Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Chairman, the Minister stated what might have held up some of the legislation. Has that been cleared up now? The instructions for drafting the legislation, are they proceeding now? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am not sure that this is the right area in the book to bring this up, but I would like to touch a bit on manufacturing and it talks in here about diamond manufacturing. I would like to touch a bit on manufacturing as a whole in the NWT. I know in the Minister's opening comments that he referred to a manufacturing and advisory panel that's working on making a strategy for the NWT for growth in this important sector.

The area that I represent, Mr. Chairman, is indeed very interested in manufacturing and one that we are quite involved in. Manufacturing over the years has been a growth industry in the area I represent in Hay River. For awhile, it was growing at a considerable pace. I would say that there hasn't been a lot of growth in the last few years, and definitely I wouldn't want to say that that is entirely the government's fault but, at the same time, we do know that without government support and government interest in the area, it is slow in growing.

Wherever the government throws its efforts and its priorities, it makes a distinct difference and we see results fairly quickly. I would like to ask the Minister to expand a little bit on this advisory panel that he says has submitted a report. In his opening comments, he says the advisory panel has submitted a report. I would like to get more information on this advisory panel's report and this advisory panel, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister mentions the NWT Construction Association or the manufacturing association, but I would like to know who the members were on this panel, if I could. Were they just the presidents of these associations or how broad an area of the NWT did this panel cover? How many members were on the panel? I would like to have more clarification on that.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in preparing this report, did this panel go around and encourage input from people or companies that are involved in manufacturing across the North, or was it a situation where if you are not a member of the NWT Construction Association or the NWT Manufacturers' Association, were different companies involved in manufacturing across the NWT contacted and given the opportunity to have input into this report? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, one doesn't have to look very far through the Department of RWED when we are looking at dollars that have been expended to promote a certain industry, whether it's the diamond industry, the oil and gas industry, as I said before, any industry that the government takes an interesting promoting and building. We often see huge dollars expended, even in strategies that we want to put out. A good example of that, Mr. Chairman, is the amount of money that was allocated from this government towards an energy strategy. I don't know, I guess it's still up in the air to decide whether we are going to get a good bang for our dollars in looking at an energy strategy, but manufacturing is an area that has proven to be a viable industry, one that has potential for huge growth and one that could be alive and well and growing in the Territories. I would like to know how much money is this government putting towards trying to promote manufacturing in the NWT? How much money is there? I don't see any dollars attached to this.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was wondering, now that the report is in and the Minister is saying there will be opportunity for further input from different groups, I guess there are a number of questions that come to mind as to how aggressively we are pursing this. Is there a panel, a committee, a group that are dedicated strictly to looking at manufacturing and what can be done to promote the growth? Is this a paid panel or are they just a group of deputy ministers and a few representatives from different associations forming some panel to look at it when they have time or are we truly having a dedicated effort here by certain individuals fully dedicated to this? Do we have the resources identified to really go after this industry and how are we going to go about ensuring that different sectors have input into this strategy? Are we going to make sure we touch base with every company or every business that's involved or interested in manufacturing? Certainly we should know which companies are in the manufacturing business, if they have the capabilities or are interested in growth in that area. Are we going to be making a concerted effort to make sure we give these companies and groups full access and full participation in promoting a strategy that's going to really be profitable as far as growth in the country? I would hope that we would, but I would like to have the Minister comment on that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.