It is a return to a question asked by Mr. Titus Allooloo on March 28th, regarding lapses under the languages agreement.

Mr. Allooloo asked about money lapsed under the 1993-94 budget for the Canada-NWT cooperation agreement for French and aboriginal languages and why this money was not used to contract consulting services.

Contract dollars were available under the 1993-94 French language budget, however, these contract dollars were to be used specifically for research on delivery models for French language services.

Due to difficulties in finding a qualified candidate, the project start date was delayed, resulting in a budget lapse of $63,671.

Though the lapse was forecast in advance of the end of the fiscal year, the terms of the past languages agreement were such that there was little flexibility to transfer funding.

The current languages agreement allows much more flexibility to transfer funds as needs arise. Thank you.