Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand that our broadcasts reach through the satellite system quite far and wide and, from time to time, reach the northern US and sometimes the southern US. We do get feedback on that. In that regard, I would like to tell those people out there about the fantastic Canadian Championship Dog Derby that we had here in Yellowknife over the past three days. This is run by the Yellowknife Rotary Club and they have run this for 25 years consecutively. The championship has been held in Yellowknife consecutively for 25 years.

It is a race that is 150 miles over three days. The rotary club does all the work for this. They are out on the ice on Great Slave Lake and throughout the community taking care of the paths and making sure that there are officials in case of accidents and so forth. It is a competition that attracts mushers from around the world, including France and the US, especially the northern US. As a matter of fact, the winner of this year's race was Tim White of Grand Marais, Minnesota.

It has been an extremely successful operation that the Yellowknife Rotary Club has conducted. I would like to make reference to our official here, the Sergeant-at-Arms, Tony Whitford, who is one of the people who hosted it last night. It has been a function that has a great safety record, but also draws a tremendous amount of tourists and business to this community. I would like to congratulate the 55 members of the Yellowknife Rotary Club for the tremendous dedication that they have shown to this race over the years. Thank you very much.

--- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Premier announced significant changes in senior management assignments the other day, so the government will be in a better position to achieve objectives and priorities. I noticed that over the past several months, the Housing Corporation has had three different presidents and a new one now. Will the Premier explain to me how this rotating-door policy for the Housing Corporation will achieve objectives and priorities of the Housing Corporation, and could he tell me what the future plans of the Housing Corporation are?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I realize we have to get our financial house in order and this will take some time to accomplish but, in the meantime, let's develop jobs for northerners which in turn will alleviate some of our social problems. This will also give us an opportunity to see how we are going to replace the dollars the federal government will continue to take away from us. Shrinking federal dollars will likely continue to plague us for many years to come.

By the time division of the Northwest Territories occurs on April 1, 1999, 1 want to see a strong, efficient, debt-free government with a vibrant economy that will put a big dent in the social and economic problems of those people who live in communities like Arviat. This will take our collective leadership. Thank you.

--- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On Wednesday of this week, my colleague, the honourable Mr. O'Brien, made a statement in this House in reference to the disastrous health problems that have plagued his home community. He included a statement saying that this incident only serves to illustrate the need for us in this Assembly to take dramatic action to deal with the social and economic problems being faced by communities such as Arviat. We can't just be driven by deficit management.

Like Mr. O'Brien, I also support the idea of Premier Morin's announcement to establish an advisory council on the economy and employment, for which lie will invite business people from across the NWT to provide him with advice and ideas.

It will be invaluable for the Premier to get input from the business community and equally invaluable for those ideas and viewpoints to be passed on to Members of this House. In that regard, I would suggest that the Premier's committee not become overweighted with political representatives from this House. However, I agree that the economy and employment must be given the same emphasis by Members of this House as we are giving deficit management, and that we create a mechanism by which we can play an ongoing role. I would support the establishment of a special committee of this House to also work on figuring out how to repair the northern economy.

We, in this House, must not deal solely with deficit management; let's not just roll along and let these costcutting measures lead us to despondency, let's wrestle with this ugly problem, let's develop a parallel vision with goals of where we want to go so that soon we will not solely be concentrating 100 per cent on cost cutting. Let's get back to building our economic future. Let's help kick-start the economy.

I would fully support the establishment of a committee made up of four ordinary Members who could study such issues as unemployment -- which, by the way, is the highest percentage-wise, in Canada -- a committee which could tabulate and review reports such as the SCONE report of 1989. This special committee could provide a valuable linkage to the Premier and could provide ideas that could be floated with the business community and industry, perhaps such initiatives as creating internships for our youth whereby we can involve industry and business to create entry-level jobs for youth entering the job market.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, would like to support the Premier's statement. I think that we need change to the compensation package. For some of us, this was an election issue. In my situation, my constituents were quite concerned about the pensions. the accountability of expenses and the salaries.

I made a presentation before the commission and spoke about those areas; about the confusion in the system at the moment that exists for us to get salaries. There were 13 different levels. Certainly, this commission's report takes a lot of the confusion out of that. The commission made 43 recommendations. They dealt with various areas. For instance, one was salary levels. I would just like to mention that the salary level recommended is that of a senior teacher or a middle management person. I think that may put it into perspective for the public as to what the recommendation is. It dealt with pensions, accountability of expenses, allowances and took the confusion out of the system.

I feel that it was a comprehensive report and had some very valuable recommendations in it. It should result in a cost savings to this government and I think the cost savings will be substantial once we have decided on the recommendations. For example, in the pension area alone, if we were to equate and adopt the recommendation, that means that we drop 30 per cent of our income.

When we set up the commission, we all agreed -- and I think we all still agree -- that we want to contribute to the deficit reduction. We want to make changes and we want to show leadership and lead by example. I am confident that we will all do that. My expectation is that we will resolve the recommendations and do so before we leave this House next week. I am determined on that. I think we can have an open and good discussion, so that the public will see where we are heading with all these recommendations.

As I said earlier, this will result in substantial savings. We heard some comments by the Minister of Finance today about reductions we are making in the public service and they are necessary because of the problems we are having with the money and the revenues in this government.

I also want to express some other comments. I recognize that some Members have concerns about a number of the areas of this report. I think they are very legitimate. For instance, the travel allowances and living allowances. While I am in support of many of the areas, I do have some concerns for those who are not resident in Yellowknife because it affects those people who have to travel and have accommodation here. Over the next few days, we will be able to resolve these issues and discuss them in more detail. I would like to congratulate the commission for their report.

I look forward to resolving the recommendations. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Can the Premier tell us if there is a timetable to meet with the federal officials? I understand about the March or April 30th aboriginal summit but could you advise us what the schedule is with federal officials?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we all realize the importance of having northern control of northern

resources. I certainly encourage the Premier to proceed with this. I wonder if he has had any reaction from the federal government on his overtures to date.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Premier. The Premier, in his statement yesterday, spoke about the need to gain control of northern resources and that he would place a priority on negotiations, and that he would be the lead Minister in this. I wonder if the Premier could clarify that for us, by telling us what his actions in that end will be, what his negotiations will be and who with: with the federal government and the aboriginal groups.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to encourage the Minister to bring that before the House, so that we have an opportunity to make some decisions on this before the summer, so that in April or May, we can conclude and advise how we feel about this. We have our summer students coming in and this was a big issue last summer.

Perhaps I could ask the Minister if he could assure us that it will be before the House in April or May.