Paul Delorey

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear the Premier say that, that he does look at priorities. Is the Premier prepared to look at what Members’ priorities are as far as name change is concerned, what their views are on that and relate those views to the Senator? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Sibbeston has taken an approach to this issue that I have a lot of questions about and I would like to ask our Premier some questions during question period as to where our government stands on this issue seeing that, in my opinion, we have some much bigger fish to fry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

----Applause

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Yakeleya.

The Chair recognizes Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you. That's it, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There is one thing we are getting good at and that is to wait and see. We have played that game before and I guess we will continue to do it for some time now. Mr. Speaker, in the budget it was addressed. If there was a positive one, it was the $50 million to deal with our tax effort. How long will it be, Mr. Speaker, before we know how the federal government is going to treat that, whether it is going to be just a one-time thing, whether they are going to adjust the thing on an ongoing basis? When could we expect to find out how the federal government is going to...

Thank you. Just one more area I would like to touch on, Madam Chair, and that is on maximizing northern employment or job training, whether it be in apprenticeship programs or getting people into the trades. It's an area that I've addressed a number of times over the last four years with the previous Minister of Education. At that time I got the same answer more than what I wanted to hear about. If we do it in one place we can't do it in the other. We have to do it right across the Territories. In an area such as Hay River if there's a huge interest in promoting the trades in the school...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Finance as well. They are to do with my Member’s statement in regard to the federal budget. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the federal Minister, I don’t know if he heard our MP, Ethel Blondin-Andrew, on the radio this morning really bragging up how good this federal budget was for the North. When she mentions territorial formula financing for $150 million, it’s health support, $60 million; economic development, $90 million; northern oil and gas, $75 million; contaminated sites, $3.5 billion. How much of that...

Thank you, Madam Chair. Could I get the Minister to expand a little bit on the second paragraph on page 3 where, for example, the department is preparing an aboriginal language and culture-based directive that it will be sending to all education authorities outlining program requirements and criteria for expenditure? Could you expand a little bit more on what directive is going to be? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, while we were grinding away in this House, with our lean, mean Minister of Health and Social Services -- listening to how he was going to meet the needs of the people of the Northwest Territories on what he was referring to as a shoestring budget of $250 million -- exciting things were happening in Ottawa. The federal Finance Minister was delivering the first sound financial management federal budget under Paul Martin. Although I didn’t get to listen to the budget address, I did take time last night to read through it. I don’t know if this...