Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this government has gone through many staffing changes in recent months. Employees have moved jobs as departments reorganized. Some have taken on special projects related to the creation of two new territories next year. This is in addition to the usual staff turnover that any organization experiences. These rapid changes have made it almost impossible to print and distribute internal telephone directories fast enough to keep pace. It became very difficult for most people, both inside and outside the government, to contact many employees by telephone. I would like to thank Mr. Roy Erasmus for raising this issue.

As a result of these concerns, the government has taken steps to re-establish its central telephone switchboard. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to announce that a local private sector firm has made an acceptable proposal to supply this service. Office Compliments will begin to operate a central switchboard for this government, as soon as the necessary telephone lines and equipment can be installed in their offices. That should take about one week to complete.

Mr. Speaker, the switchboard will work exactly the same way it did when these duties were handled by internal staff. An operator will be taking calls from 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. including over noon hour, each business day. The operator will be able to transfer incoming calls to any government office that is on the central telephone system. For those five percent who are not connected to the central system, the operator will give the caller the number of the people they are trying to reach. Mr. Speaker, I am also pleased to be able to announce the telephone number of our new switchboard. It will be 873-7500. This number will be advertised in northern newspapers over the next week. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause