Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Ootes.

The Minister of Public Works and Services, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is true the Department of Public Works and Services did receive requests from the NWT Architectural Society and in particular from Mr. Wayne Guy. We spent some time looking at the proposal and the merits of the proposal in areas where it needed some work. We did point out some areas that the proposal did need to be worked on. We did work together in that sense. However, as the Members can appreciate, we do have very limited time in the next year and half because of a very heavy Legislative agenda. We have informed Mr. Guy that the work that has been done up to-date is useful, and it could prove valuable if future Legislatures wanted to use it for an architectural act. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The draft proposal, as I understand it, is one borrowed from Alberta, and it does include some comments made from groups in the Northwest Territories. It has some merit in that sense, but we cannot just take that proposal from a private group and rubber stamp it right through the Assembly and make it into law. The government through the Department of Justice has to go through a drafting process. It has to look at all the implications that it might have on other parts of the government, et cetera. I would also point out that the Government House Leader has given very clear direction to all Ministers that because of our full legislative agenda, there is only specific criteria of laws that we can work in, in the next year and half. This is not included in that criteria.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it would be a bit more clear if I put it this way. I have been informed by the Department of Justice and the Government House Leader that there is no room at all in our legislative agenda in the next year and a half to put through an architectural act. However, the work that has been put together, so far, is valuable in that it could be used in future acts. We just do not have the time to do it at this point.

Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I understand there is still no consensus amongst the industry about the acceptability of the proposal. There are groups, like the landscape associations and the interior designers, which have some problems with the proposal. In that sense, there is still some work to be done. We have already told the architectural association that the work is valuable. We will take it and file it, and it will be used at the first opportunity. We will ensure that whatever changes are made in the committee regulations are followed.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Miltenberger.

The Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would be only to happy to address that frequently asked question by my honourable colleague and my other one, who is not in the House today, Mr. Picco. Mr. Speaker, we have agreed to a full briefing tomorrow at 9 or 10 o'clock tomorrow morning, for those Members that may show an interest in the Aurora Fund Marketing Strategy. I did have a meeting with Mr. Bailey who is our investment manager on this issue earlier this weekend

while I was working. He indicated to me that there is actually a fair amount of work done with RWED, in fact they are our partners in this process. They market this fund the same as they market the department and BCC and try to advise as many people as possible as to what the fund does. Mr. Bailey met with some Chambers of Commerce in an effort to advise them what the fund is about. This House, of course, is a very public facility, and we have discussed that and that gives more people more of an interest in what we are doing. There are no large sums of money in terms of marketing dollars with respect to the fund. As I said, it is a private fund operated by private individuals. Mr. Speaker, what I am trying to say is that RWED assists us in advising people of the availability of this fund, as they do with other funds they take care of, like the BCC and the smaller grants, et cetera. But there is no conventional marketing strategy on this fund because of the limitation of dollars. Thank you.

Just to remind the Member for Keewatin Central, for Members that are not in the House. Members are not allowed to mention that they are not in the House. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Todd.

I think my honourable colleague is trying to trap me today, but I will not fall into that trap, Mr. Speaker. The reality is that I would hope the Department of Economic Development and the economic development officers would assist people, the same as they assist people in applying for CIBC money, the Royal Bank, the Bank of Montreal, trust companies and everything else. What I was saying earlier in the week was, the fund is an independent fund. The investment committee is an independent investment committee. The investment manager is an independent investment manager and there is no, it was implied, if I may, by some Members, that there is political interference. There is absolutely none. What I am saying is, there is a limitation to the fund's marketing dollars because it is run on a very lean and mean fiscal framework. What we are trying to make sure, is that the maximum dollars can get out to the private sector and minimum dollars administering it. That is the concept of the fund. Mr. Speaker, I hope I have answered my honourable colleague's questions.