Mr. Chairman, I don't know what the Member is saying. Either they are going to make a recommendation or they are just making an observation, based on their own internal discussions. I don't get the point. As far as I'm concerned, the directorate is required and they're working full-time, as is the deputy minister. It is unlike other, very task-oriented, cut-and-dried departments. We work with people and political issues. We work with issues that are not so clear cut; dynamic issues that require, I believe, a massive amount of coordination and attention. That's what the ministry is all about.

It's not one that's prone to just having a number of tasks all piled up and just a few people. We have a number of jobs that are required to be done and all the work we do and that I'm responsible for, as a Minister, is done through the directorate. The directorate keeps me informed, on a daily basis and weekly basis, of all the different things we're involved in. They keep abreast of national issues as they develop. They keep abreast of the issues going on in Ottawa, so this government keeps a progressive profile and perspective on things so we aren't caught looking as if we're sitting on our rear ends.

It is important to have people free to monitor activities across this country. This is what the directorate does. It serves as a secretariat for the Political and Constitutional Development Committee of Cabinet as well. All the things that go on in the Northwest Territories with the aboriginal organizations, the claims, self-government issues and within Ron Irwin's office, those things alone, can keep a few people busy just trying to figure out what is going on. We try to track the policies that the federal government comes out with. We try to anticipate how they are going to form. We try to have input wherever we can with these initiatives and to keep abreast of proposals and other initiatives that the federal government may want to take.

We have ongoing discussions and dialogue with aboriginal organizations on a number of issues. It isn't possible to give a black-and-white definitive measuring stick to the Member and say this is how much work is being done. If the Member has any inkling as to how much work it takes to just keep abreast of claims alone and self-government discussions of national issues that affect this government, he might begin to get some idea and develop an appreciation of the need for the person years that are assigned to it.