Thank you. Page 11-10, activity summary, resource management and economic development, operations and maintenance, total operations, $54.669 million. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the Minister's opening comments, he made reference to 23 economic development positions that have been transferred to communities. There is an interest in Fort Smith to have access to such an opportunity. I was wondering if, in fact, the community leadership could agree and there was a request put in, would we also be able to apply for such a position to work with the community leadership on economic issues and strategies for the community?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Kakfwi.

Mr. Chairman, the answer is yes.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the Minister for that positive response. In the area of community futures as well, I know there has been talk for the South Slave of in fact, having an office in Hay River and in Fort Smith. I did not notice any specific reference to that in the Minister's statement. Is that, as well, still part of the plan that there is going to be an office in Fort Smith, I believe, providing services to Fort Smith and Fort Resolution?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The alternative plan is proposing to have two community futures boards in the South Slave. We are proposing to the MLAs and the community leaders to have one that would service Fort Smith, Fort Resolution and Lutselk'e. That is presently before the MLAs of those communities for their consideration and advice, and the community leaders. We have another proposal to expand the present Hay River Community Futures Board to include some of the communities like Providence, Kakisa, Enterprise, so expanding the Hay River Board as well, and that is just a proposal. The proposal needs advice, and probably will be changed, the location of the boards as well will be subject to some discussion, I am sure. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My final question on this particular area is to do with the NWT Development Corporation. The last time we met with the NWT Development Corporation, they gave an oral presentation that was somewhat long in anecdote and short on any sort of facts and qualifiable information. At this point, I would like some indication that the next time around, we will have some clear information that is qualifiable and measurable in terms of how the money is working, especially given the fact that the new, I think it is $1.2 million in additional money that has been put into the Development Corporation. It is really critical that we start identifying really clearly if the intent is to provide subsidized employment, then we should not really be wasting a lot of time in making people do work to say that we are going to create stand-alone industry and where, in fact, there is an attempt to create a viable industry, we should differentiate. I do not think there would be a great problem with that, but the way it is now, at least my sense is that there is a lot of energy and pressure put on the Development Corporation to make sure we do not have to subsidize, when in fact, in the smaller communities there may be no other choice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you. Mr. Chairman, we continue to work with the Development Corporation to ensure that they shore up their existing operations and subsidiaries in a way that is in line with their mandate that is getting to be an operation that can present good reports, reports that are understood and that are in acceptable format for use by Members of the Legislature and myself as a Minister. Mr. Glenn Soloy has been working on that and we will continue to see what we can do to make sure that the reports and the reporting format are standard and acceptable to everyone. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could the Minister as well, speak briefly to the second part of my comments on the need to differentiate clearly between those businesses in which the government is going to be playing an ongoing role as opposed to those businesses that the Development Corporation is going to be involved with, but only on a short term basis because there is clear proof and evidence that they will be able to operate on their own once they are given sufficient support to get started? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we will work to clarify that. We recently had a meeting and a workshop set up for the board of directors of the Development Corporation. The questions we asked them were to clarify what they thought their mandate was, their roles, responsibilities and specifically, to advise when we start up business subsidiaries in the communities, what is an acceptable level of a subsidy and what are the criterion that should be used when we set up these businesses. For instance, should we start a business that will surely result in the development of products. Is there some requirement to say, look, they should be saleable before we start producing them? At what point do we divest ourselves of some of these subsidiaries, for instance, if they become very viable and profitable. At what point, if the subsidy is 99 percent of the cost of the operation, should we stay in that business? At what point do we critically look at shutting down or divesting ourselves of it. We are working on it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have another question in regard to tourism and the level of funding. Of late, there has been discussion in the House and as well, I have seen some articles in the paper about the diminishing level of funding that the Government of the Northwest Territories has been able to put toward what is considered the strategic area for economic development in the north. I was wondering if the Minister could indicate what plans are in place to try and shore up this critical sector and ensure that in fact, it does not die of lack of sustenance? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The drop in the level of funding provided to the tourism sector was because of the termination of the EDA, therefore the federal money that was allocated to this sector has disappeared, but our own allocation of Government of the Northwest Territories dollars has basically remained the same. What I have told the tourism groups and associations are that I expect, particularly the Western Arctic Tourism Association, to now request that members should pay a fee. There should be some contribution from the members to the association and once a good work plan strategy is developed, we would revisit the issue of funding and additional support if that was required. That is where we had left it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Miltenberger.

With my final 20-seconds, my question would be to the Minister, is there the possibility of a new EDA

being negotiated with the federal government or have they totally withdrawn from this area? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. Kakfwi.