Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, I have referred to a list of irritants. The federal grants in lieu of taxes to tax-based municipalities was a big one and that is presently going to Privy Council and will be gazetted. We hope that communities will receive their money, which they haven't received for the last few years, by July 1st of this year. So, that one is out of the way.

I think Mr. Dent made reference to the health billings dispute and, although we didn't get an excellent deal, we didn't get a bad deal. That one is settled. The Inuvik utilidor issue is settled. We received a cheque from the Minister of Indian Affairs and are now starting negotiations with Inuvik on whether or not they would like to take over the utilidor. Regarding the RCMP billings dispute, Mr. Kakfwi is having some success there and we are trying to avoid going to arbitration, which we think would lead ultimately to a court case. I think Mr. Kakfwi has presented the federal Solicitor General something that he may be interested in accepting.

Just recently, in fact this week, we concluded negotiations -- I think successfully -- on the Inuvialuit participation costs which have been irritants for some years. That, really, is the last one of the so-called irritants that we have to deal with, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, I can't take credit for concluding these arrangements. It's been a team effort by different Members of Cabinet and many of our staff across all departments. So, I want everybody to know that many people worked on it. From the federal side, I would like to compliment Mr. Ron Irwin for making John Rayner the person we negotiated with most of the time. He's a person, I believe, who understands the Northwest Territories and has been very reasonable with us.

With regard to the Inuvialuit participation costs, Mr. Speaker, the federal government had up to $186,000 in its budget for the last six, seven or eight years that should have flowed through this government to enable Inuvialuit participation on boards of management, particularly in the wildlife area. Through some mix up in paperwork, it hasn't been arranged and, consequently, the Government of the Northwest Territories was funding the Inuvialuit to participate on these boards and activities without being reimbursed by Ottawa.

As I said, it has taken some time but we were able to resolve it last week. The Inuvialuit, the Government of Canada and ourselves agreed that the Inuvialuit final agreement would be amended so there would be a contribution agreement between Canada and the Government of the Northwest Territories, and a contribution agreement between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Inuvialuit to enable funds to flow from DIAND to us and on to the Inuvialuit.

Mr. Braden is currently in Ottawa today meeting with Mr. Rayner and putting the last touches to the agreements. Hopefully, he will bring back a letter of comfort to us that will say that Canada will flow the money before the amendment to the Inuvialuit final agreement, which could take some time yet. That would allow us to fund the Inuvialuit to participate on the boards and other activities that they required. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Dent.