Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think it's fair to say that a common complaint that young people levy now is: I've gone, I've got an education, I went to university and there are still no jobs. I am just wondering what the Minister's response would be in that situation, if that's down south where these comments are made. I've heard it in my own community. Is there any way to deal with that particular situation?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have heard another Member talk about some of the large unemployment rates that we have in some of the communities. What is the department's strategy if we can achieve grade 12 in every community? What is the strategy for these people? What's

the future outlook for them in a community that has 60 per cent unemployment? Is there a strategy for providing some gainful employment if we have these people educated in the communities?

Thank you. I have more questions I wanted answers for, Mr. Chairman.

I am not sure we have a quorum for an important item such as this, a large percentage of the budget. We do have a quorum now. Good.

I have some questions and they are mainly coming out of the Minister's program overview as regards schools. Is it the intent of the ministry to have schools in every community to grade 12? Is that the ultimate intention?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, last Thursday, the Finance Minister introduced his 1996-97 budget. For the most part, the document presented was positive and a very good start to the job ahead. Much more has to be done.

I would like, Mr. Speaker, to reminisce for a few moments. We all came to this House as a new elected body. Each of us came with their spirits high; good reason to have high spirits, we just finished a popularity contest of sorts. Sufficient numbers of the community members where we live had faith in our ability to come to this Legislature and represent them and protect their rights and interests.

We all knew that the job was going to be easy. I certainly did. I have talked to enough people in my constituency over the previous year and have gotten such a good response to my ideas that I knew I must be right. Now, all I had to do was to go to the Legislature and bring the good news to the other 23, never once thinking that their solutions to the problems would be different than mine. Come to think of it, there aren't too many ways to stop spending more than you bring in. I thought it is that simple. We will have a happy group of campers and the public of the NWT will be so pleased with our efforts and everyone will live happily ever after.

Mr. Speaker, I was dreaming in colour. During my election campaign, I had made three commitments to my constituents. They were effective representation, I would speak up for them in the Legislature; economic fairness, a fair distribution of government dollars for all communities; and fiscal responsibility, which is not spending beyond one's means to pay.

We came to our first Caucus meeting and the process of orientation began. We were educated as to what Hansard was, how many copies we were entitled to and could we get more copies. I am not sure why anyone would want extra copies of Hansard, maybe their friends need some stimulating reading or perhaps they have a woodstove that needed extra fuel. We were taught how to speak in the House, how to answer questions or not to answer questions from the media, as the case may be; what can be said in the House and what can't; how to ask a question of the Minister in the House; and, the rules around the overused term ..supplementary questions."

Later on, when we got the important information out of the way, we got down to some real work; that of filling out forms for pension plans, dental plans, insurance plans, medical plans and, most important, how to read our pay slip and the number of times we would be getting them. Oh yes, there were the answers to those important questions: If we stayed for an extra committee meeting, did we get paid for an extra day? If we worked at the Assembly for more than a minimum of two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, we would get paid for that too?

I recall the evening meeting where it seemed to go for hours discussing the use of alcohol in the Northwest Territories and whether we should allow alcohol to be used at Legislative Assembly functions. We went as far as sharing how each of us, as Members, dealt with alcohol in our own personal life. It was after that long, drawn-out meeting, that Mr. Todd came up to me and asked me how it was going. I advised him that it was a lot slower than I had expected and been used to in the business community, at which he replied, you will have to take it easy, lad, I nearly went nuts for the first six months.

--- Applause

I have a few more days to go to complete my six months and I am not sure I am going to get used to it in that time.

Getting back to the part about coming to this Legislature as one of 15 new Members, it was not long into the Caucus meetings that our new-found approach of working together seemed to take a turn for the worse. New Members felt they wanted to look at installing a Cabinet of new, unseasoned MLAs. It was a great exercise, but that is all. The present Cabinet should be congratulated on their posture as they did not panic, but listened and responded favourably to concerns that were expressed by new Members. As it turned out, most of the old seasoned MLAs got elected to Cabinet. Let's hope we can continue to say at the end of their term that all's well that ends well.

