Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just heard the Minister going over what I said at the beginning and I lost the last part of what he was saying. Can I get clarification from the Minister as to whether the board has reviewed this policy and made a decision on it and, if so, what was it?

Well, my information is that perhaps the communication has not been done at an optimum level because the people that I was talking to, who ought to be in the know, were not aware of this offer or what to do about filling this offer. I wonder if the Minister and the officials could be the link and make sure this communication between the board of the ACTC, the board of the corporation and the retailers that are concerned...if the department could function as a facilitator, making sure this communication gets from one side to the other. I also have a question. I want to know how this policy came about, where this corporation is allowed to engage in retail sales in a market like Yellowknife, targeting the government employees or departments. Does that not contravene any other government policies or government philosophy, or the principle about not using public funds to interfere in and disrupt the private market? Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Chairman, it's regrettable that we have to revisit this whole thing here because I thought we'd made some progress in convincing the Minister and the department that what the corporation was engaged in last Christmas was a retail activity. I mean, even if they didn't attract any buyers, flyers went out to give discounted prices on arts and crafts to government staff. That is a retail sale, faxes going to every government office saying we're offering this special deal, buy them. The Minister had previously indicated that they were trying to provide bulk or volume sales to businesses or corporations who wanted to buy local arts or NWT community arts or crafts in a big volume so that they could get security of supply and buy them in the way that they wanted to. Well, okay, that's still a retail sale.

I think this corporation has to be clear about what they want to do and why they exist. I agree with the Minister that the role for the corporation to play is to be a bridge between local artisans and businesses, and the businesses in town will tell you that their problem is only not having enough art to sell. That corporation could do a lot more to facilitate and supply them with the stuff so they could sell them. So, I think, going by the Minister's answers, with all due respect, there's some confusion about exactly what this corporation is supposed to do. There seems to be a bit of a reluctance to reflect on what they are doing and how it is not in line with what the government should be doing and what the public funds should be going towards. I need to ask the Minister to clarify again exactly what is the mandate he has given to this corporation in terms of what they can and cannot do in retail selling. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I certainly appreciate the Minister's comments regarding the arts and crafts and the sales. It's an issue that has been growing and actually becoming a real problem, because we're starting to see the arts and crafts producers in the communities on the decline. A lot of the younger people are no longer out there making the moose hair tuftings and the moccasins. It's mostly as a result of not having an outlet. We have three craft shops in the community of Fort Providence, and there are some in Hay River and some here, and they're just not able to move them fast enough so it drives the cost down. I think this department has a large role to play when in comes to assisting the arts and crafts producers. We should actually be monitoring it.

I don't know if we have any baseline studies. It's difficult for me to suggest that the government should do another study, but I have a real concern here, Mr. Chairman, that there's a decline. We don't really know what we had 10 years ago. We don't know the sales amounts and we don't know what's happening in this area. Certain government initiatives, we have to be very mindful, are going to affect it further. The harmonization with the income support and housing is going to play another role that's going to have a devastating effect on it, and we should be able to keep track of that. So I'm hoping and I encourage the department to continue to play a role there and look for some options.

I also wanted to raise the issue of wildlife studies. I see in the Minister's opening remarks that the department will embark on a couple of surveys. In my riding, there were a couple of issues that I want to highlight, and that's our moose population has been on the decline for a number of years. I'm not sure if the moose survey that was done on two-year intervals is still continuing to be done. I don't think the money has been there for the last while. I think it's something that all of us in my riding are very concerned about. The population has been actually crashing. It's very difficult to go out and get a moose anymore, and you have to go further and further. There are hardly any areas where the moose population is growing.

I asked the question before and I never did get an answer regarding the other study that I'm hoping to see picked up. That's regarding the mink study. The environmental assessment on some of the mink that was done many years ago, showed that the mink population around Fort Providence -- Axe Point area -- had high concentrations of PCB. We never did get that second assessment. We were informed by the department that it might have been a problem with the study itself. They had to have people go back in and redo the study. I don't believe that has ever been done, and I think that has to be picked up.

The other issue I wanted to raise and ask the Minister a question on is regarding the new Business Development Investment Corporation. The announcement was out that we have a new person heading it up -- Mr. Fred Koe -- however, we're not sure where that new agency or organization or new Business Development Investment Corporation is going to be housed. Is that going to be in Yellowknife again, or is that going to be in Inuvik, or is that going to be in Hay River? I'm assuming we're going to see it in one of those three places. We, as a small non-tax-based community, have pushed to devolve some of the resources into the communities, and we'll never have a healthy economy in our communities if we can't devolve any of the government projects and programs and departments into the smaller communities. I know, Mr. Chairman, you have been raising the issue about maybe Fort Rae would be a good place; maybe Fort Providence or Fort McPherson or Fort Simpson. I think there has to be consideration and open discussion, and not just direct, behind-the-scenes negotiations and then surprise, surprise, we find out where it's going without the rest of us having any input.

I also wanted to raise that this department should be looking at some type of oil and gas monitoring agency. There have been some studies done, especially in the Cameron Hills where there was a fairly intensive document put together that covered a lot of different concerns and different problems. I think we need to continue that. I know the diamond sector had a diamond monitoring agency. I don't see why we can't create another one. I am continually frustrated by the fact that this government throws up their hands and says we can't do anything when it comes to oil and gas. Well, maybe we can't, and maybe that's not within our jurisdiction. But at least we can document and track and monitor this stuff. There are continually concerns brought to my attention from my riding, and I don't believe we're doing enough.

