Thank you. Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, for some years now the federal Finance Minister has been imparting to his provincial and territorial counterparts that there's a lot of overlap and duplication in Canada. I think it was estimated some years ago at some $5 billion. The Premiers, along with the Prime Minister of Canada looked at this situation and asked Ministers to start looking at the problem. When the new government came into place they really put some good store in this overlap and duplication area, and appointed Mr. Masse as their Minister for overlap and duplication.

Madam Premier asked me to look at this on behalf of the Northwest Territories. Consequently, the federal Minister has been making arrangements with different jurisdictions across Canada on how to look at overlap and duplication within our particular jurisdictions.

The agreement that we signed is the first step towards identifying areas where maybe the federal government and the territorial government are doing the same or similar things. It didn't go quite as far as we would have liked it to go, but certainly it's a move in the right direction. I'll be glad to provide a copy of the agreement to Members of the House, Madam Speaker. In fact, I'll table it in this House. Then Members can look at the fine print.

But, in general, it's to look at where there's overlap and duplication between the two governments in order to get some efficiency. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. What specific initiatives are being looked at currently?

Thank you. Mr. Pollard.

Madam Speaker, one of the areas that we've been suggesting is the environmental area; we've looked at regulation of industry, there have been complaints from the mining industry with regard to all the hoops they have to jump through from different areas of regulation. So we're continuing to look at those particular areas. As I say, I'll get a copy of the agreement and you can see specifically other areas where we've reached agreement. I'm sorry, I don't have the agreement with me, Madam Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Thank you. Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Madam Speaker, it's been the deputy minister of Finance, Mr. Eric Nielsen, who has been heading up the negotiations and the discussions. And, as required, other members from the different departments have been involved. All of the departments were polled and asked for their input as to where they saw areas that we could examine and explore. As I say, Mr. Nielsen coordinated the effort and used whatever expertise from different departments that he required at particular times. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi, Madam Speaker. There are obviously many different people and many departments involved in this initiative and I would hope they're all involved because they're all part of government. We all know that, in a lot of cases, we have to improve our efficiency and effectiveness in delivering programs. What time frame are you looking at in achieving some of these initiatives?

Thank you. Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Madam Speaker, Mr. Masse is anxious to move very quickly. They want to start out in small ways with small strides and conclude them as soon as possible. It may require us going outside of government to negotiate or to at least discuss with other people who may be affected by some of these moves. Depending on how much time we have to spend discussing it in the Northwest Territories, which I think is very important, I would say we should start to see some improvement within the next 12 months, Madam Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Aivilik, Mr. Arvaluk.