Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there has been a consistency in approach to the SFA program. This program was redesigned in '99, Mr. Speaker. We made some changes in 2000 to make improvements for students but the principles in the programs were maintained and there are, as the honourable Member mentioned earlier, areas that need to be looked at. I committed before to have a look at that but they're mostly in the area of possible alternatives, Mr. Speaker, to maintain the integrity and principles of the program. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, other than the general tradition of doing it this way and the department choosing to follow this path, could I ask the Minister as to whether or not there is a contract that we signed with the government or is there something specific that ties us to the Canada student loan guidelines? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker there is, no doubt, a contractual arrangement between the federal government and ourselves, however, I don't have the details to that here. I could get that for the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary question, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, maybe I should just ask the Minister whether or not he could look into it to see if there is a legally binding contract that we have with Canada's regulations and what the background of that is and when it was last revisited and could he provide the information to the House. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. As an alternative, I certainly will do that. I'll have a look to see what the obligations on our part are, legal obligations, and I can report back to the Member on that.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. I'm not sure whether the last part of your comment was audible. Would you, for the record, just repeat the last part of it there, Mr. Ootes.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member had asked if I could report back the information with regard to the legal arrangements regarding the Student Financial Assistance Program and I can report back and will report back to the House. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Your final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just to make sure we cross the t's and dot the i's, we know that we are going to be leaving and session will finish pretty soon here. Could I have the commitment from the Minister to do this by the end of the month at the latest? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Yes, I'll make that commitment, Mr. Speaker. I will do that.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.