Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If I heard my honourable colleague's question correctly, it is our hope to provide some stability out there to the civil service. We tried to indicate in the budget that any major restructuring of the government will probably be put on hold at this time. There will be an emphasis on stabilizing the situation, providing some security to our civil servants, like I tried to on the division issue, and to move forward, to try to create some new opportunities outside of government. But I cannot, in all fairness to my colleague say today whether or not there will be any more lay offs over and above this budget. Some of this budget will cause some job loss, there is no question about that. Certainly it is our intent once this budget is balanced, we should be in a reasonable fiscal position to do some positive and creative things. So, there will be some job loss with this budget because of there is significant change coming about. But hopefully, in the future, this will be the end of it. Certainly, it is my hope that it will be the end of it. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister be prepared to identify the magnitude of the losses and also, in which communities these potential lay offs will take place? Thank you.

Mr. Todd.

A great deal of discussion took place by a number of Members about fairness and inequity. As part of that whole fairness and equity rationalization, I did ask the department to give me, in detail, community by community, what the lay offs were, and the percentage of lay offs as it related to the employees and I am prepared to provide my colleague with that and it will be part of, if you want, the debate, I am sure, that will unfold as we move forward on the budget that we presented to you today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at what point will the Minister be able to provide that information to the House?

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not trying to avoid tabling it, I think there was some dispute or difference of opinion between my department and my staff and the ordinary Members. I believe that we have, as they say in this business, signed off on what we think is an accurate assessment of the job loss and the percentage by community. I will check with my deputy after the House adjourns today and I will try to move quickly to provide that information either through tabling it or providing it to the Committee chairs as quickly as I can, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the sooner we can get this information to the public, the sooner a lot of people will be relieved as to their job status. We have all been somewhat disappointed with the number of lay offs that have occurred over the last year or so. I think that it is fair to say that some individuals, the ones that have been laid off and the ones that are concerned about being laid off will be somewhat surprised to see that we are projecting a surplus. Needless to say, it is a positive point. There will be some concern and probably even frustration over the fact that we are projecting a surplus. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. There was no question. I would like to remind the Members about their preambles and also for statements like these, it is inappropriate for Members to be using question period to make Member's statement or statements for that matter. Oral questions. Mr. Roland.

The Minister of Finance, Mr. Todd.

Mr. Speaker, it is, as my honourable colleague said, a projected surplus. We have not got it yet. It is $9 million, we can spend that amount in three or four days in this government with the kind of money we have got. It is not a lot of money. It is a cautious projection, but the projection is based upon the budget that we presented and the arrangements that we made with committees and part of the targets set by myself to the Minister of Health and Social Services, and it was his decision and the decision of this Cabinet through Committee, that the kinds of things that are happening in my honourable colleagues riding and in my own riding and others are part of the deficit strategy.

So, unfortunately, in these difficult times, as I have said, difficult decisions have to be made. Now, I would not want anybody getting excited about a $9 million surplus, that is what I am trying to say. I mean, if we had a $100 million surplus, I could see it, but, we are projecting a $9 million surplus based upon the fact that we can get the targets that we have set in the budget. Just to give you an example, you could have one bad year in forest fires and it is gone. It is just that simple. I would not overplay the fact that we are projecting a $9 million surplus. I would say to my colleague, unfortunately, in these difficult times when we have to do the kinds of things we are doing, his constituency and others, it is not just in his constituency where facilities are going to be closed, are part and parcel of this difficult task of putting this budget together so that we can make the $100 million cuts so that we can balance the budget.

Let me say this to you, remember we will still have an accumulated deficit, and you will all inherit that accumulated deficit on April 1, 1999. I am attempting, with your cooperation, to bring that deficit down. Mr. Picco and others have spoken eloquently to it in Committee about what steps we are taking. If there is any surplus, and I hope with your cooperation and with the will of this House to move on the budget and get it done there will be, that will be charged up to the accumulated deficit. So, I do not know whether I have answered my colleague properly, I am trying to. I know the difficulties he is under right now, and he is probably under intense pressure from his constituency because of what is happening there. I think it would be fair to say that we appreciate the difficulties he is under, but it is all part of our deficit elimination strategy, and all part of reaching the $100 million goal that we have set for ourselves, so that we can balance the budget. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Barnabas.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask a question to the Minister of Health and Social Services, Kelvin Ng. (Translation ends) I have a concern that when the RCMP goes out for holidays, there is no alternate RCMP to replace that RCMP from Grise Fiord. My question to the Minister is, can his department provide alternate RCMP for Grise Fiord?

The Minister of Justice. Mr. Ng.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the responsibility for providing manpower for relief situations for RCMP officers does rest with the RCMP. They would of course take into consideration how busy a detachment is in the community, and provide a relief individual if it was a busier community. If it was not a high incident community, there may be the possibility that they may leave it vacant, but still provide coverage from a detachment that is within close proximity to that community. I am not fully aware of the situation that the honourable Member is referring to, but certainly I could speak to him and try to alleviate any concerns that he might have, if he does have any, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Miltenberger.

The Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs. Ms. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. None.

Oral questions. Mr. Miltenberger, supplementary.