Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I agree with the Member that we are the diamond capital of North America, but we don’t have a monopoly on diamonds. We recognized that other provinces and territories would be finding diamonds and developing their diamonds as well.

It’s been ten years since we had the good fortune of having diamonds discovered in the Northwest Territories. We are now undertaking a policy review of diamonds and will be looking forward to getting input from the Members. We are in the process of developing a discussion paper which will help guide us in our review.

Like I have mentioned previously in this House and earlier today, time is of the essence here. I don’t think we can afford, as a government, to drag our heels much longer on finding out exactly where it is that we want to take the diamond industry here in the Northwest Territories.

Earlier today I spoke of a feasibility study that’s looking at the possibility of opening a diamond exchange, or bourse, here in Canada. There were meetings held in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Where was the Government of the Northwest Territories in this feasibility study? Were they anywhere to be found?

The diamond bourse provides for the facilitated sale of rough and polished

diamonds. This is something that our government looked at initially, when diamonds were first discovered. We determined at that time that we would get more value added by making sure that rough diamonds were made available for the secondary diamond industry. So we have proceeded on that basis. We are now reviewing our policy to see whether we should be looking at diamond bourses.

Ontario held these workshops in a number of locations across Canada. It was organized by a former resident of the Northwest Territories. The NWT attended and participated in these sessions.

I know we’ve helped out other jurisdictions in terms of policy development, because they’re new into the game, into the diamond business. Will the Minister provide us, whether it’s the House or the EDI committee, with the submission that the government gave to this feasibility study group? At any time was it suggested that a diamond bourse, or diamond exchange, should be located in the diamond capital of North America? That’s here in Yellowknife, Mr. Speaker.

The Government of Ontario looked at establishing a diamond bourse so that smaller jewellery companies could find a place to buy diamonds. As far as I know, the report has not been submitted as of yet. As soon as that’s available, we’ll make sure that it’s available to all the Members of the Assembly. We will be giving a briefing to the standing committee next week on the diamond policy.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister: was the Government of the Northwest Territories there as observers, or were we actually there presenting our case so that a diamond bourse, an exchange, could be located here in the Northwest Territories, where we have four operating diamond mines in our territory?

The Government of the Northwest Territories has worked with the Ontario government to share information as they establish their diamond industry. We participated in the workshops that were held in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. We participated primarily as observers. As I said earlier, we are reviewing our diamond policy. Certainly, the establishment of a diamond bourse would be looked at as part of that review.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my statement I noted more than once that the minimum wage in the NWT has remained stagnant since 2003. I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment or whichever Minister is appropriate, because I’m not absolutely positive, why there’s been no adjustment to the minimum wage in the NWT in the last five years.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The minimum wage for the Northwest Territories, as the Member indicated, is $8.25 per hour. It has been for, as she indicated also, the last five years. It hasn’t been brought to my attention about increasing the minimum wage in the Northwest Territories by any other Members until today, so I can certainly look further into this with my department on the status. With the previous discussions that we’ve had, if there was an agreement in place that after five years there was going to be another increase, certainly I can look into that and provide the Member with more information.

I appreciate the answer from the Minister. I guess I’m a little surprised that it’s a necessity for Members to bring these items to the attention of Ministers. I would hope in five years that the minimum wage would be a consideration for at least one department. It’s unfortunate that we have to force the government to consider the plight of some of our people who are living at the lowest level of income.

I’d like to ask the Minister: now that it’s been brought to his attention, when can we expect a change in the minimum wage?

Mr. Speaker, as I stated, I need to sit down with my department to find out where things are at. I can’t really give a specific time as to when there are going to be changes, because I need to present to the committee as well if there are going to be proposed changes.

With any proposed changes there are always cost factors as well. We need to identify how much it will cost us to increase the minimum wage and put that forward, whether it be to the committee or the Cabinet. That is the work we need to undertake. I’m willing to do that with my department, to look into that further and see where we can go with this: the last five years, what’s been discussed, and today.

I appreciate the Minister’s answer and that it does require a certain amount of time, but I don’t know how anybody, let alone myself or the

Minister, can expect anybody to live on $8.25 an hour when they’re working. There’s absolutely no way anybody can survive on that. I appreciate that it does take time, but I think time is of the essence here, and it behoves the Minister to try and push this along.

I realize he can’t give me a specific date, but we have business plans coming forward in another month. I think that if it was the will of the department to put it forward, we could see it in the plans next month. Will we see a change to the minimum wage — upward, not downward — in the business plans upcoming?

Mr. Speaker, I did commit to the House that I will look into this with my department. Bringing that forward before the next business plan? I can’t really commit to that at this time, but I can certainly work with what we have within our department. If we need to bring it forward to part of the standing committee, then we’ll certainly do that and move forward. If it needs to be before the business plans, that’s another question we need to address.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the willingness on the part of the Minister to try and push things forward. I think that is something that is absolutely necessary. I’ve totally lost my train of thought. You could just say yes, Mr. Minister. Will you say yes?

Mr. Speaker, I can certainly say yes to working with the Member and the Members on the other side. I am willing to work with my department and bring forward what we have to date and share it with the committee. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment with regard to the housing crisis we have in Aklavik and other communities throughout the Territories.

The government, in the past, implemented several initiatives related to the Market Housing Initiative. This was done through the Housing Corporation to build capacity in the communities that were non-market communities in regard to units that were designed for teachers and whatnot. Also, there is a government program, the Corporate Loan Guarantee Program, which is used to assist the

private sector to get into market housing opportunities.

In light of this situation we have in the Mackenzie Delta…. It has come up at the divisional meetings I’ve been at. It has come forward by way of letters from the Divisional Board of Education and also from the Minister’s meeting held this summer with me and Ms. Lee in the community of Aklavik. So it has been out there for some time. I’d like to ask the Minister: exactly what is this department doing to stem this problem?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. With respect to the Member’s riding in Aklavik, dealing with the housing shortage or the unit that’s closed down, we have been working with the local DEA and the band, and also with the Development Corporation, because they are the ones that own the facility. We have our superintendent going to a meeting with certain parties there. We are doing what we can as the Department of Education, because we have to look after our teachers as well.

I understand there have been some meetings in the last couple of days with Mr. Furlong. I believe there has been some alternative housing that may have been identified, and it’s being worked on. So I think we’re going to come up with some solutions there, but it takes the community, our department and the Member working together to find a solution. I think we’ve come to that. We’re hoping that a solution will be identified before the November 3 deadline.

Again, we find ourselves reacting and not being proactive. As government we did have staff housing in just about all the communities in the Northwest Territories by way of professional staff housing for teachers. A lot of these units are still in our communities, and they are over 30 years old. They are in urgent need of repairs and upkeep.

I’d like to ask the Minister: what are we doing to improve the housing stock in our communities throughout the Northwest Territories by way of professional housing for staff such as teachers, nurses and other professionals?