Mr. Speaker, I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Lewis on December 7 regarding the Canada/Northwest Territories language agreements.
Mr. Lewis asked if there was a requirement for written authorization to be provided by the federal government in order to transfer money between projects under the Canada/Northwest Territories cooperation agreement for French and aboriginal languages. He also asked if authorization had ever been made for transfers beyond 25 per cent.
Under this agreement, funds can be transferred within a specific fiscal year between approved projects if the transfer does not increase or decrease the affected projects budget by more that 25 per cent. Federal ministerial approval is required for transfers of over 25 per cent. All these changes must still meet the goals and objectives agreed to by Canada and the Northwest Territories.
When sufficient notice has been given, this government has, in the past, submitted amendments to the federal government for transfer of funds greater than 25 per cent between projects. These amendments have been approved by the federal government.
However, Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that the transfer of funds between aboriginal languages (Appendix A) and French (Appendix B) or the transfer of funds between fiscal years are not allowed under the agreement.