Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mrs. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will refer the question to the Premier.

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With MACA being the lead department in community empowerment, under normal conditions in the regions when issues arise,

MACA will play a coordinating effort. When an initiative affects several departments in a region and you need coordination, we will -for example, if it's DPW, the Housing Corporation or Transportation -appoint on that given issue, one department to lead it and see it through. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Premier table in this House the actual cost savings that he envisions by devolving the functions of the Executive in the regions and by taking it over by the lead department -- as he said yesterday in the House -- by MACA, and when can we expect this?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member is aware, we will be tabling the budget in this House, I believe in May. All that information will be available at that time for all the general public. But all indications that we have as a government, so far, state very, very clearly -as we have shared with Members of this House -- that the annual savings will be $1 million by eliminating the regional directors of this government. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Mr. Speaker, I noticed yesterday, the figures tabled by the Finance Minister, but June 30th seems to be the cut-off date for a lot of the people who were discussed. In three short months, there won't be anyone left in the Executive offices. My earlier question still stands because I haven't received an answer on what will be happening to the role of the Executive in the regions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said previously, the elimination of the regional officers and the regional directors will save this government a substantial amount of dollars. We also propose to keep a certain amount of dollars within the Executive budget for a transitional period, and for a period of time that we have to work with the communities for community empowerment. We will have dollars in place to make sure that that transfer occurs, and we will put a plan to this House through the budget process of how this will all happen. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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