Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The prices we charge in Yellowknife, to my knowledge, are the same as we charged before the privatization. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am hoping the Minister can confirm that and verify that is in fact the case, because it is my understanding from talking to people that we have raised the price we charge to retailers. In fact, they have passed it on to consumers. There has been quite an increase in prices.

I would also like to ask the Minister if there was a one-time cash infusion that this government was able to garner as a result of transferring the cost of carrying the inventory from ourselves to the retailers? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no, there is no one-time cash infusion at all. What it does mean is that we are probably using our liquor revolving fund less now than we would be if we were purchasing the liquor for the stores. There is a decrease in the amount we are using in the revolving fund, but we do not have a windfall here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe the Minister could explain that further for me. It was my understanding that the liquor warehouse in Yellowknife used to carry X amount. They no longer have to carry that same amount because it is up to the retailers now to purchase the inventory, so they have to carry a much lower inventory at the liquor warehouse, which seems to me that would result in a cash infusion to this government, would it not?

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, no, the liquor retail outlets in Yellowknife still have to purchase their liquor through the warehouse. They do not purchase it somewhere else. It means that the warehouses are still carrying as much inventory as they used to, but we as a government, we used to own the liquor and the retail stores. Now, the retail stores buy it from the warehouse themselves. It does not change anything for the warehouses. In fact, it may have made it a situation where they have to carry more variety than they used to. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If the inventory that used to be on the liquor store floor was previously owned by this government and has now been purchased by the retailer, obviously that resulted in a one-time cash infusion to this government. I do not understand the Minister's rationale. Maybe he could explain.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, we have a liquor revolving fund that is used for this purpose. There is a maximum to that revolving fund and we will purchase liquor with that fund. We are only into a few months of the new system where the retail stores own the liquor themselves. I have not seen any reports on it yet, but I expect that as a government, we are using less of that revolving fund than we were before, because the storeowners themselves are doing the purchasing directly. It just means the revolving fund is used less than it used to be. There are no savings for us, unless we were to put some limits on that revolving fund. It is a little bit early to do that right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

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

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

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