Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It has been anticipated for months now that the federal government will be cutting substantial amounts of money from the budget of this government and that certain programs would also be targeted for reductions by the federal government. It was in anticipation of that that the Department of Justice decided to look at reductions of positions that it funds itself. We felt, at that time, that we could rationalize eliminating these two positions without doing any damage to the statutory obligations we have under legislation to deliver language services. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it is the intention of this government to look at ways in which we can better deliver the training component required within language services. We are looking at having the training component that is decentralized, delivered by one of the departments; probably the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. We are keeping in mind that we have to deliver basic language services under our legislation. It is true, as all Members are aware, that there are substantial cuts being made to our funding by the federal government, not only to the annual amount given to us as a government, but also specific programs. The one most recently illustrated is the massive reduction in funding that the federal government is willing to give us for French and aboriginal languages. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, there is only a certain number of places within the Department of Justice that we have some flexibility in being able to make reductions to the budget. Every one of those areas, I expect, will meet with opposition from the ordinary Members. I can't think of any area where I can propose reductions without some strong opposition from ordinary Members. It poses a dilemma for this type of government that works on a consensus. We have to come to the realization that the amount of money we have been operating on is no longer there. We have to make some very critical choices. Choices mean that you have to hold your nose, so to speak, with things that you find objectionable because there is simply not the means to deliver the same level of service any longer. It is with this in mind, that we made the cuts that we have. It is because the amount of funding that is available is no longer there that we have to make the kind of reductions that we do. It is unfortunate that this is happening and it is unfortunate that we come to look at areas like aboriginal languages, which all of us wish we could support and even allocate additional resources to but, at this time, that is not possible. So we try to protect those things that are essential, which are the actual interpreter positions. We have eliminated one manager's position. We have reduced the number of training sessions that we do on an annual basis and we have eliminated one position; a person who works on terminology for the western part of the territory. We think these are the least damaging of the reductions that had to be made to the scope of the program at this time. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, that firm was contracted to carry out this work under the direction of the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Thank you.