Mr. Minister stated a little bit earlier that the training succession strategy is planned again for the next year and a half. I understand that Mr. Graham is essential to assist in developing and implementing this strategy. Why will it take so long to formulate and implement a new training succession strategy?

It is a very important position. It administers, as I said, to all the private development corporations in the region, and it is there. Our outside estimation is that it will take two years to do the training. I have spoken with Mr. Graham directly, however, I have to talk to the presidents of the associated development corporations. I have asked for a meeting with them as soon as the session finishes to see if we can speed up this process and move quickly to see the secondment concluded.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My last comment is that it is more of an individual program. Why is the completion of the Kiguti program dependent on the continued secondment of Mr. Graham?

Piruqsaijit is providing the consultative and administrative support to the dental clinic program, Kiguti, which is owned and operated by northerners, for now. His expertise in fiscal management is important to that operation to make sure that it gets off on a sound fiscal footing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think that the Minister has recognized the concerns that have been brought forward by the Members of the Standing Committee on Finance. I would like to end the discussion by proposing a motion on behalf of the Standing Committee on Finance and some comments on this matter, if you will allow me, Mr. Chairman.

Standing Committee On Finance Comments

The Standing Committee on Finance has very serious concerns about continuing the secondment of a government employee to Piruqsaijit. The 1994-95 fiscal year is the sixth year in which the government has supported this organization through secondment. Total expenditures on this item will reach $579,000 at the end of the 1994-95 fiscal year. Given the organization's extreme dependence on this individual and the fact that funding will be required very soon, the Standing Committee on Finance is reluctantly prepared to recommend approval of this budget item for the fiscal year 1994-95, currently under review. However, the committee is not prepared to support continuing this arrangement into the 1995- 96 fiscal year. Members feel that it is imperative that this corporation become self-sufficient and cease to rely on government support. Therefore, Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee on Finance is making the following motion.

(Microphone turned off)

Question.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Agreed.

---Agreed

Yes, have we got to the Development Corporation, Mr. Chairman? I have a few questions.

I would like to ask a few questions about the Development Corporation. Okay, Mr. Chairman, there are quite a number of questions, and I have given quite a list to the Minister, Mr. Chairman, but I would just like to ask a few here now, and, hopefully, I can get answers to my other questions from the Minister and also from a visit I hope to make to Pangnirtung myself.

Mr. Chairman, one real irritating issue from my constituent, which, by the way, is a northern-owned, northern-operated company based in Iqaluit which has not sought heavy government support, but does also want to participate in the development of the fishery and compete against the Development Corporation funded enterprise in Pangnirtung. My constituent has raised one concern I think the Minister is aware of. The company, Imavik, says that, although Imavik is a dealer for insulated boxes used by the fishermen to bring the product from the floe edge, and although the fishermen in previous years took responsibility for purchasing those boxes themselves -- which tends to be the way the industry works in Canada, fishermen are responsible for their own equipment -- last year, a decision was made by Pangnirtung Fisheries, the government-supported company, that they would purchase some 125 insulated fibreglass fish boxes, which they bought and shipped from southern Canada, I am told, at a cost of some $500 a box or around $60,000. That is not a small investment for a struggling small business like my constituent. The concern, Mr. Chairman, is that my constituent says that fishermen were informed at a community meeting first that they could use the new fish boxes and sell to whomever they choose, but after the fact, the management of Pangnirtung Fisheries, the Development Corporation-funded corporation, told the fishermen that they could only sell their fish to the one company. They would not be allowed to use these taxpayer-funded fish boxes to sell to my constituent's buyers. Are these facts correct, as they have been described to me? If so, do they illustrate market disruption by a government-funded enterprise? Thank you.