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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I spoke to the amount of women who were going back to school who had families. I would like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if the SFA rates are adjusted for women attending school who have families? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The levels of support to students with dependents are higher than supports for students without dependents. So whether they are women or men with dependents, the rates are different and are adjusted. This is something that we take a look at on a regular basis and is something I have asked the department to have another look at recently to make sure we are providing adequate levels of support for students with dependents. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that because that was a concern I had raised to me a couple of times. I would like to ask the Minister if the department does interviews with students who have gone through this program to see what they can do to improve the SFA rates. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our SFA workers are typically in contact with people. We often hear through them when issues are of particular concern and we have been hearing over the last little while that there is a real concern for students with dependents in the area of childcare. So the money that's in the budget, that's before the House right now that we've talked about increasing the amount of funding for user subsidies, a good portion of that will be targeted to students with dependents.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister if the SFA rates are cast in stone, or are they flexible, or can they be adjusted all the time? Do they have to have a full review to adjust the rates? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I don't think we need to have formal reviews in order to adjust the rates. We are always keeping track of concerns and issues around the rates and we will propose changes when necessary. The one issue I can't do arbitrarily is make a change that would drive the cost up over the budget. In that case, I would have to seek approval to make that change through the budget process.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask a few questions to the Premier and this is in relation to the resource revolutionary tactics and devolutionary tactics and the whole business of making sure that the control and the wealth from our resources comes to the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, I was having a look at the speech that Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave out here in the Great Hall last August. He made a couple of fairly clear and fairly straightforward commitments in here. Very briefly, Mr. Speaker, I'm going to quote from his speech when he said that "we" -- I believe I take that as Ottawa -- "we are committed to renewing and strengthening territorial formula financing and equalization, and a new deal on resource revenue sharing is inseparable from these negotiations." Earlier this week, Mr. Speaker, the Premier advised us that, according to the Prime Minister, it is premature to expect a resource revenue sharing deal; however, we will be able to go ahead with deals to deal with fiscal imbalance. That part can go ahead. So there's quite a contradiction here from last summer when the Prime Minister said financing and resource sharing were inseparable and now they are. Can the Premier help square up this contradiction in terms from the Prime Minister?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Premier, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I can't speak for the Prime Minister or get inside of his head exactly how he thinks these things all fit together. The Prime Minister, in a letter to me -- as I just received one from him today in fact -- where he confirms that he is dealing with fiscal imbalance in the upcoming budget. He goes on in the letter to say that he is pleased with the progress at the negotiations table and looks forward to continuing progress. So in his mind he is talking, I believe, about the formula for us in the territories, the three territories, and he's talking about the equalization formula for the provinces. But I would, reading between the lines, expect that he is not going to arrive at a deal on resource revenue sharing while negotiations are still ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Right, Mr. Speaker. I wish I could get into the Prime Minister's head and thought processes and try and sort this out too. It makes trying to manage and lead this territory extraordinarily difficult and frustrating, Mr. Speaker. The Prime Minister also said last summer that in relation to these negotiations he said, "Let me remind you again that it won't happen unless the North builds an open, competitive market economy, and it won't happen unless you...", the Prime Minister is saying it won't happen unless we, make sure that projects like the Mackenzie pipeline come to fruition." So again, here's the conundrum: Ottawa holds the key. Ottawa signs off on the permits, on the permission, the tax deals, everything. But it's up to us to make sure projects like the Mackenzie pipeline come to fruition? Can the Premier explain this position from our Prime Minister?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, I'm uncomfortable trying to explain the Prime Minister. He can do that for himself. But, Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has been very clear that he believes the North's time has come. When I look at resource revenue sharing and look back 20 years, there was only 10 or 12 million dollars a year. Now it's 224, 270-some million dollars. Our time has come. We have a strong and a very rapidly growing economy. But if we're going to be independent and be like a province, then we do need an economy. Two or three diamond mines isn't going to do it. We need oil and gas, we need tourism, we need mining, we need a strong business sector. I believe that is the Prime Minister's message to us. If you want to be treated like a big boy, you want to be treated like a province, then you're going to have to work to support projects. I don't know if he nailed it specifically to the pipeline or just saying generally you have to support and encourage this kind of business environment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Then, Mr. Speaker, of all the measures that we have undertaken to support the pipeline and the other major resource projects here in the North, we do training, we do strategic things, we report, we put out big fancy reports on diamonds and things like that. What more can we do to show Ottawa that we support this and that we can indeed build our own economy? What more is it that Ottawa expects us to do, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have done a lot, and we've done some things like the socio-economic agreements since the Prime Minister was here. We've settled that one. We have been working with the National Energy Board. We've taken steps to make sure that we don't just end up with a project that will be put on the shelf. We'll continue to work with the Joint Review Panel. We've had intervention since that time where we laid out our ask to both the joint venture, the joint panel and also to the NEB. So there is a lot done. What more has to be done by us? I think the main thing is that we have to keep up the pressure on the pipeline proponents to build that project. We have to keep pressure on the regulatory agencies to get on with those and get them done as efficiently and expeditiously as possible. So there are things that we can still do. But, Mr. Speaker, I think our government can be proud of its record in keeping its side of the bargain and doing everything possible to get a fair deal for everybody; a win-win for all of us. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.