Mr. Chairman, Mr. Gargan has done his bit to represent his constituency. I will try to represent my department and also to protect the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre.
What it is is that we need planning dollars. Up to this point we have been using ad hoc type of solutions to deal with space problems, to accommodate artifacts as well as the people. Since 1979 there have been increased personnel working in the Northern Heritage Centre -- from seven positions to 29 full-time and term positions. The number of individual program areas has grown from five to nine. Many of these program areas require specialized work; they need specialized spaces that a lot of times is not available. Over the years there has been a series of ad hoc conditions, as I stated earlier, and alterations to accommodate new programs and staff. But no rational plan for expansion has been undertaken. What we are trying to do is to utilize this money to come up with a rational plan to take into consideration the overcrowding that exists for artifacts and personnel.
This situation of overcrowding will be compounded in two years. Trailers which have been added onto the centre must be vacated by order of the fire marshal. We need the money at this time to plan, not only to meet the requirement of space, but also to meet the requirement of the fire marshal.