Mr. Speaker, on May 10 and 11, 1996, I attended the Nunavut Leaders' Summit in Arviat which was sponsored by the Nunavut Caucus. I would like to report on progress reached and on outstanding issues which need further discussion and action.

Substantial progress was made on appointment of an interim Commissioner. NTI, the federal government and the GNWT agreed on a number of key points regarding the appointment of this senior bureaucrat to assist in establishing the Nunavut government. We agreed that the appointment should be made by the fall of this year and that all three parties must be involved in instructing and advising the interim Commissioner. NTI, the federal government and the GNWT also agreed that they must all be involved in the recruitment process and must all agree on the candidate for the position. Officials have now been given direction to proceed with the recruitment of the interim Commissioner.

There was also agreement on the need for a comprehensive human resources and training strategy to ensure that the Nunavut government has a workforce that is representative of the population in Nunavut. It will be jointly managed by the three parties. The GNWT expressed its concerns with the amount of funding made available, especially since training is critical to the success of the Nunavut government.

While some progress was made on the issue of infrastructure, there remains a number of areas of uncertainty, particularly in relation to the adequacy of the identified funding. Just to illustrate the point: $150 million is roughly equivalent to six weeks of government spending in a single fiscal year. That amount, by any standard, is modest.

In fact, the most major area of concern raised by the majority of delegates was the overall adequacy of the funding and its effects on the formula financing arrangements post-1999. Federal officials again confirmed that a large portion of the incremental costs for division and the creation of Nunavut will be based on amounts identified in the formula financing arrangements for both territories. Needless to say, if that is the case, we need to fast-track negotiations on the structure and content of the post-1999 funding formulas for both Nunavut and the Western Territory. This government will be asking NTI to join us in calling upon the federal departments of Finance and DIAND to commence these negotiations no later than September 1996 and to conclude an agreement-in-principle no later than March 31, 1997. We can't leave uncertainty on this issue until 1998.

An important undertaking was reached between NTI and the Nunavut Caucus whereby they each agreed to work more closely together as partners. This can only benefit the people of Nunavut and the division process.

Mr. Speaker, while the discussions were often frank, I believe the Arviat meeting was a productive exchange which has brought the real issues into sharper focus.

Mr. Speaker, just to add, on a personal note, I would like to thank the people of Arviat; the mayor; and, the MLA, Mr. Kevin O'Brien, for their warm welcome and for their hospitality while we were there. Matna, thank you.

--- Applause