Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are still two significant events that need to occur that will trigger the election for the first Nunavut Legislative Assembly. The first item is the boundaries for the electoral districts for Nunavut. These are required to be named and described by an Order-in-Council of the federal government. It is my understanding that it is being prepared now and will be forwarded based on 19 electoral districts to the federal government, to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, and if the Minister of Indian Affairs accepts it, then she will process the Order-in-Council. Once that Order-in-Council has been approved, then that will allow the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer to begin recruiting returning officers based on those 19 electoral districts.

The second one which is of significance, Mr. Chairman, in the planning process, will be the timing for the first election for Nunavut. Currently, as Members are aware, the Nunavut Act requires that the election for the first Nunavut Legislative Assembly cannot be called until after April 1, 1999. One of the amendments in the package of amendments to the Nunavut Act that will be introduced, it is my understanding, into the House of Commons for first reading, probably around February 13th, included in that amendment is a provision that would allow for the holding of an earlier election for the first Nunavut Legislative Assembly. Again, if that bill is passed and the act is amended, that is the next significant event and it would then allow us to proceed to name the date for the first election for Nunavut to allow for a Nunavut-wide enumeration for the first election. We are currently recruiting for a Deputy Chief Electoral Officer for Nunavut. It is my hope that we will be able to staff the Nunavut office and have it open by April 1, of this year, Mr. Chairman. From there, our plan would be to hold the enumeration for the first election probably in October of this year allowing for an election sometime in February of 1999. Mr. Chairman, we do need the Order-in-Council and also the Nunavut Act amendments. If they are not passed in a timely fashion, it could have a significant impact on the first election for Nunavut, Mr. Chairman.