Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Handley.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have commended the good work of the Aboriginal Pipeline Group because they are trying to ensure that we get some benefit out of this pipeline that's going right through our territory. I would like to ask the Premier, he said we don't have the resources. We have the resources, the only thing is Ottawa has got them in their bank account and it's our money. Would the Premier ask the Government of Canada for a 50 percent equity that they are trying to get into the pipeline with our money? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, that is exactly why we have to conclude a resource revenue sharing deal.

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Mr. Speaker, it is our money that is coming out of here. The federal government has it and now are looking at an equity position with our money. That's why, Mr. Speaker, short of having a deal, we are sitting here being frustrated because other people are talking about how to spend our money.

Mr. Speaker, I would not want our government to be in a position where it's competing with the Aboriginal Pipeline Group or aboriginal business or any business in the North. So our first priority, Mr. Speaker, would be to have northern businesses own the equity shares of these kind of projects rather than us as a government get into it. Who knows how the negotiations will go? It may come to that at some point where we own a share. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Human Resources and it gets back to my Member's statement from earlier where I mentioned again the fact that since 1999, the size of the public service has gone from 3,700 to over 5,500 employees. That's 1,800 positions in seven years, Mr. Speaker. Four years of this government and reactionary position growth, four years of having no human resource plan, strategy or vision. Four years of no consideration of the impact self-government will have on our human resource needs going into the future. I have some why questions, Mr. Speaker. The first one is why, after four years, this government has not got a comprehensive human resource strategy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Human Resources, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would agree with the Member that the best practice would be for the government to have a corporate human resource plan. In fact, the department has prepared a broad, high level plan to take to deputies here within the next two months. So we are hoping to move forward with that.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. So I guess that's an admission that for the past four years, we have just plodded along plugging positions in, reacting to certain things without a plan. That's why we continue, like I said, through budget after budget, supp after supp, to approve new positions, because we do not have a plan and somebody on that side is responsible. Cabinet is responsible for the fact of the matter and that is we don't have a plan. I would like to ask the Minister responsible for HR why there has been no work done specifically in the area of self-government and what that will mean for the future needs of our public service. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member says that we haven't had any plans. In fact, when departments come forward through the business plan process to say here is what we need in order to implement the projects and the goals that the Legislative Assembly has set, that is some part of the plan for human resources. So each department has, up until now, been working at developing their own HR plan. The departments of Health and Social Services and FMBS have done detailed ones in concert with Human Resources and HR has made the offer to other departments to do more detailed ones with them. This Assembly is the oversight for position growth and each position that we have in the budget is approved by the Members of this Assembly in order to get the job done that they want to see done. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister brings up a good point and that is the departments are responsible for forwarding business plans with positions attached to these business plans. Mr. Speaker, therein lies the problem. There is no coordination. This leads to duplication and a lack of coordination. That's why we scramble on big files like the pipeline, we scramble on other files. I would like to ask the Minister when are we going to have a comprehensive human resource plan for the Government of the Northwest Territories? When will that happen? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, both Health and Social Services and FMBS have those comprehensive plans now. An overall broad government plan can't be comprehensive. It's going to have to be the broad brush strokes, the high level plan, because you can't say that all departments are going to work exactly the same way. So we want to set up some general criteria and say to the deputies, can your department work within this and then have each department work on their own detailed plan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One last question and it gets back to the fact that aboriginal governments are settling land claims in the Northwest Territories. They are proceeding through implementation of these claims. Mr. Speaker, you would think that the size of the public service for the Government of the Northwest Territories would be going down, not going up. I would like to ask the Minister specifically, and this is a specific question specifically on aboriginal self-government, what has the government done in the past four years that would show that it's concerned at all about the impact self-government will have on our future human resource needs and how we can devolve positions to the regions? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There has been extensive work done by human resources and FMBS over the past four years to look at this issue. It's a topic that's come up to the Cabinet table many times and we are working with the self-government negotiating teams at the tables to try to help them understand some of the issues surrounding taking over the positions. If a self-government entity is going to take on the delivery of a function, they are likely going to be looking at taking on the personnel. So we have been working on that and we have worked with the people at the table, both the federal government and self-government entities, to make sure people are aware of the issues that will arise.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Human Resources and it's with regard to the summer student employment. Mr. Speaker, since the Minister made a statement a few days ago about the status of the summer student situation and the questions I asked yesterday or the day before about the fact that there appears to be a lot less summer students being hired this year than in previous years, I have received more phone calls from parents who really feel that this government is reducing the number of student jobs available. The Minister is indicating that that is not the case. So I would have to surmise from that that there is a gap in communication going on. Would the Minister make a commitment to undertake with his Human Resources personnel again and put some emphasis and extra resources into it, and go through all the departments and see what jobs are available, go through the list of students who are still looking for jobs, because they are numerous, and make every effort possible to find a job for these students. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.