(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I was able to go to my community with the Minister of Economic Development and Tourism and I was very happy about that. I am sorry that we were stuck in a vehicle. We were trying to push the vehicle for about an hour when we were stuck. I would like to express my gratitude to the Department of Economic Development and the Standing Committee on Finance. The new park, which has been in place since August, is a very scenic place in both winter and summer. People are using that park already. I am sure this is going to be very beneficial to the communities. There are some people who are trying to find jobs. We have to work hard to bring the programs for parks in place to help our people. If we start putting these kinds of programs in place we can start having some jobs available to our people. We are still trying to make these kinds of programs available to Cape Dorset. We do not want to be on social assistance, we want to develop programs so we can have jobs available to our people. The people in my constituency are not the only ones who are on welfare assistance.

By working together with our government, the Minister, the Cabinet and ordinary M.L.A.s, we can start moving forward. Since we have just voted on the N.W.T. Nunavut ratification, we are going to start looking toward our future to see what we have to do and what priorities we have to set. We have to look at our young people who drop out of school. We know that there are people who have certificates and qualifications for certain kinds of jobs, but it would be so much better today if we could look at other people who are disadvantaged, compared to the people who have certificates and qualifications. If we look at those people we can start to move forward. I would like to work closely with the Department of Economic Development and Tourism. If I was just on welfare assistance, I would not be moving forward at all. There are people who will get married and have children, and they are going to have to have some money to move forward in their lives. I would like to start working with the department to try to make economic development work in our communities. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Qujannamiik, Mr. Pudlat. Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it was embarrassing getting stuck in that vehicle. At one point we considered calling D.P.W. to tow us out, but we were afraid of what Mr. Morin would charge us.

---Laughter

I appreciated visiting the Member's community. There seems to be a great deal of interest in the park. There is already a proposal by the Co-op to expand to accommodate visitors. There is also a private sector person who is interested in building a facility in the park in conjunction with the community with them being shareholders in the project. There is also a great deal of interest in the park this year, and a number of trips into it have been booked at this early stage of its development. So we are pleased with the way it is going. We are also pleased with the community support. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. The economy is so slow today that getting stuck seems to be the trend. Mr. Gargan.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I agree completely with the Minister of Economic Development when he suggests that we have to be perceived as being as fair and responsible to all the regions. One initiative that the Minister has taken with regard to incubator malls. I think it is being restricted to your region, so that only one committee could be selected from each region for that initiative. I would like to say that it should be open to all the communities. If the communities feel that an incubator mall is justified for their community, then they should be given the opportunity to develop that.

Also, Mr. Chairman, I have a concern about the Business Credit Corporation. It is a corporation that gives out money for business development, to make approvals with regard to business ventures, but that board has not been in existence for some time now. The Minister did not indicate that he would like to have Members suggest things by the tenth and that he would be doing the selection before the end of month. I would like to ask the Minister whether he has received nominations for selection to the board and whether he anticipates that the board will be functioning by the end of this month, as he stated?

Thank you, Mr. Gargan. Mr. Minister.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, the board will be functional next week.

Thank you. Mr. Gargan.

Just one other thing, Mr. Chairman. Several months ago the Minister indicated, with regard to the Patterson Sawmill, that a business plan would be developed so that in three or four years the corporation would be profitable. I would just like to ask the Minister whether this plan is in place now.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Yes, there is a business plan in place for the Patterson Sawmill, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Member for Deh Cho.

How is the Patterson Sawmill doing now that it has been in operation for about six months? Is it doing all right and can the Minister provide me with the business plan that he was referring to?

Thank you. Minister of Economic Development and Tourism.

Mr. Chairman, the Patterson Sawmill is not doing badly, although it is not getting as much product out of the trees as we had hoped. We are looking at some new technology, perhaps some narrow curve saws. The cost of production per thousand is still a little too high for us. However, as we up the volume that is going through there, we anticipate that the cost will come down. If we can get a greater percentage of finished wood out of the logs with some new technology, then we hope that the mill will be profitable.