I'm also concerned to see that in the budget there is no renewal of dollars for industry assistance or for funding of the Northern Accord. It's something that maybe we've lost sight of. I know for years that we've been funding those initiatives, and all of a sudden it's dropped right off the radar screen and I don't know what is there to replace it.

I also wanted to mention that I haven't been getting a very favourable response to my inquiries for a freight subsidy for the Kakisa fishermen. I know this government is certainly not willing to share any of the dollars that they've committed to the Hay River Great Slave Lake fishermen, and it should be. We need to haul our fish out of Kakisa. It's a fairly long drive. It's a lot further than any other community has to travel, and that's the same with Tahtlina Lake. That's something we should be looking at helping them out with. We want to help that community stay as a viable community. There is not a lot of other employment in that community, and commercial fishing has been the biggest job creator in that area since the 1950s.

I'm also hoping that we're going to see a continuation of bison control or surveillance flights in and around the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary of the Mackenzie bison herd. I didn't see the dollars there. But disease and those types of things we have to continue to watch. We have to really be concerned that the Mackenzie herd doesn't cross the river, and we've seen that happen on a number of occasions, and I think mixed up with the herd around the Wood Buffalo Park or Hook Lake.

That leads me to another question. Where are we going with the Hook Lake herd? What are our plans? Are we going to release them, and where are we going to release them if we are going to release them, and when?

One final point I wanted to make, Mr. Chairman, is I want to encourage that this department continue to play a role when it comes to interim resource management. We have a number of communities that are utilizing those funds to deal with the resource pressures. If you really take a good look at their budgets, this is the only funding that they have. A lot of the band councils depend on it, a lot of the Metis councils depend on it, and the hamlet councils have to utilize that funding to participate in any meetings or research or expertise that they may require. So it's a real important pot of dollars and I certainly don't want to see it go by the wayside. I think I've asked a number of questions, Mr. Chairman, and I'll just stop there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wasn't planning on spending a lot of time on the Arctic Canada Trading Corporation issue, because I have a number of other issues that I want to address with the Minister under general comments. But the answers that the Minister is giving are creating a need for me to keep on pursuing this.

First of all, I take offence to any inference here that any members care more about what's going on in small communities than other places. I have stated on many occasions when I have talked about this issue either in the committee, with the Minister or with retailers, for that matter. I believe that there is a need for the government to play a role in terms of being a supplier of arts and crafts that are being created in the communities. I believe that that is a role that a company like this corporation has to play. I would say that it's a role that this government has not been fulfilling very well, and I don't know the detailed reasons of that. I could tell you that in my visits to local arts and crafts stores, they'll tell you they're dying for supplies. They're able and willing to sell more. They have lots to sell. They have aurora visitors in their stores, and if they could have security of supply of 100 of this and 1000 of that, they could sell that. They don't believe that the government or this corporation is doing enough to address that.

So I think that I'll be the one who would agree with the Minister, that that is a role that this corporation has to play. Instead, the Minister is somehow suggesting that I have my eyes blindfolded and I can't see the good work that this corporation is doing. I'm saying I agree with you, but it's not being done enough. Instead what this corporation is doing is getting into the retail market in a place like Yellowknife. They could do it where the retail marketers are not as prosperous or not as numerous as Yellowknife. For a corporation that's funded by the government with a very specific mandate to help local artisans to be faxing a promotional flyer at Christmastime saying at 15 percent discount you could get these goods, and to say that that's not retailing... I don't know who's being fooled here. Anybody with Economics 101 could understand that's retailing and that's interfering with the market, and that is not a role for this corporation to play. I thought that we addressed this issue and that the Minister had agreed with the problem. The last commitment that I thought I had was that this would be conveyed to the board, and that they would look at this issue and come back to it.

First of all, I needed to make that clear. I've said over and over again, Fort McPherson Canvas Shop or any other communities; any artist there who knows how to create products and needs help to get their products to the market like Yellowknife or to the South or anywhere, the government has to step in and do it. That's the role of this corporation. Their role is not to interfere with companies and retail businesses that are operating in Yellowknife. They should be there to help these people and those businesses get those products that are being produced. So I have to ask the Minister again why is it that this policy cannot be visited and revisited and amended if necessary to make it clear that the role of this corporation is to be the bridge between the artisans who make those artifacts and the businesses that sell them? It is not their business to engage in retail selling. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There have been at least a couple of correspondences, that I'm aware of, from the board on this matter. I would suggest that it's not that much more difficult for the board or the Minister to draft another letter to the retailers, stating that they're looking for a member to sit on this board. It seems to me, from what I hear out there and what I'm hearing here, there's definitely a communication breakdown. I don't think it's asking a lot for somebody to pick up a pen and write a letter saying this is what we've done, and we're looking for a spot to fill and is anybody interested in engaging in it. Rather than the Minister coming here and saying we've asked for it and nobody is coming forward and there's nothing I can do about that. So I think there's enough said there.

I want to use the rest of my time here to ask another question with respect to the work of this corporation. It's in regard to a marketing contract that this corporation has to market goods coming out of the NWT. I understand that the corporation has contracts to distribute and sell fur products to southern markets. I would like to know if the Minister could indicate what contracts the corporation has signed on behalf of the government, and with whom, to market fur products in and out of the NWT. Thank you.