I think it is important to remember that we are also employees who have been hired for a four-year contract, with an option to renew at the employers' pleasure. All the more reason to be prudent with how we dispose of their money. Mr. Speaker, I have to give credit to the Finance Minister, who was consistent in communicating to our committees that he did not think that balancing the budget in one year was possible. As time went on and at the present time, the Members who think or want the Finance Minister to balance the budget are in a minority.

This situation is no reason for Members such as myself, who feel that we should be putting more urgency into balancing the budget sooner, bringing this position to the court of higher opinion, which is the general public of the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, I had the NWT Council for the Disabled conduct a telephone survey for me in my Yellowknife South riding in the two-week period between March 4th and 28th of this year. I surveyed 140 people, selected at random, from my constituency. I had them answer nine questions, one of which was do you believe the GNWT should balance this 1996-97 budget; 82 per cent said yes. Another question asked was do you feel that the GNWT can balance the budget in the 1996-97 year; 76 per cent said no. There are many ways to interpret these results. I would offer one potential way of looking at them. To the first question, a large number of constituents want the budget balanced. In response to the second question, there is a feeling that this government cannot get a handle on its finances. Of my constituents surveyed, 76 per cent do not believe that the Government of the Northwest Territories has the ability to balance the budget in the coming year. I know and accept that I have not been able so far to convince this government of the importance of balancing the budget each year.

I do not know of one MLA who does not want to balance the budget. I would suggest that that is a unanimous position. Everyone wants and knows how necessary it is to balance the budget; what we disagree on is when we are going to do it.

My analogy to the GNWT not balancing its budget is like a patient after being diagnosed with flesh-eating disease in his leg, saying to the doctor, okay, doctor, I realize the leg has to come off. Can you take the foot off this year? Next year, you can take off the part below the knee, and the following year you can take off the balance of the leg. Mr. Speaker, the patient had a sick leg so it had to be removed. The GNWT has a sick habit: spending too much, so it has to get rid of that sickness.

This government should inflict only one round of pain, rather than dishing out pain each year. It is not going to be any easier next year; we have to pay the piper, we have to fix the patient, we have to balance this budget, we have to take the pain now. This government does not have to cut more employees to balance its budget this year. This government does not have to make more reductions to education, social services or health care this year to balance the budget. We can reduce spending in many areas such as postponing the mortgage investment program which would be a saving of $5 million, postpone the construction of access roads which would save an additional $1.5 million, delete such items as spray painting equipment being purchased for airports -what I suggest: purchasing one piece of equipment and transporting it on to the next airport to paint the stripes on the runways. The proposed moorings and infrastructure to an already-deleted tank farm in Rankin Inlet would produce an additional savings of $2.5 million. If we balanced our budget, we would not pay out $3.5 million in interest the next year.

Mr. Speaker, if these initiatives were taken for starters, it would generate a saving to this government in this fiscal year of approximately $12.6 million. This is just a start to the numerous projects that we could postpone, rather than going into a deficit situation in this fiscal year. If we do not make the necessary cuts this year, we will have to cut even more next year to pay for the interest costs in the following year. We should not, as a government, inflict more pain than we have to; but, more importantly, we should inflict the pain only once.

Our government in the NWT is not like the ones in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, Ontario or Quebec in that we don't have the luxury of spreading cuts out over a number of years. These provinces have an economy that they can project for and promote growth and development. They have manufacturing, they have a large tax-paying population, they have control of their resources, something we do not have in the Territories. Even if things went exceptionally well with the northern accord, we would not have in the life of this government agreement that would help us in our financial situation. Now that diamonds have been found in Lac de Gras and copper in Voisey Bay, Labrador, I am not so optimistic that the federal government, with it's $600 billion debt, will be so willing to give up the rewards of this new-found treasure.

This government is projecting in this fiscal year a $43 million operating deficit. Added to this, we have an accumulated deficit as of March 31, 1996, of $41 million, for a total accumulated debt as of March 31, 1997, of $84 million. We still have clouds hanging over our head in the form of unknown cuts which we do not have any control over, such as further cutbacks to transfer payments by the federal government, a large, unresolved pay equity liability. What does this mean? It means that instead of making the necessary cuts this year to balance this budget, we will pay the banks $7 million in interest payments next year.

