No, Mr. Chairman, the products that were in each of the stores and the warehouse belonged to each of the jurisdictions was inventory. So each jurisdiction got the rights to its assets, the products to be sold.

In terms of the lease and any improvements that might have been made to the facilities, there was no compensation paid to the Northwest Territories. I think we did well simply to be able to step away from that one without incurring further cost. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of the ventures we were involved with in Fort Resolution was the sawmill. There was a statement made in the House by Mr. Nitah as to why they purchased this equipment knowing they were in a deficit situation. I know there have been other purchases made in other areas. I would like to ask the Minister, has there been an assessment on what the cost was to this government because of the decisions made by certain managers to purchase certain equipment that is now the responsibility of this government? We are now owners of equipment we did not previously own.

Mr. Chairman, the Development Corporation is just now in the process of selling off the assets from the Great Slave Lake Forest Products Ltd. We will not know what the costs are to the government until we know what the recoveries are from the sale that is going on.

In the case of the two loaders that were purchased, both of them have already been sold. Those are no longer an issue. I believe the purchase was a leased purchase, and there were ongoing costs of some amount per month. The Development Corporation undertook to sell those loaders as soon as they could. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can the Minister tell us if there are any unforeseen circumstances, through the courts or what not, that may have an impact on the operation of these corporations, either financially or legally?

Mr. Chairman, I did not quite understand the question.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my question was regarding the past practice of the Business Development Corporation. Are there any unforeseen costs or implications that may have an effect on the operation of the corporation, legally or otherwise?

Mr. Chairman, the issue of the decisions that were being made by the previous president of the Development Corporation are being reviewed by both our Department of Justice and the RCMP. I do not think it would be appropriate for me to get into any detail on that right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the reason I asked the question is that it could have a major implication to the operations of the Corporation. I for one depend on the Corporation, because of the operations in my riding, the Fort McPherson Canvas Shop and the fur shop in Aklavik. It has had an effect on those businesses. The resources they had to maintain, the lack of the ability to market, and also how their inventory was being handled.

What certainty do the people have, especially the ones who have a relationship with the Development Corporation? What type of security is in place to ensure those operations are going to continue without having to worry about closure or what not in the next year or so?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the guideline we used in the past for subsidizing our subsidiaries has been, and continues to be, $10,000 per job. As long as the subsidy does not exceed the $10,000 per job, then I do not think the community will have to worry about it.

Having said that, at this time, I have asked the Development Corporation to do an assessment of whether or not $10,000 per job is an appropriate amount to subsidize these subsidiaries. We have used that figure for many years, and it may be low. We may need to subsidize jobs for something higher than that, I do not know. I do not have an answer from the Development Corporation on that yet.

As long as it is within a reasonable range, then no, I do not think there is anything to worry about. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I have some questions about tourism and the tourism strategy. There are concerns in the South Slave among operators in my constituency, with the fact that a decision was made in the 12th Assembly, which saw the demise of the division of tourist operations, specifically, in the South Slave the Good River Travel and the negative impact it has had on tourism.

Could the Minister indicate whether the tourism strategy looks at that? I have raised it in the House. It has been an issue. I think the decision made in the 12th Assembly was wrong. There is a need to resuscitate those if we are going to support tourism at the local and regional levels. It cannot be done from one central location. Thank you.

Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I think there are some things that can be done from headquarters. Promoting regions and regional tourist attractions, I agree with the Member, can best be done by people at the regional level. In fact, most of our successes are more from the regional people promoting their own areas.

As I mentioned before, my objective in allocation of any new dollars we have for tourism is to have it for the two purposes, marketing and building up that regional capacity. Whether the 12th Assembly was right or not, I will not comment on that. I do think we need to build up our regional capacity if we want to have tourists attracted to the regions. Thank you.

Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, is that approach going to be reflected at all in the tourism strategy, which the Minister said he had seen a draft copy of? Thank you.