I would like to move on, Mr. Chairman, to another area of the department. I want to comment on the intergovernmental affairs side of the department. There is a feeling of the committee, and it is my personal feeling, that in the next few years, this particular component of the department is going to take on ever-increasing importance as the country debates the lead-up to and the follow-up from the Quebec referendum. Whatever happens, it could have a profound impact on the Northwest Territories.

I just want to make a few observations for the Minister. One, the recommendation about increasing the size of the Ottawa staff doesn't reflect negatively on the staff. Liz Snider and Bernie Funston are absolutely excellent people. Our view is a look ahead to the future as opposed to any sort of crisis from the past. We feel that they need more support in Ottawa in the coming months and years. We are quite satisfied with the calibre of work that is performed in the Ottawa office.

The second recommendation that the Minister referred to in his statement about Ottawa was separating intergovernmental affairs and aboriginal affairs, and having the Premier deal with intergovernmental affairs. I think the Minister's defence of the status quo is definitely a line of thought that has a lot of merit. But we are saying in the future, not in the past...I think the Minister did a great job during the whole Charlottetown debate and he did a superlative job of raising the profile of the Northwest Territories and of doing what I talked about today about showing a usefulness in intergovernmental affairs.

Over the next four years, more and more you are going to see the Premiers and the Prime Minister dealing with affairs of state. I think that however valid the arguments the Minister has made for the continuing integration of these two components, the political reality of the next four years is going to be such that the Premier will be dealing with a lot of these issues. Again, that is no criticism of what has happened in the past. The committee recommendation is crystal-balling a little into the future and there will be a situation where more and more our Premier is going to be having to interact with other Premiers and the Prime Minister on a fairly regular basis to protect our interests.

I have some questions for the Minister. It may help members of the public if the Minister could explain in more detail the actual role of the Minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs when it comes to issues such as devolution, for instance; and, the Quebec situation is another issue. I asked a question to the Minister of Renewable Resources about the turbot wars. It seems to me that if we are going to get involved in that, the Minister of Intergovernmental and Aboriginal Affairs has to play a key role. So perhaps the Minister could use some examples of the role that you should play in some of these situations I have mentioned. How does that coordinate with the role of the Premier and Ministers? That would be helpful to the committee in dealing with your department. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.