Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just received a letter from the Inuvik alcohol committee with regard to Turning Point. I just want to ask the Minister of Health and Social Services if he can give this House an update as to the status of Turning Point as it relates to the alcohol and drug program, as well as the facility for the homeless. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I had asked the question about the definition and that complies with certain statements he made in the opening remarks about how we treat elite athletes. So I'm going to ask again in terms of a definition, would he explain what the department considers an elite athlete? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know that's a good way to respond back to questions. I'm going to ask the Minister if he would kindly define his interpretation of what an elite athlete is at this point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll acknowledge that the Minister is not aware of the concept, so I'll go on to my next question if I may be permitted. Would the Minister guide his department to work more closely with the TSOs to sanction certain qualifying meets to overcome some of the high costs of regional and territorial qualifying events? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs this afternoon, with regard to the concept and development of an NWT-wide summer Olympic games. I'm going to ask the Minister if he can provide an update in this House as to what stage he's at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It gives me great pleasure this afternoon to recognize Frank Sambo with whom I have a long history of friendship. As well, we were team mates in the 1989 canoe race at Aklavik and the winning team. Mr. McLeod was also representing Fort Providence. As well, I'd like to recognize Mr. Frank Pope, also a fellow Inuvik resident. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the last two weeks, I have raised several issues related to the economic stability of the Northwest Territories, encouraging the Minister of Finance to look at several tax measures that would be a benefit to the investment in our territory. Mr. Speaker, my researchers have found several interesting items that should intrigue the imagination of our government; none more so than an article on economic development in the Edmonton Journal, dated March 25th.

Mr. Speaker, I quote from the article, "Ireland is the poster child for success, going from one of the poorest economies to one of the richest in two decades." It seems to relate to our own economy. "It combined an attractive corporate tax culture with education to produce skilled workers for the companies that set up shop there." The article also states that, "an investment tax credit works better than grants and tax breaks since the latter leads to more failures than successes."

Mr. Speaker, I did, on several occasions, raise the important issue of taxation to facilitate spending and vocational training in the North. Mr. Speaker, knowing that this government is beginning a process of developing a working group on a joint pipeline committee, I would offer that they build into their mandate a component that would address a tax regime. This tax regime could be modeled after the investment tax credit which could be used to reward spending money in the territory and can be broadly available to all industries.

Mr. Speaker, during this budget session we've heard loudly that the federal government will not readdress our fiscal situation. The Premier has stated this, so did the Finance Minister, and so did the Minister of Health and Social Services. They were also on record as saying this as well. It is time our Premier and his Cabinet come to introduce some new ideology on tax reform as an indication to the federal government that we are serious about our sovereignty issues. I hope that they will take some of our ideas and, over the course of time, begin to look at implementing some of these suggestions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to report progress.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The committee recommends that we review the Legislative Assembly main estimates.