Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I can provide more updated information to the Members, but mostly these trade missions are plans initiated by the Chamber of Commerce and the business community, so we allocate monies annually for these types of activities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could the Minister indicate then, the money that is here for trade missions is not used for government people, it is used to fund non-government people to attend along with the government employees?

Thank you. We provide and it is cost-shared with the different groups. For instance, we were on Team Canada. I think there have been trade missions to the Orient. There was one planned for last year that, I think, was cancelled. There was one to China. Fortunately or unfortunately for me, I think it is right during the planned November Session. I may or may not be in China. I may be with you or I might be in China then. But those are missions that we pay our share of.

There are suggestions for missions to southern Alberta. There was one held earlier, I believe, to northern Alberta and British Columbia and there was work being done by what you call Northwestern Ministers to develop a rough economic cooperation planning strategy for northern British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan to develop what they call the Northwest Cooperation Planning Strategy. There was some work done to address that. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, sorry, it must be the lateness of the day for me, but it is still not clear to me. Is this $178,000 or $250,000 for the year, is that used to cover Ministerial and government travel or is that used to pay non-government people? Or is it used, like with the federal government, they just send us a bill for our share and it comes out of this? They send us a bill for our share of a trade mission and it comes out of this money?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We cost-share most of these trade missions, except the international ones, which I think the Government of Canada pays most of it. They invite us along and we pay, I do not know what portion of it. On the national ones we are cost-sharing with the groups like the Chamber of Commerce. So they provide some funding, but I think a good part of the funding comes from this government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My question is in regard to contacts that this government is presently in. I would just like to know from the Minister, do these contracts also cover retainer contracts with different companies? Is this it or are there more contracts out there in which people are being held on retainer contracts for services that may be needed down the road? Do you have a list of the retainer contracts that this department presently holds?

Thank you. I am advised that all the contracts that we hold with people are included in the list that we have provided. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can the Minister tell us who on this list of people are on retainer contract? Will they be doing any work, which will be over and above the retainer fees in the next four months?

Not that we are aware of, no.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am not too clear on the answer. Are any of these consultants going to be doing any work on behalf of this government in the next four months on any special projects we are presently looking at?

The contracts that are listed show the ones that are individuals that we are going to contract for, and the amounts. These are for the year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the main estimates, which are coming up in the next couple of months, will we have a better breakdown of the actual costs which will be over and above this list here? This is only for a four-month period, so will we be seeing a list which will be carrying us over for the next eight months, which will possibly exceed this? Will this be an ongoing process, or is this for a one-year retainer fee? Is this for the whole year or is this just for four months?