Item 8, oral questions. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about an unaccountable legacy provided by the previous Cabinet. Mr. Speaker, the issue really is that former Cabinet has made substantial policy initiatives and changes that have affected the incoming government. Mr. Speaker, my question will be to the Government House Leader, Mr. Miltenberger. Would he be willing to address this issue and pass a Cabinet directive to ensure that no future Cabinet can pass substantial changes to government policy while there is an election period on? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Deputy Premier, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We, I believe, commenced similar related discussions when we all gathered at Blachford. That issue was discussed and the recognition that the June session, 2011, probably will be the last substantive session of this government, of this Assembly and the recognition of the period that the Member talks about. Those discussions, I believe, have already been broached. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in my Member’s statement today, we have the legacy of the Deh Cho Bridge, the legacy of the board reform, and certainly the legacy of the direction that is applied to supplementary health benefits. As I said the day before, these are all issues that need to be discussed and reviewed; that is not the issue. The issue is substantial directions, as I have said today. Mr. Speaker, when can we expect the government to move on this initiative beyond the point of discussion or review or thinking about it? Thank you.

Mr. Hawkins, you are swaying away from your original question and your focus in regard to the transitional period of government. Could you keep your questions to that particular topic since that is what you originally started on? I will allow you to repeat your question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When will the Cabinet be moving forward on some type of initiative that will stop them from making serious substantial Cabinet directions and changes while any government is out during an election period? Thank you. When?

Mr. Speaker, I believe that this is a topic that is before Caucus. As we look at gathering in August, an opportunity to come to an agreement as a Legislature on any related issues would be the appropriate venue. Thank you.

Thank you for that, Mr. Deputy Premier. Mr. Speaker, will the Deputy Premier be making a recommendation that this is an initiative that binds this Cabinet as well as potentially binds the future Cabinets from making those types of substantial decisions going forward? Thank you.

Clearly we’ve engaged fully in this process with the Regular Members and this Legislature has gathered around the table as Caucus and we will continue to do that through the life of this Assembly and we’ll be looking to sort out and agree on those particular issues that will be binding on us all.

Thank you. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had concern from a constituent from Fort Simpson with regard to the new licence plate and I would just like to raise that with the Minister of Transportation. I just want to get, for his benefit and mine, a little bit more detail on anybody that wanted to continue on with the old plates. Is there legislation passed? Can the constituent continue with the old plates and resist the changes that are coming, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the intent of designing a new plate and having the general public perhaps have limited input as we went forward was to retain the shape, of course, of the polar bear and at the same time increase the safety of the plate and allow the RCMP to be able to view the plate under limited light situations. Our intent is to have all plates in the Northwest Territories replaced over the next 18 months. So as you come forward to renew your plates and have a new plate issued, we think we will be able to capture all the plates that need to be replaced by December 2011. So there is no ability to use the plate you have now. You can retain it. You can put it on your wall, I guess, or you can turn it in, but at this point we intend to have all traffic on the public highway using the new plates by an 18-month period. Thank you.

There is a segment of our population that really appreciates our old plates. I guess the question is: can he continue to use those

plates on his vehicle after the implementation date, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

I thought I had answered that question. Mr. Speaker, the intent is to have everybody replace the old plate with the new design, the new colours and the new plates we wanted to have on all the travelling public, all the vehicles on the road on our highway systems that are registered in the NWT replaced by 2011. So if the person is required to re-register the vehicle, they would have to get a new plate. Thank you.

The other question that people are wondering is why do we have to pay an additional 10 dollars? In fact, my constituent had said the spectacular thing about the new plate is we have to pay an extra 10 dollars, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps the Minister can explain why. Thank you.

That is a good question. Mr. Speaker, the company that we had a contract with for many, many years out of Edmonton gave us notification several years ago that they would not be producing new plates for us, we would have to find a new company and the equipment they were utilizing was to the point in the lifecycle that it needed to be replaced. At any rate, even if we maintained the old plate, the cost would have been probably either the same as what we’re charging now, $10, or more.

We’ve gone to new material. We are no longer using steel for our plates. We are using aluminum. We’ve moved away from the chemical solution we had to apply to the old plates, which makes these a lot more environmentally friendly. We’ve consulted with the RCMP and municipal officers to ensure that the plate will help us in terms of where we need the plate to reflect better, so the RCMP can see it in low light situations and you can also see the plate if the car was parked on the side of the road. So it would help us on that front.

We also worked with the NWT Tourism Association to see how we can use some of the branding we can use for tourism promotion with ITI and right across the government and see if we could make this apply to our licence plate. That’s how we came up with the word “spectacular.” From all our discussions, from most of our discussions anyway, the travelling public has appreciated it and most of the agencies are saying it’s a good move. Thank you.

Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

I’d like to thank the Minister for those answers, Mr. Speaker. Just one more thing is now we are collecting an extra $10. I don’t know how many registrations will happen over the next 18 months, but that fee can add to quite an amount. What is the plan for the revenue that they collect

from the new licence plate fees, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

There are roughly 30,000 plates that will be issued over the next 18 months and all the revenue that’s collected is intended to pay for the actual cost of producing that plate and that’s where the dollars will go. This is not intended to generate any additional revenue except for cost recovery. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.