Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is that a multi-year agreement or is that something that is done on an annual basis, Mr. Chairman?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's a single year agreement. We've pushed the federal government a long time, many years, to try to turn it into a multi-year agreement and to really negotiate with us, but we don't seem to have much luck at pushing that. It's one where it almost gets to be the last day possible. They will finally sign off on a deal with us and we have to really go on trust that we are going to see the money, because we, the department, are advancing the money before we actually get it in through the revenue side. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Anything further, Mr. Braden?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Where in this agreement, then, do the people of the NWT see the benefit or what is delivered to them through the Canada-NWT Cooperation Agreement?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The cooperation agreement is around languages. So some of it is for aboriginal languages and some of it is for the French language services.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

Mr. Chairman, if we don't get this money, we are still going to deliver these programs and find the money elsewhere? Is that basically how we proceed, Mr. Chairman?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. All of our negotiations to date led us to the understanding that the federal government is committed to renewing the agreement. We would like to see it like it was many years ago. It used to be a five-year agreement. We didn't have to negotiate it every year. We would like to be able to negotiate increases. We have instead been stuck with renewals that have happened just at the last minute and for exactly the same amount each year. So we are confident that we won't see any less than what we have seen in previous years, but our goal has been to push the federal government for multi-year agreements and increases.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Not to engage in too much for a side debate here, but what is it then that has caused the federal government to pull back to such a short-term start-stop, start-stop process on this particular program? If it's been in place for that long and assuming we have a reasonably good track record of delivery, then I guess I am curious as to whether the Minister knows of any cause or reason that we have to go on such short-term approval for this program, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We don't have much history with the current government, so I am not sure. It will take us a while to get to the point where I can say what their reasoning might be. The previous government had wanted to take a different approach with the funding for aboriginal languages. They said while they were embarking on a study of how the funding for aboriginal languages should be supported across Canada, they wanted short-term renewals. Then when the report came out on that, the report that came out recommended a totally different approach, one that we didn't agree with because it recommended funding through an agency rather than government-to-government funding. We are insisting on it being a government-to-government approach, because we think the other way would put the funding at risk or at more risk of not being renewed. We think we have a better chance of seeing the funding flow to us if we keep it government to government.

So at this point, we are still confident that all our negotiations are positive on us being able to renew at this amount, but we are still not seeing any indication that there is a willingness to move to a five-year term again with increasing amounts throughout the term of that agreement.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One more question. Counting on this agreement being negotiated and coming through, should we expect, then, that this year's allocation would be handled through a supplementary appropriation later on in the fiscal year, Mr. Chairman?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It would be our hope that we will see this in Supp, No. 1 in the new year.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Thank you, committee. We are on page 8-10, information item, revenue summary. Agreed?

Questions? Thank you. Page 8-13, activity summary, directorate and administration, operations expenditure summary, $6.826 million.

Thank you. Page 8-17, activity summary, education and culture, operations expenditure summary, $170.160 million. Ms. Lee.