Thank you, Madam Chair. With all the plans to amalgamate -- and I know that we've just recently gone through amalgamation of departments -- people get used to going to certain places for certain things and it leads to mass confusion. Now again, we're going to amalgamate several departments. Say someone, Ed Picco, came from Hard Luck Bay and last time he went some place to get something and now he's going to have to go to another place. What kind of plans do we have to try and avoid this type of confusion? Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I, too, would like to begin my comments looking at the comment that we will eliminate our deficit situation within two years. I favour trying to eliminate the deficit in a one-year time frame; however, if we cannot do this without making the people who can least afford it suffer too much, then I don't believe that we should.

Also, I think that if we can't do it in such a way that Yellowknife isn't taking the brunt of the cuts, then I think we should take two years to do it, as well. I know that from what I am seeing so far -- of course Yellowknife has the greatest amount of people working for the government, and we are always the favourite target -- that if we cannot do this without Yellowknife being hit unfairly, then I think it should be done in two years, as well.

I believe the block funding and empowering the communities is a very good strategy. The community people have been saying for years that they want to take over programs and have the ability to focus on certain areas that they wish, and that they are being restricted in funding and the rest of that, so I completely agree with this and I think that we should find ways of implementing this as quickly as possible.

I believe the consolidation of the three economic areas into a one-window shopping area for resource development and economic activity is very good, as well. For years, fishermen have been complaining that more fish have been thrown back into Great Slave Lake than the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation is actually sending out for sale. This is depleting our resources. Hopefully, consolidating these three departments into one will help us to get away from that and to use that fish that is now being wasted. I know people have talked about cat food, dog food, fertilizer and all those types of things. Certainly, if we can package those things with the fish that is now being thrown back, that would certainly improve matters.

With the refocusing of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs within the Executive department, I hope we are not sending the wrong message to the aboriginal people. I hope that it's not just going to be swallowed up and disappear, because there are definitely things that can be done that have not been done before. I hope we take this opportunity to refocus the energies of the people within those areas so that we get things done with the aboriginal people. The majority of the people in the Northwest Territories are aboriginal, and aboriginal and treaty rights have been protected under the constitution for over 10 years, yet there has been very little done to define those rights. It's probably time that we as a government tried to define those rights; at least as far as we understand them and how those rights can be practised in the territories.

The amalgamation of the Personnel Secretariat into the Department of Executive. Here again I have a concern that we have to ensure that affirmative action and other policies are still maintained. We have to have a watchdog out there. Without that, nepotism, favouritism or whatever "ism" you like can happen. I know that it's already happening that friends are being hired. Many people have complained to me that they see things happening every day, such as job descriptions being written to favour someone's resume and then that person just steps into the job. Hopefully, while reorganizing the Personnel Secretariat into the Executive we will find ways of ensuring that the old practices are done away with. I am sure that this is the intent, and I look forward to seeing some exciting results through there. In particular, women and aboriginal people have very low numbers in management. Hopefully, this will help us to increase those numbers.

Also in the area of partners operating health and education boards and asking people to eliminate duplication and save money by entering into new arrangements, we have received a letter from the Canadian Mental Health Association which is very timely in this area. They are proposing that a community health centre model be implemented where there would basically be a one-stop shopping centre in the mental health area as far as research and those types of things, and I think this is a very good idea that fits well into our new direction. Hopefully, we will be able to follow up in this area.

The Premier indicated that we have a young, capable and willing population which can benefit from opportunities we create. This is true; we do have a very young population, but we have to ensure that this young population is trained, and we have to take advantage of the jobs. We also have to ensure that we are in a position for them to get jobs from development that occurs on our lands in the Territories. People who are born here, northern aboriginal people and other people who are born here, should have a priority on all jobs. We have to find a way to ensure that this priority is implemented.

