Thank you, Madam Chair. The Canadian Energy Research Institute has a very wide range of expertise in the energy sector generally, which includes alternative and renewable energy as well as utilities and oil and gas; so the sponsorship that we have provides us with ready access to that expertise. They are able to do some specialized work for us and it gives us a good pipeline into the energy industry in general. So, yes, alternative energy is covered, but a lot of other types of information and expertise is made available to us through the sponsorship.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The community energy advisor is an employee of the department, therefore wouldn't be covered within the detail of grants and contributions. That individual, in a manner similar in philosophy to the community minerals advisor, will make himself available to provide expertise and assistance to communities to assist them in bringing out renewable and alternative energy projects. It's important to work at the community level to bring about changes to the way energy is supplied. So that individual would be an employee of the department and was just brought on staff this week.

Yes, in a sense, that's correct. The Canadian Energy Research Institute board, of which we are a member, includes a number of provincial governments and senior companies in the industry and utilities. So it's not only a subscription to information, it also provides us with an ability to direct some of the work of the institute and to acquire a lot of information and advice at the same time.

That initiative involves, I think, about 40 business partners, a number of communities, and was originally ... The impetus was provided by BHP in order to assist communities to realize the employment and business opportunities that would be brought about from its project as well as other development projects in the entire region; from Kugluktuk right down to Fort Providence. So they've been having quite a number of meetings with the communities. They recently brought a number of them together, through the society, to a workshop last week here in Yellowknife. Members of the House might be aware of the follow-up workshop that will be held at the Koala campsite at the end of May. There will certainly be a follow-up to come after that.

It's important to point out that this is a process that has focused on community development and the realization of benefits. So there aren't preordained outcomes that have been specifically identified, it's more a process of involvement and problem solving and strength building. The department was instrumental, along with a number of other agencies, in getting it up off the ground.

Yes, Madam Chair. Yes, definitely, that was discussed at the workshop in Yellowknife that I just mentioned. It is more than just identifying the types of jobs available. They are also putting together a fairly comprehensive proposal for pre-employment mine training that would be done in cooperation with a number of agencies in the industry, as well as proactively encouraging people in the communities to seek the opportunities to take advantage of that training program and to follow up employment with these new operations.