Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Certainly minimum wages have gone up in the last session and I did commit that we will be looking into potentially increasing that minimum wage at that time. I did approach the Cabinet on Education, Culture and Employment’s approach on how we should be dealing with this with our research from across the country. Each province is different with their minimum wages. Certainly we are doing an analysis on the impacts on the proposed change on minimum wage with various employers. At that time, providing minimum wage, what kind of impact will there be? We are currently doing that right now. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Minister for his information, but I guess that sort of contradicts the information that I got from his department a couple of months ago, which indicated that they had made a decision and were taking a decision to Cabinet. Could I get clarification from the Minister? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the paper that we submitted to Cabinet was our department’s recommendation of increasing. At that

point in time, we need to do more work and do more analysis with more businesses out in the communities which have potential impact on their business operations. We are currently doing that. We are hoping before next session we are going to have some paper to come forward. Mahsi.

Thank you to the Minister for the clarification. I guess I am a little disappointed if Cabinet requires more research and that they didn’t just take the recommendation of the department, but there we are. I guess I would like to say first of all, in terms of the impact on businesses, there are not many businesses in the NWT that actually pay the current minimum wage. It is pretty minimal. I think it is $8.25. I am a little surprised that we have to do that much research. The Minister says that he is going to come back in the next session hopefully. If we don’t get a recommendation to committee in May/June, when does the Minister think that we could perhaps have an increase in minimum wage actually implemented? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, certainly it is the target for May/June sitting. If all goes well, we are hoping to implement in the fall. That is part of our target that we are working with. We are just doing some more work with small businesses. Certainly we want to cover all areas as much as possible before we make any changes that will benefit the North. Mahsi.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you to the Minister. I appreciate the department and the government is trying to be thorough. That is probably better than them not being thorough. As part of the analysis and part of the ongoing work that is being done, are they considering how an increase to minimum wage will be adjusted in the future? Will it be tied to inflation, for instance, or to the cost of living? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, those are the factors that we will be taking into consideration. One of the primary causes, of course, is the high cost of living in the Northwest Territories, so those will be taken into consideration. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for the Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if he would commit to looking at the

Grollier Hall Residential School Settlement Agreement with the claimants and having a review of the overall agreement, and look at the different components that seem to be in dispute between the department and the claimants in terms of having investigated, and sit down with, potentially, his department to see where the agreement has fallen off track in accordance to some of the claimants.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Certainly I can get my department to look into that. We need to find out if there is an agreement in place. I have been asking my department if there is such an agreement that was signed by all parties. To date, we haven’t produced the documentation as of yet, but we are waiting for that and certainly we will follow through with that again. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I can assure the Minister that the agreement was negotiated. I was one of the negotiators on behalf of the claimant. The agreement was signed. I would ask the Minister if he would commit to reviewing this with some of the former negotiators. I think we sort of missed the boat on this one here in terms of implementation of the agreement. Would the Minister look at this overall agreement with some of the claimants with his department and see? This was an historical agreement between the Government of Canada, the Mackenzie Diocese of the Northwest Territories and, of course, this government here in terms of settling this agreement with the claimants. Would the Minister look at an overall review of the whole agreement with the parties that could be affected by this agreement?

Mr. Speaker, certainly this has been an area of ongoing discussion that my department has been going through with some parties of the claimant groups. I did commit to the Member that we will follow through with that on an ongoing basis. We need to see the actual agreement that was initially signed because we have to work with the documentation. If there is no documentation, it is very difficult for us to act on it. There might have been some negotiations between the parties. We need to get more clarification on the legality of it. Those are the ongoing discussions that we are having within our department. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the Minister’s willingness to look at the agreement in terms of discussions. He also needs to have some discussions with the claimant members. Would the Minister commit to extending the agreement beyond 2012 due to a lack of progress of the

implementation of this agreement? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through the hard work of the various department members, the Roman Catholic Church, the residential school, members from the Grollier Hall Healing Circle, through blood, sweat and tears, the negotiating that happened in the time of the agreement, there was a negotiation happening. Agreements were all agreed. I was there to witness the handshakes. The agreement was signed. I would help the Minister look for the agreement. The agreement is there. It is being administered. I appreciate the Minister’s response in terms of looking at a review. I hope that this review happens within the year to settle these outstanding issues with the specific clause to his department.

Mr. Speaker, again, I would ask the Minister to instruct his department officials to contact the various parties. Could he contact the various parties to bring them together and sit down and talk about the original agreement that was negotiated and agreed upon?

Mr. Speaker, I did commit to that already. We continue to have a dialogue. At the same time, Mr. Speaker, we are waiting for a document that was signed as the Member has alluded to. If there is such a document that was signed, I would like to see it and would like to move on it. If there is, then certainly that will be our obligation to move forward on. But I haven’t seen a document to date yet. Certainly I am looking forward to seeing the document. Yes, we will continue working with the Member on this particular subject. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a few more questions for the Minister of Industry,

Tourism and Investment. Back in 1996, the Government of the Northwest Territories came forward with an interim manufacturing directive. Somewhere along the way I think we have lost the purpose of this manufacturing directive. I think it is time that the Government of the Northwest Territories started supporting what little manufacturing we have here in the Northwest Territories. The money has to stay here in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker. I have manufacturing companies in the Kam Lake Industrial Park who are losing business to southern companies. Mr. Speaker, I don’t think it should matter if we have to pay a little bit more to get goods that are manufactured in the Northwest Territories. The money is going to stay here, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister, what work is the government doing on getting the Government of the Northwest Territories in its procurement practices to buy more and buy manufactured goods from the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We do have an existing NWT manufacturing directive that was spawned out of the Business Incentive Policy. That directive still is in existence and basically NWT manufacturers can apply for recognition as an approved NWT manufacturer and, at that time, the government would make it a priority for purchasing. As well, under the new SEED program, we have written to the standing committee and asked them for direction as to what should be established as priorities. One of the possibilities that we have identified was manufacturing in the Northwest Territories should be designated as a priority sector to be developed. We are still waiting for a response. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If the government is going off of the spirit and the intent of this interim manufacturing directive, what recourse do companies have that lose contracts on goods that are actually manufactured in the Northwest Territories when the work and the money go south, Mr. Speaker? What recourse is there for businesses here? Thank you.