Thank you, Mr. Koe. That is hypothetical, but if the Minister wants to respond to that, he may.

Mr. Chairman, there has been much uptake on these programs in the last year and a half. There is no question about that. There are more people coming forward and making suggestions to us. Do I feel we are paying them enough attention, or do we have enough resources to do the job? At the present time, we do. I think we can stretch the dollars further by making use of the other programs. There could be some federal programs. There is EDA. By defining who is going to do it and how we are going to approach it and which areas are going to be approached for funding, I think we are able to handle the volume of work that we have before us at the present time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Koe.

Thank you. In terms of financial assistance programs, last year or a year and a half ago, the intent of the department was to try and consolidate financial support programs and establish a one-stop shopping mechanism and have only one form to complete. Can the Minister advise as to where they are in implementing this strategy?

Mahsi. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, that has been done except for the fish rate subsidy program, because it is a unique program and we could not find a way to get that on the one form approach. The majority of applications, though, are done on one form except for the fish rate subsidy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Member for Inuvik.

In terms of financial assistance and for businesses,

there is a lot of money available for start ups. There is money for modernizing or expanding existing businesses, but one area of concern is that there is usually no money available to buy existing businesses. Yet, in our smaller communities there is very little opportunity to start up new businesses. The opportunities are there, but for the small one-man, one-family or two people type businesses, the convenience store, the video shop, the arcade, the taxi business, there are only so many of these we can establish in each community. The business that exists with good ownership and astute management can probably survive. By surviving, they keep one or two people alive and viable. What is the department doing to try to provide money to purchase existing businesses? We all know there are very few banking facilities in many of these smaller communities, so they have to come to the department in many cases. They do not have an option.

The honourable Minister.

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Koe raises a very good point. From going back through the records, in the last three to five years, it has always been someone who wants to come along and start up a new business. I have been telling people in the communities for the last year that they should be considering buying an existing business, because chances are, if that business has been there for four or five years, then it is profitable. It can survive. It has some goodwill. All the bugs have been worked out of it. I want to tell the House that we do not preclude the buy-out of existing businesses from our assistance. If someone wants to come to us and suggest a loan from the BCC to buy out an existing business, we will process the application just the same as we would process a new business. Sometimes, buying out an existing business is much easier for us politically because we do not have to get involved in the politics of market disruption, Mr. Chairman. We are not opposed to assisting people to acquire existing businesses. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Koe.

Thank you. Under this activity, is responsibility for regulating coops still under this division?

Mr. Minister.

We are still the agency that the cooperatives deal with when they want to deal with government. We are the department responsible for coops. That is correct. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Basically, we are the public government. Mr. Koe.

If that is the case, during the past year several Members, including the chairman, have raised questions about the establishment of credit unions in the Northwest Territories. Can the Minister advise as to what the status is of development of credit unions in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, originally, I was approached as the Minister of Finance and I have been handling it through the Department of Finance at the present time, because it deals with finances and banking. We were originally asked for assistance in arranging meetings with the federal government because the cooperative people wish to access federal funds. I think they said their start up number was about $7 million. They had part of that money themselves. We helped them to get in contact with the federal government. My understanding is that the federal government has not yet indicated whether they would like to participate to the tune of $5 or $6 million to assist the credit union movement get off the ground in the Northwest Territories. The other aspect is that some communities are greatly in favour and some communities are not particularly interested. So the situation rests with the fact that the credit union movement through the cooperatives is short of cash at the present time, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Koe.

Does the department support the development of credit unions in the Northwest Territories?

Thank you. Was there a question? I was taking notes here. Mr. Koe, was that a question? Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, the credit union movement in the Northwest Territories has failed once in Fort Smith, Hay River and Yellowknife. I am somewhat leery of setting up more financial institutions unless it could be proved in no uncertain terms that they are viable and that they will ultimately prove to be profitable. The other situation that we have to look at is whether the people of the Northwest Territories are in favour of having credit unions in their communities, to what extent are they in favour and to what use will they put those facilities. We have just had the announcement today that a bank is pulling out of Fort Smith, which is a fairly large community. To be able to put those kinds of facilities in communities costs money and, of course, I am interested in whether or not those kinds of things can survive. I have said, to the cooperative movement, that we do not have $5 million to make available to them as start up funds for their operations. Do I support them? I do not have enough information at the present time, Mr. Chairman, to say whether or not I could support or not support the project. I will say this, however, I do recognize that there is a need for financial institutions in the communities because there are some examples in the Baffin where there is just not enough cash in the community to allow people to have money in their pockets. It is all on deposit at either the cooperative or else at the Bay, or Northern Store, I should say. They are experiencing some financial difficulties with the logistics of the money moving around. We do recognize the need for financial institutions in the communities of the Northwest Territories. I need to get a little closer to this cooperative idea before I can say whether I support it or not. I would have to see the hard numbers, Mr. Chairman, and until there is a funding source I do not think we will be able to get those hard numbers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. On my Speaker's list here I have Koe and Allooloo. Mr. Koe.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In terms of arts and

crafts, in the last session we had the new arts and crafts strategy tabled. What kind of feedback are you receiving on this strategy, if any?