Supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

My last question. Some Members have talked about the possibility of an early election and I want to ask the Minister if it would be possible for the Minister to conclude the northern accord or mining accord by June of this year. Thank you.

Mr. Todd.

I don't think it would be possible at this time to conclude an arrangement by mid-June of this year. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Koe.

Minister of Safety and Public Services, Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to indicate that the whole matter of the gaming initiatives is not on at this particular time. When the matter began as a matter of public discussion, we began to, I believe, receive some very significant criticism from a number of leaders -- particularly the

community leadership and the church leadership -- about the consequences of opening up this particular matter. So we took the position that it wasn't an issue that should be dealt with at this particular juncture.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Thank you. So I understand then, from the Minister's comments, that whatever reviews and activities looked at to amend the gaming regulations are now stopped. Can the Minister confirm that there is no further activity being done in that regard?

Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, that is correct. We are not pursuing this matter at this particular time. I want to advise the honourable Member, however, that we did do a number of analyses about the potential for this particular matter. The potential looked good. The issue was one of political decision-making and the fact was that there was some criticism. Whether or not you are prepared to take the challenge of the consequences of this, is the issue.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Koe.

Mahsi. Is that a Cabinet decision to cease any further investigations and review of licensing and increasing revenues from gaming activities?

Mr. Nerysoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, it is not my decision. I took the matter to Cabinet, the decision in Cabinet was that we not pursue this particular matter. The decision was made in July 1994.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health and Social Services referred to a community action fund in its discussion regarding the budget, and from the unedited Hansard the context is: "That is why the social envelope Ministers" -- this is reading from the unedited Hansard -- "recommended a community action fund to help community groups test their ideas." The reason for that is "...there is a need to try new approaches to deal with priorities in areas such as family violence, early intervention and services to youth." It also says : "The viability of such a fund and the means of raising the money need to be discussed." With that, can the Minister of Finance tell us exactly what is involved in this community action fund? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, if I could just go back to the envelope process. What we decided this year during the budget process was to put groups of departments together who had similar interests. We decided in the Social Envelope Committee that those departments, in all probability, are dealing with the same client. We were looking for some efficiency in that particular envelope because if we got all of those people around the table working together, we felt that there would be some efficiencies and we would be better able to save dollars and service the same clientele and not have any overlap and duplication.

From the Social Envelope Committee, flowed this document that suggested a community wellness fund. It does bring the same kind of cooperation back to the community level and I think that was the purpose of the document; to explain that to the Standing Committee on Finance. So the idea comes from the Social Envelope Committee and it is to work together at the community level for community wellness. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The government has referred to this as a "fund" or a "plan." There seems to be one important element that is missing; namely, the identification of funds. In the unedited Hansard, they make references to such a fund and raising this money. Can the Minister explain what initiatives the government is taking to identify funding for this plan or this fund? Thank you.

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, the Financial Management Board has not yet given approval for this initiative to go ahead. The Financial Management Board probably will not make that decision until such time as there is some agreement on where this $3.2 or $3.4 million is going to come from. I have some ideas on that, particularly on that amount of funding. I will be bringing that to the meeting on Tuesday evening, at which, Cabinet is going to discuss this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.