My apologies, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for your indulgence. I want to focus my comments today on my abject frustration with the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and its continued mishandling of the diamond portfolio. Many of us here in Yellowknife have spent an inordinate amount of time to get valuation sorting done in our community. We have travelled to Europe, initiated the formation of the Yellowknife Diamond Task Force. We lobbied federal officials, but it is hard to lobby people who will not listen. In December, the Yellowknife Diamond Task Force travelled to Ottawa but were refused a meeting with DIAND Minister, Jane Stewart, or her top officials. To snub a delegation led by Mayor Dave Lovell and the largest city in the Northwest Territories served to remind me once again of the arrogance of DIAND, and how they are not interested in listening to the elected officials of the Northwest Territories. They dropped the ball on the whole diamond issue and are obviously too embarrassed to pick it up. They failed to make valuation sorting facilities in the north a prerequisite of a development permit. Minister Stewart still does not appreciate how much money and how many jobs are at stake for the future of Canada. An industry that is worth some $56 billion annually by the time it reaches the consumer, and by De Beers reckoning, Canada may some day produce 15 percent of the world's diamond. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.