Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Through our SFA Program in the NWT, our jurisdiction has one of the best benefits programs that we offer to students. In comparison to other jurisdictions, we are ahead of them. I can just give you some examples. We did some research in our neighbouring Alberta Education Trust Fund as a prime example with the First Nation. Through the SFA rates determined the number of courses enrolled approximately $5,000 to students overall to complete the degree, $1,000 per year. So above and beyond, the student would have to pitch in from their own pocket. Not only that, we have off-reserve individuals, one person, $1,200 per month, and on-reserve individuals are capped at $1,200 per month.

There is also a deduction that’s made on these; there are conditions for absenteeism that are monitored through universities; two-day grace period, doctors’ notes required for sick leave. With our SFA Program we do not monitor those types of absenteeism or sick notes. We are above and beyond them.

There is a limitation on $50,000 for their loan limit. Ours is at $60,000 and we did increase that from $47,000 to $60,000 so we can service master’s students and so forth. So there are certain caps on southern programs that our..I think with our

program we have the strength of delivering even more than other jurisdictions.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Very short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Would the Minister tell this House what the Minister has done so that NWT aboriginal students will receive student financial assistance grants for master’s and Ph degrees like the First Nations relatives in the South?

We do provide grants to students up to six years and another up to $60,000 for loans that can be remissed as well. We do offer an attractive benefit for students to either obtain a degree program, master’s program, even to PhD level. Upon their return they can certainly be remiss on their loan. Even though we say it’s a loan, it’s paid off by itself as well. We do provide as much as we can through the SFA Program and not only that, but there are other First Nations scholarship programs and university scholarships. There are a variety of subsidies available to them in all jurisdictions.

The Minister is correct that students are eligible to get six years of student financial assistance. Again, in the South for the First Nations students, they’re eligible for 10 years; two years for a master’s and two or three years for a doctor’s degree. Will the Minister commit to developing and implementing a plan so that aboriginal students will have the added years of SFA grants for master’s and PhDs for the next school year?

We do offer the subsidies already through grants and through loan opportunities. With a southern comparison, as an example, the certification program is capped at 10 months, the diploma is capped at 20 months, and the degree program is capped at 40 months. So there is a distinct difference. Ours is open up to six years. They can take a degree program to six years. Here, with the southern program, it’s 40 months. So there is a big difference and I think we are providing as much as we can to the northern students. We continue to do that.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve contacted one of the students who are taking a master’s degree and she’s having a hard time with getting her master’s degree. Will the Minister commit to reporting to this House at the next session in June on the progress he’s making in providing additional years to student financial grants for master’s and PhD degrees for the First

Nations students for the next year? Will the Minister commit?

We can certainly provide information that we have within our department. The students are down south. We have over 1,400 students down south. We’re proud to say we are sponsoring all these students down south and we continue to do that. That’s a worthwhile investment on the part of the Northwest Territories and part of this government, and we continue to strive for excellence.

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

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve been getting most of our information to date from the diamond mines, and certainly there’s been a dramatic reduction in the amount of truck traffic on the ice roads to the diamond mines. I think the high was about 12,500 loads and this year it’s down to a little over 4,000. The information that’s been provided from the diamond mines is that the majority of trucks that are hauling equipment and goods to the mines are from the Northwest Territories. I’m not sure where the Member got the figure of 350 trucks, but certainly the diamond mines have assured us that the majority of the trucks are from the Northwest Territories.

My apologies. That was 350 truck drivers registered to deliver loads to the three mines. I’d like to know exactly where those 350 truck drivers originate from. Of those drivers and the information that was provided, 75 percent of those are through northern-based companies. This is where we run into a problem, because northern-

based money doesn’t mean they have northern based-employees, truck drivers, and northern-based trucks. While there are trucks sitting empty here in Yellowknife that should be getting the work, a company -- and I don’t want to mention any names here, but it’s a joint venture with a big trucking outfit in the South. It’s got an aboriginal name and most of the money ends up going south. So I’d like to ask the Minister if he can find out exactly where these 350 truck drivers originate from and where exactly the trucks originate from and then we can get a good idea of what is what.

