Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, am wondering -- and it deals with the question before -- about mine safety. We are getting a proliferation of potential mines with this diamond rush. While I recognize that a mine may be a mine anywhere, in the diamond industry there may be different techniques and work methods. I know that the mining inspectors here, as capable as they are, may require some additional training that would bring them up to speed on inspection of the types of mines that may result from the exploration activity that is taking place now all over the north.

I wonder if the Minister or deputy minister may be able to share with us some of the plans, if any, or assuage my concerns that there is no difference between diamond mining and the conventional mining we know so much about in the territories? Is there any kind of additional training they may need? Should

they visit some diamond mines, for example, to get a better understanding of what it's like?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That's exactly what I was getting at. I'm happy to hear that the department has already taken some action in that area. You can't be too early with something like safety training and mine safety inspections when it comes to another type of mine, recognizing the fact that it probably takes a good period of time to become proficient in those areas. It is good to hear that the department is already doing something. It is something that, if his Cabinet colleagues agree and something comes forward, we would be quite supportive of, certainly here in Yellowknife. We know how important the industry is to the north and how important the safety of the people who work in it is. We hear all the time how vitally important it is to the workers. I'm pleased to hear that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We probably have a pretty good track record here in the territories for personnel in fire safety. We have a fire department that appears to be quite professional and thorough, but the north is growing and the numbers of buildings that are being built is growing and there are different types of buildings being built. They pose problems that are unfamiliar to our present fire fighters.

There is always a need for training and upgrading for the present staff we have. I have heard, numerous times, from the fire chiefs -- I've had the pleasure of meeting with them on at least three different occasions when they have their annual meetings -- and there is a request from them to have a training school set up somewhere in the north. We have about 65 communities and some fairly good sized fire departments.

They can get training in the provinces right now, in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, but the fire chiefs feel it would be good to have a fire school closer at hand. It has been suggested by the out of Yellowknife and out of tax-based community areas that more fire training be delivered at home, at least in the Northwest Territories, and have raised this issue at a number of different times, towards the establishment of a fire training centre in the north somewhere. It doesn't have to be Yellowknife, but somewhere in the north where northerners can go to get some northern experience.

This year, in Yellowknife alone, we had three major fires in the dead of winter. I don't think the conditions anywhere could be as bad as they were, minus 45 degrees with a fierce wind blowing. It tests men and equipment -- or fire fighters, I should say, because we have some very capable lady fire fighters -- and it tests the fire fighters to their limits. There is a lot that needs to be learned from winter fire fighting such as the different techniques of putting on water and handling equipment. We learned a few things by experience, but sometimes that experience could be fatal.

I think a school that has a unique northern content to the extreme conditions that we face here would have a lot of benefit to our fire fighters and security to the people that depend so much on them. I know that the department has heard this request and may have given it some thought, and I just wondered if any more thought had been given to the establishment of a fire school in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you. Something like this idea is probably appropriate, and it is time, as I said, as the conditions that we face here are quite unique.

To some degree, I guess, the provinces would benefit from something like this, as well, because there are northern parts of the provinces and the Yukon that do have these types of conditions. If we had a specific program here that would include severe weather conditions as a component, you know it would certainly be saleable. It would not be just for our own people here, but it would also be self-supporting in part, in much the same way as the provinces do. They sell us parts of their programs and it helps to offset the cost. We could also sell components of this school to the provinces, and it might offset the cost of running a school like that. So, as part of the thinking, if ever it goes any further, I certainly hope that would be added to it to support the notion that we can do something here in the north that is uniquely northern and be able to sell that uniqueness to other people. This is just by way of a concluding comment, Mr. Chairman.