Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the mining committee right now is a smaller group of people than I had started with last June. In another statement this session, Mr. Speaker, I outlined the process whereby this group was put together. Last June, I called representatives of all the mining companies active in the Northwest Territories, and a number of companies which support mining companies, together and asked them for advice on how we should proceed with training the people of the Northwest Territories. They recommended that I put together a smaller group to meet on a more regular basis, to provide me with input.

That smaller group is made up of Mr. Doug Willy, Mr. Mike Vaydik, Mr. Michael Ballantyne, Mr. Wilf Wilcox, Mr. Ted Blondin, Mr. Darryl Beaulieu, Mr. Gary Bohnet, and we have also representatives of the college to attend and provide support at the meetings. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am glad the Member asked me another supplementary, because it gives me an opportunity to also mention Mr. David Boyd, who I had left off the list in my first answer.

Mr. Speaker, one of the initiatives that the committee has recommended we take a look at, as a matter of fact, has recommended we move on, and we are moving on, is the development of a mining coordinator position. This position would be supported by my department. But the position would be supported by industry, by Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, and by my department, basically on a one-third, one-third, one-third share.

This position would be to work, in particular, with graduates of our training programs to deal on a one-to-one basis with mining companies and mining supply companies, to ensure that graduates are able to find placements, and to provide us with direct information from the mining groups as to what training is needed to ensure that people are ready to take on jobs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to provide all the Members of this House with the terms of reference for that committee. The committee basically has been asked to provide me with short term, medium term and long term strategies for ensuring that we have more northerners employed by mines.

One of the major reasons for setting up this committee was that, as Members will remember, last spring, after we had run the pre-employment mine training program, which had been designed in co-operation with BHP, and the college, we were finding that graduates of that program were not able to find jobs with other mining companies in the Northwest Territories. As a result of that, I thought it was necessary to bring representatives from a broader cross-section of mines than just BHP to the table, to find out what we needed to do to ensure that the graduates of our training programs could get jobs with them.

One of the things that the committee told me was that there needed to be a better way of marketing graduates to the companies, and that is one of the reasons we are moving on this.

In addition to that initiative, as I said, they have committed to providing me with short term, medium term and long term strategy advice on how our training programs should be set up. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to provide all Members with a copy of the terms of reference. The cost of that committee so far, is minimal. I think I have bought them lunch three times. The Member will be happy to know it has been nothing more than sandwiches and the odd pickle. To date, there have been no costs paid for transportation. Members participate by teleconference when necessary. So there will be some long-distance charges in there. But by and large, this is a very efficiently run committee. As I said, industry has committed to providing one-third of the cost to the mining coordinator's position. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause.