Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Handley.

Mr. HANDLEY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the two that have received federal funding are Inuvik and Hay River. They are two of the original ones. They are not receiving any federal funding since they were transferred to the GNWT two years ago. All of their operating costs are paid by the GNWT through our department.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Further questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Handley.

Mr. HANDLEY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, each of the boards has an allocation of money. They loan that out in loans up to $75,000. They charge an interest, generally it is prime plus two percent, and assuming that their loans are good loans which most of them are, they then reinvest the money as it comes back to them. They operate very similar to a bank.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Handley.

Mr. HANDLEY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, they currently do not have the same amount of money to loan out. Some have as little as $540,000. This is a result of two things, some have been established for a number of years, others are relatively new. One is still a proposed board, it has not actually been set up in the Fort Smith area. The intention is to eventually build it up so that each of them do have either an equal amount of money or enough money to meet the demands in that region that they serve.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Handley.

Mr. HANDLEY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, no we have not provided loans to the boards.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Handley.

Mr. HANDLEY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, over the years we have provided them with money, the ones that have been established. The exception is the more recent ones who have not yet received money.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Handley.

Mr. HANDLEY: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we have a proposal which the Minister will be taking to the Business Credit Corporation and to the Community Futures organizations. If they accept the proposal, which would mean combining their lending abilities through Community Futures being able to access BCC money for a limited amount, we should be able to achieve that this year. If that proposal is not accepted, then it will depend on our resources.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Erasmus, if you have detailed questions and specific questions with regard to that, I believe they could be asked under 11-19 which is Resource Management and Economic Development section. Is the Minister prepared to answer?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we are working on a socio-economic agreement and hope to finalize that by the end of May. A part of that socio-economic agreement will be on value-added activities and we hope to have Aber and Diavik agree to support value-added activities by providing diamonds in some form, shape, size, allocation or other to us so that we can carry on with promoting

the diamond industry here in the North. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. I just want to remind you, Mr. Erasmus, these are details that can be presented as questions during the specific items and on page 11-20 we have in the budget, diamond projects, so perhaps your questions would be more appropriate to ask then, but I will give the Minister an opportunity if he wishes to answer.

Mr. Chairman, I think it is perhaps sufficient to say that the company is going through an environmental review. They are seeking support from the aboriginal groups, from our government and from the federal government to begin mining to get into the production of diamonds. It is important to the company. The company has to gain the approval and support of the aboriginal groups and this government so they can proceed, so that they can get a licence to start production. That is a considerable amount of power, I believe, that aboriginal groups and this government have. It is important for these companies to signal to the federal government and to our government that they have support and agreement to proceed in order to acquire a green light from governments to proceed so I do not know that it is necessary to discuss what hammers or threats we could wave at people who are trying to promote economic development and business here in the North. We believe that Diavik and Aber are responsible companies and they will realize that it makes absolute good business sense to come into agreement on supporting value-added activities in the diamond business as part of the socio-economic agreement. Thank you.

--Applause