Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, could the Minister tell me...I think I heard him say that he feels all the other loan guarantees are pretty secure. Is the Minister fairly confident that all the other loans are on good standing and there is no danger of them having to be called on for these loan guarantees? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The last check we've done, we feel we're still secure. One of the reasons that we end up holding these guarantees is because it is considered a new industry in the Northwest Territories and the banks themselves are nervous to go in and loan without the backup of our government when these companies go forward. So we've done what we feel we can with due diligence and ensuring that we're protected, but there is risk attached to that and we see the result of one of those occurrences where we've had to make an agreement to receive the principal back but forego the interest. The option is there if we wanted to absolutely go after the assets or the receivables or the inventory. That option is there. That's part of the guarantee in this case. The government had decided that this course was the best one to go on. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There were a couple of others areas I was going to ask questions on, but it's been brought up and it's addressed in our committee report as well, especially in information technology and projects. We always see increases in there. On the $294,000 reduction due to winding down of equal pay settlements, if it's winding down are we done with equal pay settlements or is that still an ongoing issue?

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Right now, we are continuing in the winding-down portion of the category we are working on. There are individuals who worked as casuals for the government and we are still trying to track down some of those individuals who haven't been found that were past employees of the government. We are hoping to have that concluded by the end of this upcoming fiscal year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just one final comment on the reduction of $926,000 for the transfer to the NWT Housing Corporation. Is there an offsetting amount? Is there anything that shows up in the Housing Corporation's budget that ties into this figure? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As indicated, that is a transfer to the Housing Corporation. So that amount will show up in the Housing Corporation envelope as they take on the last part of that program that used to exist. So you will see that exact amount show up in the Housing Corporation budget.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to speak to the way the trend is going in the Sahtu region. In the Minister's opening remarks, we see the funding of staffing of 103 in headquarters, presumably Yellowknife, and 27 in the regions. I would like to ask the Minister about the reallocations. The Sahtu is in the Inuvik region but slowly, with the creation of the Sahtu health board and some other things coming in, we are becoming a region ourselves. There are many government departments in the Sahtu. I think it would be very effective if the presence of the Financial Management Board was in the Sahtu with all the different departments in our region. Maybe the Minister can reallocate a position to the Sahtu under the FMBS. Mr. Chairman, I want to ask that question to the Minister for him to consider this in the future, to reallocate a position from FMBS to the Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we monitor all the regions for the amount of work required and the commitment required to maintain the level of service that's provided. Once again, as other Members have stated, part of what we need to do as a government is to make sure we operate effectively and efficiently through the delivery of programs and being that we deal internally with other departments, it's very much a centralized function around payroll and the financial end of things. So there is not a lot of opportunity. Right now out of the Sahtu, much of their services from all the departments are still handled through the FMBS office in Inuvik, but we are, annually, looking at the requirements placed on the staff. We look at when there might be a need to re-jig the lines or move some positions around. That would be considered. It's an ongoing process and right now that's not scheduled in this budget cycle.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the re-jigging the Minister has to do on an annual basis. Looking at the situation in the Sahtu, I think that the Sahtu is large enough and needs to be seriously considered as almost a stand-alone region. We've always been under the arm of the Inuvik region and the Inuvik region is a big region. It's almost 14 communities and sometimes we don't feel in the Sahtu that we receive the quality of service that we deserve. That's why we ask in the Sahtu that we have a stand-alone region. The creation of the Sahtu health board is one step to that process.

With the priority and the level of the Financial Management Board, this government needs to consider having an office in the Sahtu to work with us. That's a comment to the Minister and his staff in light of what may happen in the next few years or further down the road, we would like to have a region and like to not be governed or taken care of in the Inuvik region which is in Inuvik. I think that's something I am going to keep questioning this government on and this Minister and ask if he would give that some consideration down the road. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, as I stated earlier, we continue to monitor the workload and requirements in each of the regions. When that is increased to a sufficient amount, we would look at transfer of positions to ensure that we continue to meet that demand placed on the Financial Management Board Secretariat. As well, in this area, we should make the point that as the Sahtu is developing, a lot of that is a result of the self-government discussions that are ongoing right now in the Beaufort-Delta. The government has been proactive in the sense of preparing the Sahtu after self-government discussions are completed and the fact that they do move ahead in the Delta region.

One of the things as well is we stated that the federal government needs to be included in this thing for capacity building, but you can say in a roundabout way we are taking on that burden right now by establishing the health board and by moving more departments and setting them up. As the workload increases, we are monitoring that. When that workload becomes a high enough amount, we will look at establishing a position or two in that region. Again, it's trying to be effective and efficient. In delivering what dollars we have available, we have to be very careful to ensure we meet those priorities that we set as a government. As well, we need to continue to work with the federal government to have them come up with some of those capacity dollars that we can prepare these regions for further development. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Encouraging words from the Minister. That's the point that I also wanted to talk about, is preparing the Sahtu region in terms of becoming a sustainable region. I know the federal government is a key component to helping us out here. If there's any mechanism or way that we can work closely with this department and the Sahtu people and put pressure on the federal government in terms of owning up to their obligations in terms of the land claims and self-government agreements and the ability to have the Sahtu region become a stand-alone region, I know it's going to come in time, but it's encouraging to hear from the Minister. I just wanted to make those comments, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Would you like to respond, Mr. Minister?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd just like to thank the Member for bringing his concerns to us and I look forward to working with him and providing a level of service that's adequate to the residents in his jurisdiction, as well as being effective as a government on how we spend those dollars on behalf of the people. We'll continue to monitor and work with the federal government, as well as with our own partners here in the Northwest Territories. If we can work together, I'm sure we can build a solid case going forward to try and have the idea of capacity on those issues dealt with by the federal government. Thank you.