Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think in terms of the people that we see coming into the correctional system so far, while drugs are becoming more and more of a problem, still the majority of substance-related issues relate to alcohol. So we still have an ongoing problem with alcohol. There's a considerable amount of programming within the facilities that is aimed at helping people learn to deal with their addictions and we are quite supportive of that kind of programming continuing. In terms of prevention, we do encourage the RCMP to ensure that they are working in communities as much as possible; public relations efforts and so on to deal with, as I said on Friday, putting a human face on the force, but also talking about making productive choices or making the right choices, which is
certainly something that is supported through our education program.
As the Member knows, we've been working to increase the numbers of positions in the Northwest Territories to respond to the RCMP's request and we are hoping to, by next year, completely respond to what they have requested. I'm sure it will then lead to them examining their staffing levels and we'll be talking about where we go from that point. I certainly heard from Members around this table that there's an issue about looking at the smaller communities that don't have officers. When we talk about drugs, one of the communities that doesn't is Tsiigehtchic and it's right on the highway and a lot of the drugs that are coming in are on the highway. So certainly some of the concerns that are raised we are going to have to take a look at and try and assess how we deal with them.
In terms of the Audit Bureau report that the Member spoke about, I guess we're in a situation where maybe we'll have to disagree about what the report says. I look at it and see that it says that had we laid 5.5 people off, we would have achieved the $400,000 savings, but because the department chose to take a more humane approach, they may have miscalculated on the numbers of casuals in use and, therefore, in the first year won't likely save that amount of money. But the report does say that quite clearly. Had we laid the people off, that that savings would have been made and it says as the staff reductions go through, that the level of savings will increase to half-a-million dollars annually. So that's, again, something that in the grand scheme of things, when you look at the overall government budget, is that a huge amount of money? No, it's not, but it also would translate into, say, four RCMP officers. So if we're going to make these choices about where to spend money, I think we have to take a look at that sort of thing too. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.