I appreciate the Member raising this question because this is an area that we’ve had several discussions with the diamond companies that have signed the MOU with us. This is one of the areas that has been identified as a concern with contractors from the mines. One of the things that the diamond mines had committed to was to work with the contractors to ensure that they were using northern drivers and trucks. So whatever information the Member has would be helpful in helping us resolve it. As well, I’ll work with the Minister of Transportation, who has specific information about trucks that are operating in the Northwest Territories.

There are people who have a tremendous amount of money and time invested in buying trucks and being truck drivers and they depend a lot on the ice road season. This economic downturn that we’re experiencing right now may or may not be here next year at this time when the ice roads open. I think it’s important that from here forward we try to ensure that if there are trucks going up that road, they’re based in the Northwest Territories, they’re driven by drivers from the Northwest Territories, and any plan that the Minister can come up with would be welcome. I would like to ask him if he would be interested in developing some kind of strategy that would see northern truck drivers and northern trucks doing the majority of that work and not just northern-based companies who hire their trucks from the South.

We do have socio-economic agreements with each of the three operating mines which provide for northern preference, northern hiring, and certainly I’ll communicate that with the mines and we’ll work very hard to make sure they are working towards these targets.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to follow up on the questions from my colleague Mr. Ramsay earlier on the contaminated meat. More specifically the E. coli 0157:H7 strain apparently in lean range fed ground beef from the Co-op. I’d just like to note that I received a notice from a Yellowknife resident at about 11 o’clock this morning and sent a message to the Minister about it inquiring at 11:13. At about 1:10 I received the notice, the advisory on the issue. I’m wondering, was it the Yellowknife resident’s e-mail to me and mine to the Minister that actually brought this to the Minister’s attention or do we have a failsafe mechanism in place to ensure that timely notice is received by our chief medical officer and acted on in a timely way?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand the process is that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, as soon as they are aware of these products, would contact the retail store or wherever the outlet is first so that they can remove the products, then they inform the public health office to make sure that the public health office would inform the public and take necessary public measures. I can advise the Member that I first learned of this this morning, as well, and that the department was working on preparing the public message and taking steps to make sure that the products were removed and such. Also, the environmental health officer is involved in the process as well.

Thanks to the Minister for those remarks. Perhaps the Minister could just review the process and ensure that, in fact, it is working in a timely and efficient way. There was only one product in this case. It was the 18 kilograms of lean range fed ground beef that arrived pre-packaged, so there was no packaging and no possibility of contamination. I am wondering, in a situation like this, and perhaps even immediately today where we have a Co-op with almost all people using the Co-op are registered members and almost all purchases are registered by computer so there is actually a registration -- we are talking about 18 kilograms of, say, 40 packages -- if in fact the department could work with the Co-op and alert the very people who purchased this product. Is that the sort of work that the department is willing to go to, to protect our people? Thank you.

It is a little scary that a business would know everything about what you bought, but I can see the Member’s point. If they wanted to, they could run a number and see exactly what we bought for any given time. I think we should note, though, that there are customers who shop at the Co-op who are not necessarily members. They are allowed to buy products. They used to anyway.

Mr. Speaker, I do want to tell the Member and Members of this House that I will review the process to follow exactly what happened. It is always good to, if at all possible, tighten the process.

The second thing is, as I explained to the Member for Kam Lake earlier, I understand it is always a fine balance between giving enough information so that all the necessary measures are taken as a safety measure, but also we don’t want to create undue fear on the part of the public. The environmental health officer has been working with the Co-op and that office had expressed some concern that we should make sure that there is no potential for cross-contamination. That is why the warning went out for all ground beef products that were sold there. I will review the process and get back to the Member on the findings. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.