Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question I am asking is from the presentation we were given from the Department of Education during briefings. I would like to know if the Minister of the department has finalized those discussions as to where these positions or, will these positions, be taken out? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is right that our plans for the 1997/98 budget do show a reduction of four PYs in the regional offices. There are six regional offices and we are not, at this time,

certain where the reductions will actually take place, or if they will be full person year reductions or, perhaps, partial person year reductions in some of the offices. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Minister have this information out once this process is finalized, the work we are doing on the budget? Right now, the people involved in the regional office in Inuvik were unaware of this and I have caused some concern amongst the workers by bringing this information out, although I did not think it was confidential. I would like to know if we will be able to identify, in the short term here, so I can send back information or the Minister might forward that information to the community so that people are made aware of this at the earliest time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think that we are sensitive to the concerns of our employees and would like to deal with them in as caring and quick a manner as possible. However, these changes will result because of changes in the funding formula for how career and development programs are going to be offered across the Territories. I cannot promise the Member that, within the next two or three weeks, those answers will be forthcoming. But, as I said, given that there are four PYs that we are expecting to see reduced, there are six regional centres and we are not certain, whether or not there might be only partial PY reductions, the impact will not be significant on any one regional centre. We are not sure that it will affect every regional centre. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated before, the community of Inuvik is already reeling from all the budget reductions our community has felt in all areas of the departments. I think it would be only prudent to bring this information out and identify where these are coming from as we are in the budget process now and we will be dealing with specific departments while we are in Session. My concern is that, if we are approving budgets and formulas are not identified or are not set, what are we approving? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are sensitive to the cuts that have been taken in centres across the Territories and we will endeavour to get the information out as quickly as possible. In response to the Member's specific question, what we are doing is approving a final dollar figure and many times the formula is juggled to fit the dollars that are available. Putting it bluntly, that is what we are looking at in this situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister responsible for RWED regarding the diamond evaluation facility. This is one of the key components to the development of diamond mining in the north. I am wondering if the Minister could update this House as to the status of those negotiations with the federal government and the industry in terms of having that facility located in the north. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories has lobbied the federal government to make certain that the evaluation facility, which would take rough diamonds that are produced here in the north for the purpose of evaluating before they are moved elsewhere, is located in the north. I think we have met with some degree of success. First of all, the Minister Ron Irwin has indicated his support for locating such a facility here in the Northwest Territories provided we work out the logistics and technical details and address the cost of building and maintaining such a facility. We have agreed to work on that together.

Our Member of Parliament, Ethel Blondin-Andrew, has also met with the Finance Minister, Paul Martin. Mr. Martin has indicated to her, I understand, his support for locating such a facility here in the Northwest Territories as well. We have also gone ahead to contract a diamond valuer out of Britain to give us a report on how these types of facilities are managed and funded in other jurisdictions, and to look at the requirements and feasibility of having a facility here in the Northwest Territories and how we would go about developing that. This report will be available in the next couple of weeks. It is our expectation that the consultant will be here in Yellowknife in the first week of March to meet with us and other parties to work out and explain the implications and the expectations of having such a facility here in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister indicate whether the talks have focused to the level as

to whether there is going to be a commitment to have it not only in the north, but in a community in the north, as opposed to on-site at the mine? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it is our suggestion that the facility be located in an existing community in the Northwest Territories, yes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister indicate to this House, so we could have an idea of the scope of this project, the proposed size of such a facility in terms of jobs and that kind of thing? Are we looking at a large operation? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am not certain about the exact number of jobs that locating a facility by itself in the north will create, but there will be some jobs. I am not certain of how many full-time jobs it will involve, but I do know that the industry had indicated earlier on that their preference would be to have the process of evaluating rough diamonds off-shore in places perhaps like in Amsterdam or Antwerp. It is the Government of Canada's position and ours that rough diamonds be evaluated here in Canada.