Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There were also concerns about layoffs in the public service. People fear government will reduce the public service due to our deficit, and they wanted these concerns allayed.

The sunset clause was once again raised. When and how will it be dealt with? We do not want to see more committee reviews.

There was also some concern regarding government contracts. Regulations need to be changed to protect northern business. We need to establish a formal policy. There is a feeling that there is too much left for interpretation at this point. There was also concern about where and how government contracts are advertised.

The Business Incentive Policy was also discussed. It needs a review. People wanted to know why there are southern firms and international companies receiving BIPs. The policy should be there to support independant northern businesses, not corporations.

It was also mentioned that we need to be more aware of social agencies at work in the North and in Yellowknife, specifically groups like the Salvation Army, the Women's Centre, and the YWCA. They need the support of their MLAs and the government to continue providing the services they are delivering. Community service groups and social agencies also wanted involvement during committee decision-making, instead of being advised after the fact.

We also discussed sole-sourcing of contracts. There was concern with businesses taking contracts funded by social agencies.

Affirmative action issues also came up. The concern is the Affirmative Action Policy may not be doing what it was initially set up to do. It needs a review. All Members were asked and gave their support for an Affirmative Action Policy, but we want to see one that works.

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to attend the meeting and voice their concerns. I would especially like to commend those individuals who are committed to fighting for the Giant Mine pension plan, and let them know they have our support as a House. Later in the week, we will be moving a motion to this end. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Last night, all of the Yellowknife Members had the privilege of hosting our first joint constituency meeting here in the Great Hall. It was very well attended. It was about a three-hour meeting. We must have had about 60 to 80 people in attendance and about 20 presenters. There was a wide variety of very important issues raised. I would just like to report to the House at this time on some of those issues, so we are all more aware.

I appreciate everyone who took time to attend, but especially those individuals who were there to address the Giant Mine pension issue. One individual, Mary Kosta, who I think we all know, now, has been on a hunger strike for three weeks in support of laid off miners who will soon have their pensions reduced by 25 percent. There were several very emotional appeals made for help. I think we can all realize that this is an emergency issue and action must be taken on compassionate grounds.

Several others raised concerns about changes to the Student Financial Assistance Act, Bill 4. Most of the concern focused around the impact on Metis and Inuvialuit students, and the change going from grants to remissible loans will have on their situation. Delays in passage of the bill were requested because there are more concerns that need to be addressed.

One of the most important concerns was that student input seems to be lacking. We have new legislation, but there is no new money. I think we need to talk to the students and see how they feel this will affect them.

There were also concerns raised over travel by Members. I think it was mentioned that it is very important for us to realize that we are travelling on public money, and we are accountable to the public when we return.

Roads were mentioned, specifically the road between Yellowknife and Rae, and an all-weather road to the Slave geological province. Money was mentioned, but I think the underlying factors were that we cannot put a price on safety. It is important to do something about this now.

One constituent mentioned the idea of possibly setting up a trustee for territorial pensions. He suggested this might help people in the North have protection against similar situations as those experienced by the Giant Mine pensioners.

Devolution of resources from the federal government was also mentioned. When will we receive control of our resources? What will this do to our federal grant? Do we have a plan or a timeframe? These are all very real concerns that were raised, Mr. Speaker.

A bill of rights is also needed in the North, and we have mentioned this many times.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was not aware we could fully or partially implement this thing. I did not think we had a choice. I thought it was either we do it or we do not. If we do not have the asset inventory completed, I would assume we would have to have the whole thing put off for a year. Am I mistaken? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister responsible for the Department of Finance. It relates to tangible capital asset accounting. I am wondering if the Minister can tell us if the government is on track for a change over to this new system as of June, when the new budget comes down? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will direct my question to the Premier. We are all starting to get phone calls, we are all starting to get resumes faxed to our offices. We are concerned that we have to get back to students with something concrete.

The time is fast approaching when they will return. I would like to get something back to my constituents who are away at university. I have mailing addresses now for them at university. It becomes much more difficult when they are in transit. So my real concern is that we will not have any information for them before they step off the plane or, heaven forbid, should they have to drive Highway No. 3 to get back to town.

-- Laughter

So I am wondering if we can have a timeline as to when we will have phone numbers and contact people so we can start to disseminate that information. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Details. When? Who do I ask? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment. I have asked previous questions of him in this House on summer employment for students coming back to the Territories from university.

He had presented us with a suggestion that the Executive was taking the lead role in this and will be coordinating the summer hiring program, which was very encouraging to hear. But often, Mr. Speaker, what sounds good at first may have some flaws and some problems with it. I would like to know when we can get the details on the summer program? Things like names, phone numbers, and locations kids can expect to go to look for employment? Mr. Speaker, the question is when will we receive the details? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also look forward to Wednesday when we will get a chance to sit down with the Minister and get a briefing. I think that is very important. While I have had a chance to take a cursory glance at the report, we have not really been able to examine it closely yet. But one of the things I have been able to glean from the pages as I go through this, is that no report can be done in isolation.

To borrow a concept from my colleague, Mr. Roland, I think we get into trouble when we try to take a stove-pipe approach to these problems. Mr. Miltenberger alluded to the same thing. One of the things I gleaned from the information was that education is an underlying theme and a priority.

One of the things the report mentions is we have real problems in the area of recruitment and retention. We know we are battling a shortage of professionals in the health care field in the south. Our prospects for recruiting people from the south are not great in the short-term future. I think we realize one of the things we have to be focused on is training Northerners.

We have a great program at Aurora College that is training nurses. I think 39 or 40 nurses have graduated in the last three or four years. This is a great step. But when we look at the numbers that we need across the Territories, we have some 400 nurses who are currently employed. My numbers might not be correct, Mr. Chairman. Roughly, we are currently able to train about 10 percent of the work force.

We also see that of the 39 nurses we have been able to train, most of them are currently working in Yellowknife. It has to be this department's priority and focus to be able to not only train Northerners, but to get Northerners back to the communities where they can work with the people and make a difference.

FAS and FAE is a huge concern, and I think education plays a major role here. People have to understand the implications of the choices they make. We have to promote healthy lifestyles. Education will play a large role in how successful we are in doing this. I think now we need that, with the discussions on teacher to pupil ratio and problems in the classroom, special needs is a huge issue. We are going to find we will have to mainstream special needs students and provide special or extra help to students who are at what we would have previously considered a normal level. That is how large this problem has become. I think it is epidemic. This is something we are going to have to work on. Education is the key here.

Mrs. Groenewegen alluded to the fact that we cannot just pour money down a black hole. We have to do something at the front end. We can throw a lot of dollars at this problem, and it will not go away. Education has to be a real priority.

I mentioned healthy life choices. This is something we really have to promote. Essentially, we all know we are smoking, drinking and gambling ourselves to death, furthermore to veritable bankruptcy. We are spending a huge portion of every dollar on the social envelope, and health problems are the majority of the spending. Citizens have to be aware of this and realize that we are in a catch 22 situation.

The key has to be education. If we can educate our people and make them realize they have to make decisions that will impact their own health, we will be a lot further down the road. I would like to thank the Minister for her comments today. I look forward to working with her in the Social Programs Committee and getting briefings from her. This is a critical and very important piece of work we have here and I look forward to looking into it further. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.