The northern accord is one way that this can happen. The Premier spoke of northern control over northern resources. I am sure that he's talking about the northern accord. Here again is a method of ensuring that our workers actually benefit from the development that occurs on the lands in the Northwest Territories. We have to start working on a northern accord as soon as possible. I know that monetarily we probably can't benefit for a couple of years, so it's certainly not going to help us in the 1996-97 fiscal year. However, it can help us in the future, and it can help us to try to ensure that our people get jobs. So we need to start working on this as soon as possible. I certainly agree with the Premier's message that we must be prepared to deal with change and change won't manage us, we will manage it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the Minister may be mistaking a day care with a preschool. We were discussing starting a preschool, not a day care. A day care is something that was on the side, I suppose. I was not involved with that. I was involved in the discussions on the preschool and we were informed that we would be given some assistance in this matter. I don't know anything about the day care. I would like to know if the preschool is still being looked at.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to start out by thanking the honourable Member for Yellowknife South for distracting me at the end of the Members' statements. I didn't get a chance to make my statement.

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My question is to the Minister of Education. The previous Minister had indicated to the Yellowknives Dene First Nation that the Minister would direct his officials to help the Yellowknives Dene First Nation to acquire a school and a preschool. These officials were supposed to be working with them to do that. The reasoning behind this is when the children from Ndilo enter the Catholic school system, where most of the kids go, they are actually already about two years behind the kids who enter the school system there. As a consequence to this, they drop out early and we all know that when people drop out early, that increases your social assistance and increases the likelihood that people will become incarcerated. I understand that, to date, nothing has been done. I would like to know if the department intends to pursue this matter or if they have decided not to. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is again directed to the Minister responsible for recreation. On further contemplation of the information that we received, it seems that the qualifications for residency of the Northwest Territories are a bit convoluted, and perhaps are not as stringent and concise as they should be. For instance, if a person moves here from Alberta today, they can walk in and get a driver's licence from the Northwest Territories. So that really has no bearing on whether a person is a resident of the

Northwest Territories or not. I would ask that...Assuming that Mr. Miltenberger is not successful in shutting down the Winter Games, can we get a change in the regulations so that the people have some very good things to follow when they're trying to determine if a person is a resident of the Northwest Territories, please?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm well aware that the father has been a resident of Iqaluit for a while; however, it is my information that there was no application made for health care cards until October, which was three months ago. The father indicated that they were residents as of September 10th, which would mean that they have not been residents for the required six months. I don't know, I suppose it's not up to the Minister to question the decision of the governing body; however, I feel that I have to make that statement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for recreation. We have recently learned that there are a couple of young skaters whose residency in the Northwest Territories is in question. The two young skaters are apparently living in Alberta and from the information that I have received, they have competed in the trials for the Arctic Winter Games and were successful in winning. The problem is that their residency is in question. From the information I have, they have never been residents of the Northwest Territories, but they've managed to acquire NWT health care cards.

At this time, it appears that nobody in the family is living in the Northwest Territories, although the father does have a business in Iqaluit. The Arctic Winter Games, from what I understand, is to help develop our youth, and I don't believe in times of restraint that we should be transporting southern people to the Arctic Winter Games when we're having a hard enough time transporting our own youth and participants. I would like to know if there is anything we can do. If these people do not qualify as residents, if there is any way that we can stop them from representing us? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Transportation. Out of the concern for safety of Mr. Rabesca on the road to Fort Rae, I have had plenty of occasion to travel on the highways south and back when I've been going to school and visiting some friends in Hay River and I've always been concerned with the vehicles that are travelling without lights. Often you can't tell if a vehicle is coming towards you or going the other way. I know there have been studies done in areas where it's mandatory to have lights on. The studies have shown it is safer and there are less accidents when it's mandatory to have lights on highways. Of course, this brings down the hospital costs, long-term care and stuff like that, so I was wondering if the Minister would consider initiating an amendment to the proper act to make it mandatory to use headlights on our highways.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would also like to wish a merry Christmas and a happy new year to the people in the Yellowknife North constituency, and also a safe journey to all the Members and staff of the Legislative Assembly as well as a merry Christmas to all of you and to all of the staff who make our work a lot easier. Thank you.

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