Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to speak to the issue of regional funding transfers on the question that was raised by myself and my colleague, Mr. Roland. I would like some further clarification. I made reference to this as a carefully crafted letter. The Minister has said that it is not carefully crafted, but I assume every one of his letters is carefully crafted.
What I was told was that as part of ongoing management we determine the demand for departmental resources exceeded the departmental budgets, the departmental expenditure management plan was initiated to focus on only the most critical areas. My concern was that $160,000 was taken out of the regional budget for the South Slave, out of program dollars and such, which limited the ability of the people to do their jobs. There was $125,000 in the North Slave, $65,000 in the Deh Cho, $25,000 in the Sahtu and $140,000 in Inuvik.
I was wondering if the Minister could just clarify that for me. He says that no funds were physically transferred from the regions to headquarters, which I can appreciate, I did not think there would be bags of loonies moving back and forth, but the money is in headquarters. Headquarters giveth and headquarters can taketh away. I was wondering if the Minister could just clarify this particular issue. It is not clear to me. I have questions when I see the way it is worded. Thank you.