Thank you. We have new figures now, Mr. Speaker, of between $75 and $80 million. I would like to ask the Minister of Finance, since we have already taken all kinds of measures -- we have put the brakes on spending all over the place -- does that mean that if we continue going the way we are going, that these figures will not apply, that we will not have that kind of deficit, because we have already taken all kinds of money-saving measures?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Finance. Both in the press and in this chamber, the Minister has indicated that we could be in a deficit position of anywhere between $50 and $100 million. Now that is a big jump, Mr. Speaker; for ordinary people like us, that is an awful jump -- to talk about $50 million and $100 million. So I would like to ask the Minister, since he is now well immersed in his new portfolio and has got a grasp of everything, whether he could explain to us the circumstances under which we could be in a $100 million deficit position.

Mr. Speaker, I am concerned about the continuing public dissatisfaction with the standards of education in the Northwest Territories. In the 1950s, Mr. Speaker, the major concern of the federal government was to make schooling available for as large a number of students as possible, because at that time many people lived in scattered communities and hunting camps throughout the Northwest Territories. This was the period, Mr. Speaker, when there were huge schools and school residence building programs. The goal at that time was to get 100 per cent enrolment of school-age children.

It was not until the transfer of education to the territorial government in 1969 and 1970 that the focus changed to the actual content of the school program to reflect northern interests. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, over the past 20 years, despite this focus, the statistical emphasis by this government is still on enrolment -- just bodies. This forms the basis for the expansion of grades in communities and the continuing demand for the expansion of capital assets in communities. We do too little, in the opinion of many people, to measure the output, or to reassure the public about the standards being achieved in our system. We continue to expand grades in communities with no assurances that before grade 10 is added that there is an adequate grade nine, and so on. Our students, in many cases, are being short-changed in pursuit of government policy that only makes sense if it is implemented sensibly. In many cases there is evidence that it is not being implemented sensibly.

Residential schooling in the West, Mr. Speaker, commenced in 1867 at Fort Providence, and yet in the West there are still only six schools that offer high school programs. In the Eastern Arctic, high school programs are offered in 13 schools. Many of my colleagues do not believe that in the Eastern Arctic, where schools were not established until the 1950's, that the standards are so much higher than they are in the West. Many of us refuse to believe that.

When we deal with Education capital, and also the O and M estimates, I am sure there will be much discussion about this issue of quality and standards and, also, the whole issue of value for money, because there are vast amounts of money being poured into education without any reassurances about what we are receiving in exchange for it. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, February 24, 1992, I will move, seconded by the honourable Member for Kivallivik, that Mr. Dent, Mr. Koe, Mrs. Marie-Jewell, Mr. Nerysoo and Mr. Pudluk be appointed as Members of the special committee on health and social services. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Monday, February 24, 1992, I will move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nahendeh, that Tabled Document 12-12(2), Plebiscite Direction, be moved into committee of the whole for consideration. Thank you.

I would like to address this question to the Minister of Justice. In light of the Supreme Court ruling that people who are in jail must be given the same right as other Canadians to vote in elections, does he intend to bring forward a change in our Elections Act so that when the plebiscite vote takes place, the people in jail will be allowed to vote?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today, I would like to pay tribute to a former constituent of mine who now lives in Hay River. Staff Sergeant Al Kirbyson is well known to many Members, and I would like to point out to Members, Mr. Speaker, that the staff sergeant is known throughout the Northwest Territories as the heart and soul of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. This particular individual has shown exactly the nature of the work of a staff sergeant who hopes to have a good team of people to get the very difficult work of police enforcement done. He is a person of great humour and great leadership ability at that level.

Just over a week ago he demonstrated that the old style RCMP officer is something, perhaps, that has been lost, so what he did was to take a whole bunch of people out on the lake, on the land if you like, and the lake, and showed them that when they left Hay River and went to some of the more isolated places in the Northwest Territories they would have to face conditions which they have never faced in their lives before, even as part of their police training.

I understand that this exercise has been very, very widely acknowledged as a good example of something, perhaps, that has been lost over the last 20 years and which he is trying to reintroduce as a way of initiating young police constables into the realities of northern life, and learning about northern lifestyles and learning how to survive and operate on the land.

So today, Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the work of the old-fashioned, old style policeman such as Al Kirbyson, who has contributed so much to our society in the past. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to table Tabled Document 12-12(2), a document called "Plebiscite Direction" under the Plebiscite Act.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister if he would undertake to provide me, then, with that information so that I can see the impact on the city of Yellowknife if those positions are transferred.