there a compelling reason why conflict of interest for the agency board such as the Tlicho Community Services Agency members need to be imbedded in legislation where it is difficult to change? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't have the document the Member is referring to and I don't recall exactly the section it's imbedded in. Mr. Speaker, I can't think of any reason it has to be imbedded in legislation. I think there are conflict of interest guidelines, there are rules. But in answer to the question does it have to be in legislation, I don't think it does. I would want to get more information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, coming from a small community such as Wekweeti and Gameti, they are small, isolated communities and almost everyone is related; the board members, the employees, whoever it may be. I would like to ask the Minister, will the Minister commit to working with me to find a workable solution to this problem that we are faced with that will allow the families of the Tlicho Community Services Agency board members to access employment with the different departments and programs of the Tlicho Community Services Agency in their communities while ensuring that the agency is protected from decisions by board members where a conflict of interest may exist? Mahsi.