Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to present a petition No. 58-13(3) dealing with the matter of the renaming of the western territory Mr. Speaker. The petition No. 58-13(3) contains 494 signatures from residents of Hay River, and Mr. Speaker, the petitioners request; we, the undersigned, feel that the name for the western territory should remain as is, the Northwest Territories. As most of us have either been born here or have resided in the Northwest Territories for most of our lifetime we consider the Northwest Territories our home and would like to see the name remain as is. Thank you.

I have another petition, should I do it now?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Finance. I was wondering if he could give us the rationale behind his department's contemplating removing the payroll tax at this time. I know there is a lot of opposition to the payroll tax at the time it was implemented but we have put up with it for some time now to no great net benefit to our government coffers.

However, on the verge of such extensive mineral sector development when we will probably be seeing a lot of non-northerners, at least to some extent there will be non-northerners working in the Northwest Territories, the timing just seems a bit odd to me and I was wondering if he might give us his rationale for proposing such a change at this time. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize today one of my constituents, who is now temporarily residing in Yellowknife, Pat Thomas, the president of the Northwest Territories Teachers Association.

---Applause

And I would also like to recognize Lydia Bardak who is here today. Lydia is the executive director of the NWT Council for the Disabled. Her assistant was here, I wanted to recognize here too. After spending the summer on crutches, I have new appreciation for the work these people do, and I would like to recognize them today.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a petition that I would like to table in the House today in my capacity as the chairperson of the Subcommittee of Western Caucus for the renaming of the Northwest Territories. That is the capacity in which I have received this petition. Petition 51-13(3) will indicate to Mr. Antoine and Mr. Kakfwi exactly the amount of work that has to be done. I heard both of their speeches here in the House; Mr. Antoine, today, and Mr. Kakfwi's. I would like to read the petition and then indicate the communities where these petitions come from and the numbers.

"In the matter of a petition to the Government of the Northwest Territories, in the matter of a petition to the Government of Canada by the residents of the western portion of the Northwest Territories, we, the undersigned, hereby petition the governments of the Northwest Territories and Canada to maintain the designation Northwest Territories for the Western Arctic after division in 1999. The designation has served the North and western portions of Canada throughout our modern history and carries with it that history and international recognition of which we, as residents of the Northwest Territories, are justly proud.

"Further, we believe that any change to this designation will result in needless expenditure, discord and international isolation. The Northwest Territories is our home, and we want it to remain as such."

These pages contain signatures from residents of Fort Smith, Norman Wells, Hay River, Inuvik, Fort Simpson and, in total, come to 1,637. Further, I would just like to say that it isn't a decided thing yet, and Mr. Kakfwi wants me to say that with the people he has spoken to personally, he has made progress, and we recognize that. Thank you.

Speaker, one of the few items remaining for consideration in Committee of the Whole is the report on MLA compensation. Mr. Speaker, with the support of my fellow Members, I had placed this item back on the order paper and this was in response to concerns raised by some of my constituents that there had not been enough public debate on this item.

When the report on the MLA compensation was tabled by the Speaker, we realized there were many issues which needed to be discussed. These included both monetary and non-monetary items. It was clear we would need time to look carefully at the recommendations and how they fit in with the new way the Assembly has been operating. As a Caucus, we agreed that it was important to make some decisions quickly. In order to lead by example, we decided to approach our compensation by dealing with the big monetary items: salaries, indemnities and pensions. We cut our salary and indemnities by seven per cent and we eliminated the supplementary pension plan, cutting our pensions by 60 per cent and bringing them in line with other people working as part of the government.

Mr. Speaker, my colleagues and I do not feel that we would be doing justice to the work that went into this report or to the concerns of our constituents about a public discussion if we were to rush this report through today on the last day of the House business before the summer. Instead, we intend to take time over the summer, hearing the concerns and suggestions of our constituents on the MLA compensation report. When we return in October, we can deal with this report in the House, giving it the time and attention that it deserves. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering bills 11, 13, 5, 8, 7 and 12, and would like to report progress with two motions being adopted, that Committee Reports 1-13(3), 2-13(3), 3-13(3), and 4-13(3) are concluded, and that Bills 13, 5, 8 and 7 are ready for third reading, and that Bill 11 is ready for third reading, as amended. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can't support the motion that has been put forward. It's my understanding, for one thing, it's just come to my attention that the information in here that the seniors are now guaranteed a living allowance of $200 is incorrect and, in fact, it's more like $288. What we're asking for here is a $ 12 a month increase. This seems like a lot of exercise to go through to accomplish that small increase.

Also, with respect to the equalization of the rates in general, I believe it's something that a fair amount of thought went into. In fact, a lot of rates for seniors requiring more specialized care have gone down while some have gone up, and the Minister did provide those numbers for us here in the House when he was questioned about it. In view of the fact that I don't believe the information in this motion is correct and that the seniors are already getting approximately $288, 1 won't be supporting the motion. thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is my pleasure to present the comments of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure regarding this secretariat. Referring to the 24 options, the standing committee suggested that the Financial Management Board Secretariat should develop proposals for sharing its staff and services -such as payroll and other human resource related functions - with health boards, education boards, hospitals and related agencies in the regions. Further, the FMBS should also develop further proposals to devolve compensation services and other human resource related functions to departments. While options have been developed by FMBS for consideration, the standing committee recommends that specific proposals be developed and provided to the committee for evaluation by June 15, 1996.

Staff Housing

As the government agency primarily responsible for expenditure control, the standing committee feels that the FMBS should be more active in developing and implementing creative solutions to the government's expenditure crisis.

Committee Members would like to see the FMBS encouraging government departments to implement more cost-saving measures, such as:

- requiring that all air travel be on excursion-fare tickets;

- replacing grants to third parties with low-interest loans, where possible;

- reimplementing an incentive program for employee suggestions;

- amalgamating regional boards and authorities, where practical; and,

- gearing income support programs towards job creation and away from handouts.

Committee Members feel strongly that much of the government's budgeting and spending problems can be corrected through creative measures such as these. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 11 and would like to report progress with one motion being adopted. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you.