Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like my fellow colleagues from Yellowknife I wish to comment on our constituency meeting yesterday. As has been indicated, the primary topic was the imminent sale of Giant Mine to Miramar and what the consequences of that sale could be. The employees have been given a reprieve of 15 days to put together some type of a deal whereby there could be an alternative to Miramar buying that mine. The thing that people are primarily concerned about is that if Miramar is successful in their bid, the vast majority of the workers would be laid off since a lot of the work would be consolidated and only some of the workers would be kept on, perhaps as few as fifty. Apparently this is a condition of the sale to the mine, that the employees do not come with the sale. The problem is how do you ensure that employees still get their pensions that they have worked so hard for and how do they get the severance pay that they are entitled to in their contracts?
The other thing that was brought up is the Emergency Gold Mining Assistance Act under which the federal government can implement a minimum rate for gold. This apparently has been used in other instances, I believe at the mine in Timmins, and we should probably be looking at the federal government to utilize this act.
The other thing we need to do is try to ensure that there is enough time for the union to put together some type of a deal to purchase this mine other than Miramar's purchase. Otherwise we will be looking at a lot of layoffs. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.