Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Along the lines of some of the previous speakers, concerning the extra position that the Minister has indicated that they need. I was in Calgary with the Dogrib negotiations, and I looked at the people around the table. When I counted the people, we had 11 Government of the Northwest Territories negotiators around the table, four Dogrib negotiators and five federal negotiators. We had three from each department representing us.

We have that many positions out there already doing the work for us, and here we are trying to create a few more. I am just wondering if we could use the same negotiators that we have around the table that are working in the departments, instead of it costing us more. We should try to use other resources that we have. For instance, when I was getting a briefing there, after the meeting, they were in the process of changing their lawyer for the fifth time. Now, that is slowing them down in the negotiations, because the new lawyer has to be briefed and trained as to what he is supposed to be doing there.

Like some of the others have mentioned, the Government of the Northwest Territories is the one that is slowing things down. I would not say that they are intentionally doing it. It is just the process that they are using is not efficient enough. The Ministers are not being made aware of some of the issues that are out there. We should cut out the middle people and put the Ministers there. Because this is a final agreement in my region, it really is time the Ministers took the time to get out there and go to some of the negotiations.

We have talked for the last two or three months about working with the aboriginal leaders. It was an issue in the briefing on some of the things we are doing. By saying that we want to work with them, we should go out there and show them that we really mean it. And by doing that, we can try to make some progress by making the decisions right at the table, instead of all of the negotiating going back and forth between Yellowknife and Ottawa. I know our negotiators do not have to call back to their chiefs or anything like that, because they are already briefed before they even come to the table. They know what they are looking for.

What I am saying here is by creating more positions, I do not see that we are going in the right path. I think we should use the people that are already there who already have the knowledge of negotiating. By working more closely, like some of the previous speakers said, getting to the origins and having people working close to the negotiating teams, I think that will speed up most of the negotiations. Thank you.

Just along the line of health. Mr. Miltenberger mentioned the Dene Nation receiving funds for health services. You said no one asked you for their share. I think I would like to ask for my share for the Dogrib people. If you can take my little share and bring it back to my community, we can use it for healing on the land. Thank you.

Also, along the lines of treatment, I did mention in the House about centres for drug and alcohol addictions. It seems to me there are not enough of them in the Territories. I did ask for facilities for my region, which would benefit Yellowknife and the northern communities and regions. The last few days I have been listening on the radio to the Dogrib hour, and all they are talking about is healing and healing on the land. When we were talking about this under Justice, there were a lot of youth facilities, youth bush camps and there was not enough money for healing on the land when my constituents were trying to have some kind of a program put in place. The boards were told there were no funds for them. I am just wondering, in your business plan are you making accommodation for healing on the land programs?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the Minister, a couple of Members have mentioned the business plan. It seems to me we are having a lot of contracts that are down south. Just looking at the interim appropriation, there is about $13.2 million. That is just some of the figures I picked up, and I was just wondering if they were ever thinking of repatriation into the Territories?

I did ask a question in the House on funding for additional services down south and I was given a number, but it did not say if it was an annual figure for the board or if it was for the Stanton Regional Health Board or if a whole bunch of boards are together. It could be more, the figure could be higher. I would just like to know if your business plans include bringing a lot of the services back to the North, keeping the money in the North and building facilities that people can access closer to home? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, the Honourable Roger Allen. In the past, there have been housing programs that have been successful. They no longer exist. These programs were somewhat successful in helping people to create homes who were willing to put equity into building them. For example, people cut and haul their own logs.

I would like to ask the Minister if he would look at bringing back some of these programs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to let my constituents and the House know that tomorrow morning I will be heading to Calgary for Treaty 11 talks. The final agreement negotiations are occurring regarding the land claim for my constituents of North Slave.

Unfortunately, there seem to be continuous roadblocks, which are slowing down the negotiations. I will be joining the Treaty 11 Council tomorrow morning in Calgary to see if I can be of service as a Member of the Legislative Assembly.

I will be back on Friday, and I will join the House and forward questions to the departments if necessary. Thank you.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Bill 6, Interim Appropriation Act 2000-2001, Committee Report 2-14(2) and Committee Report 3-14(2), and would like to report progress.

Mr. Speaker, I move the report of the committee of the whole be concurred with.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to ask the Minister, what priority is this road to the Department of Transportation compared to that of the Ingraham Trail, or the Dettah road to the Yellowknife beat?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, the Honourable Mr. Steen.

Mr. Speaker, on Friday a constituent of mine was almost killed on Highway No. 3 while driving home. That is the road between Rae and Yellowknife. A van collided with his truck. The van was going northbound The accident occurred because the visibility was very poor, since the road was not ploughed after the snowfall on Thursday.

On March 10th, I sent a letter to the Minister sharing my constituents' concern about the lack of maintenance on Highway No. 3. As I pointed out in the letter, there were already two accidents on the road in February. Now there has been a third. I also know of a few other single vehicle accidents. My constituents are concerned about the safety of the road.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister why is the department not maintaining this road? Thank you.