The Northwest Territories is the most expensive place in Canada to live. The average family income in the NWT is the highest in Canada. And yet our minimum wage is only the fifth-highest in the country?

Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec and the Yukon all ensure their lowest-paid workers earn more than ours.

Does that mean something is wrong? Not necessarily. It could be, as Yellowknife South MLA Sean Henry says, that so few people earn minimum wage that worrying about it would be a waste of time and hiking it would likely to cause the loss of jobs rather than an increase in income.

It could also be a factor of ideology, as all the jurisdictions at the top of the list have been run recently by labor-oriented governments.

But it might also be that a significant number of Yellowknife workers deserve more money.

The problem is we don't know. Neither does the territorial government, which argues it has better things to do than study the situation.

We disagree. The very fact that our minimum-wage ranking is so far out of line with our cost-of-living ranking suggests a problem serious enough to warrant legislative attention.

As it is, the NWT's minimum wages of $6.50 an hour for adults and $6 for youth haven't changed since 1991. And if Justice Minister Kelvin Ng and the cabinet have their way, they will stay there for at least another two years.

The year 1999 also marks the division of the territories, and we strongly suspect Nunavut, a region with markedly higher costs than our corner of the country, may want to set its own minimum. In that event, why don't we study the issue now? The old excuse that the legislative assembly can't be bothered simply doesn't hold water.

Find the time. All we're talking about is a few weeks of research.

Our progressive Northern city has associations, societies and service clubs for just about every other hobby or lifestyle, so it's about time gays and lesbians in the capital city found a voice.

And rather than coming out swinging with some sort of outlandish or absurd agenda, they've picked the perfect moment to ask candidates important questions during the federal election campaign and are asking some tough questions about pending territorial family law legislation.

In a city already known for wide-ranging and diverse opinions, we welcome the voice of one more interest group to public forum.

Frank Finley of Atomic Energy of Canada recently spoke to St. Patrick high school students to dispel some myths and he won a few converts.

The potential benefits of nuclear energy and technology are great enough to warrant more research. Industry people like Finley tend to downplay the dangers, citing a solid safety record with existing nuclear power plants. But the hazard is as great as the potential.

The biggest threat nuclear energy presents to humans is a fledgling industry moving too quickly to utilize what they don't yet understand.