Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Premier regarding economic development and tourism. The NWT tourism training group has been in place for four years, which was established by the NWT Tourism Association to take part in developing training packages for training the tourism industry with regard to guiding, a host of programs and also programs which are presently developed through Arctic College. In 1995, there was a proposal submitted to the Department of Economic Development and Tourism for $285,000, in which the department basically submitted a letter back in April 1996 stating that they will only allow $175,000 which was broken down with 40 per cent going to the eastern tourism association and 60 per cent to the West. Yet this government states that one of this priorities is training and also looking at generating jobs. One of the fastest-growing industries in the North to date is tourism, yet it boggles my mind -- especially in the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, which is a department that has high O and M costs to operate and administer that program -- that the first thing them seem to cut is in the area of training which will benefit the people of the North, especially in one of the industries that we can

greatly appreciate and benefit from. Is the Minister aware of this and is this the intention of the government when it looks at programs; to cut where it's most needed?