Mr. Chairman, thank you. Mr. Zoe, I also share your concerns. I would just like to speak to some initiatives this year that I think will start to help us do a better job in the whole area of affirmative action and be the first step in increasing the effort every year. We just added to our staff one extra position in the safety and training area. We also got budget approval to spend a large sum of money to put together an operators' training manual for all of these small plants we have in the Northwest Territories. Down south, there are all kinds of operators' manuals. We could get them, but they are written with big utilities in mind and lots of technical support nearby. Our situation is totally different, so this operators' manual is specific to these small plants and to the people who live in those communities; the idea being we can hire young people from the communities. Then we will have a manual and a training program they can go through to make them safe and efficient.
To build on that, this year we are adding six apprenticeship positions, which may not seem like a lot, but it is a good step. That is so that we can do more than just operator training. For those young people who have the education and desire, firstly looking within our own ranks of the communities --and, if necessary, outside our present employees --we can get six young people apprenticing in mechanical, electrical and lineman trades.
I feel that is a good start for 1995 and we will continue to build on that. Thank you.