Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you, Madam Chair. Regarding the Mortgage Investment Corporation for $500,000, could we get an explanation what this Mortgage Investment Corporation does and an explanation of the $500,000 please?

Thank you, Madam Chair. The reason that I would deal with that is that I instituted this initiative while I was the previous Minister.

There will be, I understand, a full briefing tomorrow night for those Members we are interested, and Mr. Grossman from Toronto will be in town.

The intent of the Mortgage Investment Corporation is to provide both residential and commercial mortgages, particularly in the housing field, and it is set up in a way that would permit us to allocate some of the funding to social housing as well as commercial and the conventional developer funding.

The expenditures are based on the research that was necessary to be done to see it, one, we could do it; two, what kind of legislation, if any, was required; three, some of the marketing because we are looking at trying to seed this thing to the tune of about $25 million. We are, at the present time, close to an almost conclusion, if you want, in terms of all the steps that have to be taken to put this into effect, and I believe that tomorrow night, when Mr. Grossman is here, he will give those Members who are interested a full briefing, and they will hopefully see the value of this investment.

We made an arrangement with an investment corporation to utilize Alberta legislation. That speeds up the process by about 18 months. We think it provides another means for capital outside of the conventional banks. It's in keeping with some of the initiatives that we've taken with respect to the sale of staff housing and the requirement for more and more people, particularly in level II and Ill communities, to get greater access to capital, and we believe this Mortgage Investment Corporation will do that. It will also provide, if you want, the private sector and the commercial side with some access to additional capital outside of the conventional banks. Thank you.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Corporate And Technical Services

Agreed.

---Agreed

Parks And Visitors' Services

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you, Madam Chair. I understand that some parks employees are seasonal workers, and they put in so much overtime during the summer that they have to be kept on until past Christmas, sometimes, even though their actual job ends in October or whatever. They are still being paid because they've put in so much overtime. Perhaps if that wasn't the case, we wouldn't be needing to spend another $14,000. We could use that money for those various materials and goods for sale to tourists and park users. Is there any plan in place to offset the way that people are putting in overtime in the parks in the summertime?

Thank you, Madam Chair. I thank the Member for raising that issue, and it should be addressed through the new business plan development where we're also looking at privatization of the parks in general, so that should be addressed. Thank you.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Agreed.

---Agreed

Department Of Education, Culture And Employment

Culture And Careers

Agreed.

---Agreed