Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Speaker, I just mentioned we are training the career development officers in all the areas. We are bringing them into headquarters. They are going to be dealing with students to help them fill out the application forms, et cetera. You still need somewhere a computer or whatever to deliver the program. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister responsible for RWED and it relates to the Auditor General's report. The Auditor General observed that in the various different ways that this government loans out money, repayable loans to small businesses or individuals, we do not publicize the amount, the type of project, the expected repayment terms. This is common practice in other jurisdictions. Can the Minister tell us why we do not make this information public? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. I will have to rule that question out of order. It appears the question is related to a matter that is before committee of the whole. We do not ask questions on matters that are before committee. Sorry, Mr. Bell. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today goes to the Minister responsible for Finance and it is in regard to the hotel tax, Mr. Speaker. I believe it is a common understanding that the Minister had hired someone to do a survey and hired this person to go out and ask all sorts of questions about what to do about the hotel tax. I would like to know whether or not the Minister has received the answers to that study and when he is willing to share that information with us.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I expect to have the report from the individual by the end of November. I have not seen a report yet. When I do have it and whenever we get into a discussion on the hotel tax, I will be very happy to share it.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister advise as to how much the study is going to cost the government? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I will have to take that as notice. I do not know the exact amount of the contract.

Thank you, Minister Handley. The question has been taken as notice. Order, please. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is again for the Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Earlier today, the Minister talked about the difficulty of having a definition for transition or grandfathering when developing numbers.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to offer to provide such definitions for him, if that would be helpful. Also, the Minister brought up the report of the Ministerial Forum on Student Financial Assistance. Having played a small part in that forum, I am fairly familiar with the report. Mr. Speaker, nowhere in that report does it recommend that students currently in the system have the remissible loans ripped away from them. Nowhere in there does it say that. So, Mr. Speaker, will this Minister agree to take a look at grandfathering students who have lost their remissible loans?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we have implemented the redesign and they were based on decisions made last spring. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in transition to the new program, some students gained access to additional semesters and some have lost. Would the Minister say that is fair and equitable, that some people are being treated differently?

I would ask the honourable Member to rephrase that. It appears he is asking an opinion of the Minister and that is not permitted under our rules. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in transition to the new program, some students have been offered more semesters of assistance while students like the constituent I spoke of earlier have lost semesters of remissible loans. Can the Minister tell me how the department justifies treating these people differently? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the transition was done in consultation with the standing committees. At the time, it was pointed out that we were going to increase the number of semesters in certain areas. We have not cut anyone off, Mr. Speaker. There is still availability for all students to access repayable loans. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ootes. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, maybe there has been a misunderstanding. The Minister talked about consultation with the standing committees. Can the Minster produce one shred of evidence that the standing committees supported the transition to this new program without grandfathering the existing students?