Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not have any recent indications on fur prices, but certainly last spring there were indications -- in fact, all of last winter -- that fur prices were going up considerably. I expect that trend has maintained itself but I have seen nothing yet this fall. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, the one major initiative that we have is, of course, the fur pricing program where we will guarantee trappers a minimum price for good quality fur that has been well-prepared. That program continues and we will be reviewing it.

Now we are reviewing our whole trapping program, our whole fur subsidization program. That is being done mainly to look at the value added in the Northwest Territories. I hope to see more northern fur being sold as northern fur.

The other are, of course, is we have had the Western Harvester Support Program. I believe about $11 million was distributed amongst communities through that program to support trappers, so that money is out there. We have other harvester assistance programs. So there is considerable assistance to help trappers. In addition to those as mentioned, we also do a lot of trapper training, particularly the young people. Those will continue this year as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley. There were a few questions there, all related. Two, at least.

Mr. Speaker, the purpose of the review is to try to ensure that our trappers are getting the maximum price possible for their fur. The department, for the last few years, has been selling northern fur where trappers agreed to participate in a program through a firm in Montreal who sold it as genuine Mackenzie Valley fur. We are looking at that program to see whether we are getting the prices we need.

We are also subsidizing and working very closely with a number of subsidiaries of the Northwest Territories Development Corporation, who are in the business of trying to make value-added products from northern fur. We hope that will also provide a market. There are a number of initiatives going on there. The main one is with D'Arcy Moses, but also in the Aklavik and Tuktoyaktuk areas as well.

Mr. Speaker, in terms of when do we complete it, I can certainly give the Member a progress report of what we have done but I think this is an ongoing exercise that will continue. This past year has been a particularly busy one because of the need to review how we were selling fur through the Montreal firm. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, no, I do not see those as being pilot projects. They are projects that we are continuing to support, either through the Northwest Territories Development Corporation or directly through the department, and possibly by both.

As we do the business program review in RWED, we are looking at all of our services, our business support services. Included in there will be an assessment of how we best support the fur industry. I would be happy to review any of that with the Member at any time he wants. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Education. It is in regard to industrial standards, especially in the oil and gas industry that they do have high standards that they like to meet when it comes to training and for people that are employed in that industry, that they do have adequate training. What are you doing to ensure that whatever training and resources are spent in the training area are meeting the standards that are set in the oil and gas industry?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have standards in apprenticeship areas, in trades and in occupations. As a matter of fact, we have developed occupational standards here in the Northwest Territories that are similar to other areas and we have covered about six. We are looking at a total of about 35 to cover, Mr. Speaker. Certainly in the apprenticeship area, our apprentices -- and we have double the number of apprentices training versus the national average -- the territorial apprentices, many of them are red seal, which means that they are approved across the country, Mr. Speaker. So we are naturally interested in ensuring that our standards are high and meet national and other jurisdiction standards and meet the needs of industry. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in a meeting held in Inuvik over the last number of days, there was a statement made by industry that the training that people are receiving in the Beaufort-Delta and Mackenzie Delta area is not meeting their standards. I would like to ask the Minister, has he looked at or met with the industry to clearly identify what their standards are and what they require for us to meet those standards?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of standards, I will be meeting with a lot of the human resource development people from the oil industry and various operators in Calgary within a couple of weeks, Mr. Speaker, and this is one of the subjects that we will be discussing. I am not sure how this occurred because we believe that the standards and the training that is done is done by certified individuals. Our own programs through Aurora College, for example, are standards we feel are developed to ensure that industry can accept those standards. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Minister touched on the area of certification, but I think a lot of people are disappointed when you receive your certificate and then you go to a particular job site and they say that is not valid in this industry, especially in the oil and gas industry. What are we doing to streamline our certification program with the rest of Canada so we are able to train people in the North but they also can participate in other activities in southern Canada, so they are not only restricted to the Northwest Territories by ensuring we meet southern standards?