Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister give us a time line that he would see, hopefully, this drawing to a close or getting the information out to the public? We know we are very dependent on the federal government to deal with the issue, but is the Minister hopeful with a certain timeframe that we could be looking at? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would hope we are talking about very soon. I cannot make that commitment today. I do have a letter from the federal Minister promising to complete her review of the proposal in the course of the next three weeks and the Members can be assured that I will do my utmost to follow up as quickly as possible with the federal government to see how quickly we can resolve the issue. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Education. It is in relation to educational priorities and the concern of how we translate this fine political sentiment expressed here in the House today into concrete action, keeping in mind that this Assembly, Cabinet and Ordinary Members through the business planning process just passed the budget, keeping in mind that division is almost upon us and that the next go round will be done by individual Caucuses. My question to the Minister is, how does he envision addressing this need to put more money into education which, I believe, has been expressed one way or the other by almost every Member of this House since we have been here? How do we do that? How does he see working with the two Caucuses to look at reviewing the priorities and possibly addressing, through the budgeting process, the need for more money? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we heard from the Minister of Finance yesterday, the formula discussions for the two new governments are coming to a close. The Minister expressed some confidence that, in the future, we will be able to maintain existing services. Now, the Member has asked me, how do we find more money for education? I would say that what it takes is a strategic planning activity that I know both Caucuses are undertaking. One of the key factors to remember is that yesterday the Minister of Finance said that he believed there would be adequate funds to continue existing programs and services at existing levels. If we want to increase funding for education that means, we are going to have to discuss as a group where we change our priorities. The budget right now reflects what all 24 Members feel is the priority for this government. We will have to find ways to move monies from one area to another if we agree that priorities are shifting. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think the easy way out for us would be to just stand here and say, you guys fix that problem, but my question is; for instance, would we be prepared to take the $40 million off the collective bargaining table and say we want to put it toward education? We know there is money there to do that. My question once again to the Minister would be, as he works with the Caucuses, keeping in mind, of course, that the Cabinet is in office until April 1, 1999, but that the two Caucuses will be setting their separate directions, how much weight will he be giving to the direction provided by the respective Caucuses? In the west, for example, will we have an opportunity to make these kinds of fundamental shifts that people are talking about? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the eight Members of the Cabinet, I am sure, represent the sentiments of this Legislative Assembly as a whole. If we do not, then we will not be around very long on this side of the House. If we are talking about how carefully will we listen to what the Caucuses have to say in setting the next budget, all Members can be assured we will listen very carefully, and will put a lot of weight on what the Caucuses have to say on how the budget should be developed. We are listening not just to requests that money be placed one place or another, we also want to hear where added funding for various programs should come from. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question to the Minister is just another clarification. From here on in, will it be western Members and the Western Caucus setting the direction for western educational priorities, and will it be eastern Members and the Eastern Caucus setting the direction that they want to take in the budget business plans they want to leave in place for the east? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In terms of involving people in the budget process, the intention is to operate as collegiality as possible with the Interim Commissioner and his staff for the development of the eastern budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In March, there was a prospectors and developers' conference in Toronto where there was considerable interest generated by the session that the department put on in respect to the issue of diamonds and accessing rough diamonds in the Northwest Territories.

This was followed by another conference set up by the city of Yellowknife and the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce in early May, which provided a forum for northern businesses to get together with diamond manufacturers.

Mr. Speaker, over the last few months there has been considerable interest and profile given to diamonds across Canada and internationally. There are people who are experienced business people, manufacturers. There are people who are experienced in the business of making jewellery, trading in diamonds, repairing and assessing diamonds; who have come to Yellowknife and who have made contact with our department, seeking information and expressing interest in looking at setting up businesses in the Northwest Territories. The department has worked with a number of other departments to set up what you would call a Diamond Review Committee; for instance, the Development Corporation; the Business Corporation; the Department of Education, Culture and Employment and Aurora College. Human Resources Canada has been invited to attend.

We have set out some criteria and guidelines for potential business applicants, people who will be applying for assistance from the governments for financial assistance to set up operations, training programs and businesses here in the north. So far, we have had one applicant that has presented an application proposal to this committee. We are expecting more to come in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the concerns that is there is, in the case of one I know of, they have a timeframe problem because of the lure by the province of that particular company. Could the Minister tell us if this Diamond Review Committee is in a position to make some decisions in fairly short order, with regard to providing incentives or whatever means necessary to attract this particular company or others to the north? To repeat my question, has a timeframe been set which we could address this concern to provide an incentive program? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The proposals are to be reviewed and handled as expeditiously as possible. It is important to make sure all the information that is available, which is required, is made available by these applicants. For instance, we need to know their history, the principals involved in the companies, what line of work they have done. Perhaps some references from some of their clients, just to ensure they are the type of companies and business people we want to make sure come north, also, that they are credible, reputable principals and companies that come forward. Thank you.