I should explain to the House that there has been a verbal inquiry as to whether we should sell Patterson Sawmill and that is being looked at right now, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. We are in general comments. Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just would like to make a couple of comments in this particular area. First of all, I just want to say that we have been quite successful in the Inuvik region and have been receiving probably more traffic than most other regions in terms of tourism. I do not mean total numbers, but people actually using the highway system. I know that there does not seem to be a great deal of commitment financially to address the possibility of putting more dollars into the Inuvik area, either in terms of improving the highway or looking at infrastructure that could accommodate the tourist industry. I am not so keen, Mr. Chairman, to have this government necessarily spend capital dollars as opposed to assist the possibilities of the community providing the necessary financial arrangements for community investment, or private investment in these kinds of facilities. I would still ask the Department of Transportation to respond to the development of the highway system, so that it does at least meet the standard that is set in the Yukon. I am talking about the Dempster Highway in this case. I am not talking about all of the paved highway between Dawson and the border or into British Columbia or into Alaska. I am more concerned about making sure that we meet the needs of the tourist industry and the tourists, and this allows for new dollars to move into the economy of the Northwest Territories.

I wanted to ask the government to consider how we might be able to deal with the matter of trade with Alaska, or business relationships with Alaska, leading us closer to the Pacific rim countries. We always seem to focus on going through British Columbia or going through Alberta to meet those potential trade relationships, but we never look at trying to deal with Alaska. In fact, it is closer in many respects to the Pacific rim and the Soviet market. I hope that we are looking at addressing those particular matters in the context of capital expenditures.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member is indeed correct, the number of visitors to the Delta is increasing, and we are encouraged by that. As the Banks Island Park comes into being, there will be more people passing through the Delta on their way up to Banks Island. So many people go to Inuvik and then go on to Tuktoyaktuk, so we are having, in spite of ourselves sometimes, some success in that area. I will take into consideration the Member's comments.

This year 25 per cent of our budget will be spent in the Inuvik region. For the total capital projections, more than 50 per cent will be spent in the Inuvik region.

With regard to the trade with Alaska, Northern Transportation Company Limited was trying to get into the supply business in Alaska, but ran into some insurance problems with barges and double-hulled barges, etc. There has been some attempt by Northern Transportation to start some trade with Alaska. If the Member's constituents feel that it is something we should be investigating further we would be glad to do that, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Koe.

Thank you. We are on general comments. Mr. Bernhardt.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know Economic Development and Tourism has done its best to create employment. However, from listening to Members' comments, I think too much emphasis is being placed on putting more money into the highway corridor system to serve settlements which already have these facilities. Mr. Minister, my riding is only accessible by First Air and Ptarmigan. If you are rich enough you can go by kayak from Yellowknife to Coppermine. These things are not noticeable to the outside world.

Tourism is good. I do not dispute that. However, Mr. Minister, the tourism season in the Northwest Territories is five months. It does not qualify a person to go on U.I.C. What this government should be doing is looking at taking alternative measures to create the cottage industries within the communities so that people can get off the welfare system and sustain their livelihood. A lot of our native people cannot afford washers and dryers. We could have a launderette in Coppermine. We had one, but it has been out of commission for a long time. We do not even have a restaurant in Coppermine open to the public. These are the things that we really need. Our community is over 1,000 people. These are the things that the general public in my riding have to make people aware of. The people from the Keewatin are aggressive people. They have to focus on how to create jobs. That is what we need in our riding. I am not going to wait for the boom to hit my riding. I want to get things going, but it is hard to get the people in my riding to open their eyes and learn how to be aggressive. We have just as much ability as any other region, and our region is the least touched in the territories. The potential is there, but we are accessible only by air. We have a beautiful river, Coppermine River, Bloody Falls, Bathurst Inlet and these are the places in my riding where dollars can be put into, even to have a road from Coppermine to Bloody Falls. Not everyone can afford a boat and kicker. That would be good for the tourists that come to Coppermine. We are too passive, I think we should learn how to be aggressive. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I wonder if the Minister would like to respond? Mr. Minister.