Mr. Chairman, in August, 1990, the Government of the Northwest Territories placed this company into receivership for default on the repayment of small business loans. All the assets have been disposed of and there are no remaining funds available, therefore, we are recommending write-off. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Schedule, total debts written off. Mr. Koe.

I understand that the company had a fairly large loan. Has the loan been paid off, or are you only writing off a portion of it? The loan was almost $400,000 plus.

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, it is $70,000 which is being requested to be written off, the amount outstanding is for contributions issued to the company and for which no accounting was received. That is the reason for the write-off and this is only for contributions. The other amount which Mr. Koe was referring to still rests with the government in the Business Credit Corporation, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Koe.

Quite possibly the loan is in jeopardy, if we are writing off the contribution, the $400,000 loan is in jeopardy if the company has no assets. What is the department doing in terms of looking after the loan?

Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, that will ultimately come to the House to be written off as well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Schedule, total debts written off, $580,553.96. Mr. Koe.

Item three, Voyagers Goligers Quebec, again a contribution was given for $25,000. Why was a contribution given when the company was in serious difficulty, it was my understanding that the contribution was made after the company had closed down. Is this fact or not?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, the amount outstanding represents an accountable advance. It was provided in July, 1990 and again there was no accounting provided. The contribution was made to reduce the company's line of credit at its bank and to provide it with working capital. The company is bankrupt and a proof of claim was filed on behalf of the Government of the Northwest Territories with the trustees on February 12, 1992. It was in September 28, 1990 that the principals of the company informed the Iqaluit office of Economic Development and Tourism that they were going to close their doors at 6:00 pm that day. The accountable advance was made in July, 1990, and the company closed down on September 28, 1990. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Koe.

I would like to move on to number five, the operating agreement debt of Transport Canada. Can the Minister elaborate on this $217,647?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, prior to the transfer of the responsibilities for Arctic B and C airports to the GNWT expenditures were incurred by the government on behalf of Transport Canada. Mr. Chairman, when I say government I mean our government. Of these expenditures $435,294.27 was in dispute by Transport Canada. In a nutshell, Mr. Chairman, they said their lawyers felt that they did not owe, our lawyers told our Department of Transportation that they did owe. Eventually an agreement was reached with Transport Canada to settle for 50 per cent of the total claim. We received 50 per cent in the amount of $217,647.13 from Transport Canada in December, 1992. We are asking to write-off the remaining $217,647.14. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Koe.

Is this something similar to the Health billings dispute where the agreements that were made in transfer of responsibilities were not clearly identified so that one party did not understand the other or did not know the proper rules of billing, what was eligible to be recovered or not eligible to be recovered. Is this a similar case?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, the amounts represent expenditures which exceed the 1989-90 subsidy levels of the operation of the Arctic B and C airports. The subsidy, of course, came from the federal government. Transport Canada thought we should have asked them in advance, in writing, for expenditures in excess of the approved subsidy level. The department, of course, had extraordinary maintenance costs, when you are dealing with runways and so on and so forth you cannot very well request approval to remove snow. In effect, Mr. Chairman, it is not similar to the Health billings dispute. What came to the end of an agreement which had been in place for a considerable amount of time where these kinds of things have probably gone on and where the agreement was going to be carried over to the next year. This was coming to the end of those agreements because the responsibility was going to be transferred to the Government of the Northwest Territories. I think that is why it ended up as an outstanding balance. As I say, it was sawed off at 50 per cent and that is why we are requesting the write-off. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Koe.

I am a little concerned. Someone must have known that they had to get written approval to spend money. We are talking $435,000 here. I just wonder why this was not done. Why were the feds or someone not notified according to the agreement? Was someone subsequently reprimanded or disciplined for this mistake?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.