Mr. Chairman, as I said earlier, the $100,000 for the negotiator for devolution, the government went out and had a look at who could perform this task for us and also be able to negotiate toe to toe with people like David Pederson, a former Premier of Ontario and a lawyer in Toronto. The government at the time would have approached a number of people. They identified one individual, a person who had been a deputy minister here for a number of years, who worked in the BC government, had good credentials, and after looking around, found that he most met our needs. As I recall, I wasn't in this department, but I recall meeting with him before he accepted the contract, and we felt he could deliver for us.

The other position for $50,000 is again a task where we needed someone who was very familiar with the inner workings of DIAND and the northern affairs program, in particular. After looking around, that arrangement was made with Hiram Beaubier who had retired as the director of the northern affairs program in the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs. He was retired and no longer had ties to the department, but certainly knew it very well. So there was no tender, it was a matter of going and finding the right person who could deliver on the expertise that was needed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.