Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My question is in the area of the Development Corporation and also the deal with the Fort McPherson Canvas Shop and the Aklavik Fur Shop. The Aklavik Fur Shop has been closed for some time, but the concern I have is in regard to the situation that they find themselves in. It was not a question of demand, but I think it was a question about the misuse of funds in the area of marketing, and what not, compared to the previous administration in that office.
You made reference to the Auditor General's report, but the concern I have is that because of the marketing scenarios that were put forth with the previous government, there is a lot of money spent in establishing these wholesale distribution centres. There were shops established in southern Canada at most major airports, Banff and other places around the country.
A lot of money was wasted on that initiative, in which a lot of the companies that this government owns, the Fort McPherson Canvas Shop, the Fur Shop in Aklavik, the Fur Shop in Tuktoyaktuk, have felt that. There have been layoffs and shutdowns because they were not able to develop their products, or even have a say in how they were being marketed. A lot of that stuff was sitting in warehouses and the people who were making all of the money were the people doing the distribution on the wholesale side of it.
I would like to ask the Minister exactly what has the department done to improve that, knowing we have sold off a bunch of leases that this government held in southern Canada or got out of them altogether? There was a cost associated with that. What has the Minister done to improve the operations of the companies that we own such as the canvas shop in Fort McPherson and the fur shop in Aklavik?