I think that money we will spend on interest payments could be better spent. As an example: $7 million that we will pay in interest to the banks would provide salaries for 100 employees, and that's calculating $70,000 per employee which I realize is high; to teach our children in school; to provide health care for our elderly; counsel our youth against the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse; provide police officers to protect those who can't protect themselves; assist in providing housing and food for those who can least afford to go without.

Mr. Speaker, 150 employees -- 75 in Yellowknife alone -- have been laid off. The workers have paid the price in job losses and wage rollbacks. It's time to show them in this next few weeks as we go through the budget debate exercise, that they are not the only sector that is being asked to carry the brunt of this financial exercise. I beg all Members of this House to keep an open mind for the residents of the NWT -- our employer -- to advise us, your MLAs, to do all things necessary to balance this 1996-97 budget.

Mr. Speaker, in summary, I would suggest that we should not put off until tomorrow what we can and should do today. Thank you.

--- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Don Ellis in the gallery today. Don has returned to Yellowknife as the assistant deputy minister of the Department of Health and Social Services. Don, his wife and family used to live in Yellowknife, and we are glad he has returned to his senses and returned home. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to table Tabled Document 31-13(3), results of a survey which was conducted in March of this year. This random survey was done in my constituency of Yellowknife South. The survey was in response to my need to understand how my constituents felt about the current deficit and their feelings on budget reductions. I hope my fellow Members will take the time to review this survey, as I feel it is representative of a comparable cross-section of people in my riding. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to waive Rule 93(4) and have Committee Report 2-13(3) of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure moved into Committee of the Whole for today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On behalf of the Members of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure, I am pleased to provide our report on the review of the 1996-97 main estimates and departmental business plans.

Introduction

A recurring theme throughout the business plans of the departments in this envelope was one of devolution. Where the Government of the Northwest Territories used to be the most important provider of public services in the NWT, the trend now is towards the government being the coordinator of the delivery of those services. Transferring powers and programs to communities, privatizing services formerly provided by government, and developing user-pay systems for services still provided by government are all part of a new direction for the government.

Committee Members appreciated that they have had a degree of input into the development of the main estimates. Through the business plan review process, recommendations by the ordinary Members who sit on the standing committees have been incorporated into the business plans and budgets of all government departments. Given the critical impact of the measures taken in this budget, however, committee Members would like to see the process expanded to allow for public input during the review. Cuts had to be made; however, all Members would appreciate hearing now from our constituents where they would suggest further savings and reductions should occur.

The presentation of business plans and budget documents concerned committee Members. Documents were often delivered very late to Members, sometimes only as meetings with the relevant department were beginning. Documents were also subject to frequent changes, leading to some confusion. Members appreciate that the process was rushed due to the timing of the 1995 election, and that the novelty of this process was a factor in the ability of staff to produce timely documents. However, for the fall review of the 1997-98 business plans and budget, Members would like to see the following improvements:

- documents to be provided to Members well in advance of meetings, preferably a week or more;

- more consistent format among departmental business plans;

- when documents are updated, supplying only changed pages to replace, rather than wasting large amounts of paper on printing completely new versions;

- highlighting changes between updates; for example, red lining or shading.

Mr. Speaker, this concludes the general comments of the standing committee. During the review of the main estimates in Committee of the Whole, the committee will be making a detailed report on each department in the infrastructure envelope.

Motion To Receive Committee Report 2-13(3) And Move To Committee Of The Whole, Carried

That concludes the report of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure. Therefore, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nunakput, that the report of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure on the review of the 1996-97 main estimates, be received by the Assembly and moved into Committee of the Whole. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Member's statement this morning, my question is to the honourable Minister responsible for FMBS, Mr. Todd. Will the Minister have his officials look into and report back to this House on the pros and cons of making available to all residents of the NWT, upon request, documentation which would entitle them to already-negotiated savings with hotel and car rental agencies, both in the North and the South?