There is a section under the Executive Council Secretariat called the official languages unit. Can the Premier give me some details as to the size of this unit and its function?

Madam Premier.

Mr. Chairman, there are 1.6 PYs in the official languages unit in vote 1 and depending on the outcome of the Canada-Northwest cooperation agreement for French and aboriginal languages, that may grow. It depends on exactly what the final deal is with the federal government.

Mr. Koe.

There has also been some concern as to what the function and duties of this office are versus the function and duties of the office of the Languages Commissioner. In some people's minds there may be some overlap or some duplication of duties. Can you inform us as to whether or not the roles are clear as to the office of the Languages Commissioner versus the official languages unit?

Madam Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, I am aware that there seems to be some confusion. However, the role that we have for the official languages unit is to have staff to make sure the internal responsibilities or internal audit of what we are doing within various governments and how we are making those expenditures in the various departments are carried out. It is a hands-on role to make sure we don't run into situations where we suggest we are going to have certain expenditures and then we don't get around to running a program, as was designed at the beginning of the agreement. I know there has been some concern that about a year ago, we lapsed dollars. One of the major roles the languages unit carries out is to continually monitor that the internal language expenditures are taking place and in the right areas and making sure, on a quarterly basis, there is reporting to make sure that they're still on line. It's making sure that we do the job that we said we're going to do, internally. Thank you.

Thanks very much for that explanation. Mr. Koe, are you done? Mr. Whitford, I believe you're next.

Madam Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The position has been deleted. The various Ministers' offices will share the responsibility, depending on the activity that takes place, with the Commissioner and the Legislative Assembly. A

position by itself on a day-to-day basis couldn't be justified. Thank you.

Mr. Whitford, are you done?

Madam Premier.

Mr. Chairman, the particular position was previously discussed with the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Assembly couldn't justify a full-time position in this regard as well. I believe there's a commitment between the Executive Council and the Legislative Assembly to work out protocol arrangements. Thank you.

I think the question was, does everybody know what they have to do now?

Mr. Chairman, even though there was a function of an individual position, the departments, depending on what the function or the activity was, were involved anyway. I believe that the Member might be a bit concerned about the upcoming Queen's visit. I think that there are some arrangements to be made, maybe on a contractual basis, to fulfil that one obligation. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Mr. Whitford, is that all? We're still on Executive Council Secretariat, $6.35 million. Mr. Patterson.

Madam Premier.

We have been, Mr. Chairman, monitoring very closely those departments who have outlined various expenditure areas carry out those responsibilities. These are done on a quarterly basis and so far, in the aboriginal languages section, we may be somewhat overspent. But on the French language section, we may not quite reach the objective of all the expenditures. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Premier. Mr. Ballantyne.

This is for my own interest. Over the past number of years, we have been moving more towards a southern provincial style where the Premier's office has a more direct relationship with the deputy ministers. Nobody can argue with the new accountability concept of the deputy ministers and their bonus system. My question is, for my own interest, when deciding the performance evaluation, the size of the bonus, who has the final say in that evaluation, the Premier or the Minister?

Madam Premier.