Mr. Pollard.

I cannot quantify it in numbers, Mr. Speaker. As I said, it is an experiment, and I cannot tell you how many jobs it is going to create in the NWT. I can tell you that the co-operative is sitting with $1.9 million worth of stock in its warehouse in Winnipeg. I can tell you that people across the Northwest Territories who are making arts and crafts, who are doing carvings, are not selling as many as they used to. That is because we are producing more than is being sold, because the traffic into the Northwest Territories is not as great as the amount of handicrafts that we are producing. All we are doing is saying there is a potential there to help those level II and III communities, those crafts people, and the problem that everybody is experiencing right now is finding markets. If that means that this government has to go out there and move those products, then we will do it. If it is successful, we will gladly spin it off to the private sector. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, there were a number of things that were looked at a couple of years ago. We looked at attending trade shows; we looked at joint venturing with people; and we looked at making some more arrangements with Arctic Co-operatives. The decision was made some 12 months ago that this would be the way to prove up whether or not this would be a good marketing tool.

Oral questions. Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I have a question for the Minister responsible for Renewable Resources. I would like to thank the Minister for representing us and signing this new Canadian Forest Strategy. He outlined here a key point in the strategy, but I would like to look at the strategy myself, since I have a lot of forest in my constituency and people are interested in it. I was wondering if the Minister is going to be tabling this Canadian Forest Strategy. Thank you.

Minister of Renewable Resources, Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Ms. Mike. I am sorry, did you have a supplementary, Mr. Antoine? Supplementary, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to know when this document would be tabled. The sooner we take a look at it, the better for us. Thank you.

Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As soon as I can.

Oral questions. Ms. Mike.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a supplementary to Mr. Dent's question to the Minister of Economic Development. Ever since the territorial government took over the Inuit art collection in 1987, which the Indian and Northern Affairs Inuit art section used to take abroad for shows, is the drop of sales in carvings due to the fact that our territorial government does not have travel shows any more, like Indian and Northern Affairs did?

Who would like to take that? Mr. Pollard.

What has happened, I think, Mr. Speaker, is that there has been a saturation in the market that we have had. We are putting on an exhibition in Yokohama on May 9. Mr. Allooloo, the Minister for Culture, will be attending. We are sending over some throat singers, and a drummer, I think, and we are going to try to raise the level of knowledge about Inuit carving in Japan. We already have an agent there, Mr. Y. Niimi. He was here last Monday with our consultant from Toronto, and they look forward to a greater expansion of the market in Japan. I hear what the Member is saying, and I would like to confirm that we are putting on those displays, and hopefully when Mr. Allooloo is in Yokohama he will be able to come back and say there will be other displays in the Japanese market, which is considered a good market right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary, Ms. Mike.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I do not know which of the Ministers I should direct my question to, whether to Culture and Communications or to Economic Development. As much as we know how much there used to be displays the Northerners had through Indian and Northern Affairs, when they had exhibits the Minister of Indian Affairs never ever attended any of the exhibits; it was only the staff that went, who had knowledge in Inuit art. Why is the Minister required to go to the exhibit in Japan?

I would say this is a new question. Does the Minister of Economic Development or the Government Leader want to answer? Minister of Economic Development.

Mr. Speaker, in Japan there is a lot of protocol and certain ways to do things. This is a very prestigious occasion in a very new setting. Mr. Y. Niimi, our agent, has been granted five days at this brand new building to put on this exhibit. I was invited to go as the Minister responsible for Economic Development and Tourism. I felt it would be better, seeing that this is structured around Inuit art, if there were an Inuit Minister in attendance who could explain, much better than I could, his culture and the origin of Inuit art, and who could also speak the language. The reason for the presence of a Minister is, we want to put this as high profile as possible because, as I said before, there is a large market at stake. We are talking art; we are not talking crafts or handicrafts in this instance. When the Japanese asked us to send a Minister, then I think it is a good idea that we do.

For the information of the House, Mr. Allooloo will also be going to Sapporo, where he will be discussing putting together a very high class catalogue which will further serve to exhibit this kind of art throughout Japan. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary, Ms. Mike.