Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is somewhat encouraging to hear that it is something in the backs of their minds. Recognizing that even though they are in the fiscal environment that they are, in as much as their intentions of wanting to look at this type of a program, it is difficult because of fiscal problems that we have.

What I want to emphasize is that in the event -- the upfront costs would be horrendous, there is no doubt about it, but I think the long-term results would be greatly beneficial to the North. If we look at the long term, it would take us away from the rapid pace that we are now going in in becoming a welfare state jurisdiction, if I may use that. We are getting to that point when we look at social assistance; as a jurisdiction it is rapidly increasing to the point where it is scary. It is going to be coming to the point where generations -- when we think of welfare we think of it coming in only two generations ago -- people now have the mentality to think that it is a right. If we do not do anything about it two generations from now they will feel not only that it is a right, but it is going to be law. It is going to be very, very difficult for us to get out of this. You are going to encourage more social problems than anything, and that is going to be more costly to the government to try to address these social problems. To avoid these types of social problems what I want to say is that you cannot put a price on how much it costs to save people from committing suicide. You cannot put a price on how much it will cost to get people to read and participate in society to the point where when you look at the top paragraph, the very last line, saying, "The government is in a positive position to begin change toward an outstanding 'made in the north' structure staffed by a committed 'home-grown' civil service." You cannot even encourage northern people to be able to take up a higher percentage of our own civil servants because of the way that we are going.

When we look at the success rate in the educational system it was not until the past five years that the increased rate of northern people to participate in the civil service has been showing results. Prior to that the results were very poor, and there was a need for affirmative action programs and other programs.

I want to stress to the government that I think it is going to be critical, if we are going to get out of this welfare state, as a jurisdiction, we are going to have to make some fairly significant decisions with respect to addressing such things as support programs for the trappers, for the fur industry, or for people who want to live off the land. We are going to have to look at something like a subsidy such as they have for farmers. There should not be anything wrong with that. The farmers take their subsidy and they make Canada know that they need the subsidy to live as farmers. This type of subsidy should be developed for the trappers and the hunters. I think that is very, very critical with respect to trying to get away from this welfare economy that we are quickly moving into. I cannot stress the importance of that when you look at some of the findings of this project, Mr. Chairman.

I find that you cannot place a price on addressing some of the social issues. The up front costs, I recognize, are very high. However, in the long-term results I think you can see significant results with respect to developing people in the Territories. Thank you.