Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Minister for that, but I just think, and I know the Minister spoke of the fact that the Northwest Territories has a small population and you can't deny that, but I think what we have to look at is the number of students that leave the Northwest Territories each and every year to attend universities in southern Canada. I was one of them. I had to go all the way to New Brunswick to get my degree. If there was an option here in the Northwest Territories, I'm sure I would have thought twice about that and stayed closer to home. I think with what's going on in the Northwest Territories today, Mr. Chairman, we should be looking at this. You know we could be a centre for excellence in climate change. Obviously our political landscape is ever-changing and there's going to be much happening here in the foreseeable future in terms of political development. There's that and I think also that it may end up costing SFA and the department less if students stayed closer to home. So I think, and the Minister mentioned it too, there's potential money from the federal government. You know, we should be looking at every possible angle to keep our children and our youth here close to home and if they can go to school here in the Northwest Territories, it makes more sense to me than sending them out.

Mr. Chairman, when we send out our youth, they're the leaders of tomorrow, we send them out; oftentimes some of them don't come back. So I think it's even doubly important that we keep them close to home. We can attract people here. They have a university in Fairbanks. They attract students from all over the continental United States. There's no reason if we had a university here in Yellowknife that we couldn't attract students from southern Canada that would want to come north and experience Yellowknife and the Northwest Territories and get their degree in the Northwest Territories. So I think it's important that as a vision looking forward I think we keep our eye on possibilities. I thank the Minister for that, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As I said, I have looked at the idea of a university. I don't see us having a stand-alone one in the Northwest Territories, but I think there might be a way for us to get a university that really focuses on research and northern research if we can get the other two territories to come along with us. What would really help is, like Alaska, they can support a university because they have ownership of their oil and gas. So we really need to make sure that we get ownership of our resources as well in order to make that kind of great investment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the Minister is 100 percent correct in industry, and certainly given what the potential is here for oil and gas development and a pipeline I think industry plays a key part in the development and the maintenance of a stand-alone facility. I think they're obvious partners in any development in that regard. Again, I just wanted to say thanks to the Minister for that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Next I have Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On page 8-29 I'd like to ask a little bit more detail on the contributions we make toward training in oil and gas; $763,000 is booked. The Minister has given us some very positive information here that our contribution has, along with federal money and private sector, amounted to a total of $9.9 million in investment in the ASEP program. So could the Minister describe again or fill us in what does ASEP stand for, what is the timeline for this program, and could the Minister provide that if this is a three-way partnership, federal, territorial and private sector, who or which sectors are contributing what levels of funding? Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The ASEP program is one where the largest funding partner in it is the federal government and we have two in the Northwest Territories, one for $14.8 million around mine training, the other for $9.9 million around oil and gas. It also involves the aboriginal governments bringing their ARDA funding to the table and other funds that they may be able to access, GNWT money and industry money. The program is, we think, very successful. Right now the oil and gas one is scheduled to sunset in March of 2008. That is something that I've mentioned to my federal colleague as something that we need to take a look at renewing. I believe that it's a good enough success story that there is something the federal government would want to hold up as an example of how to invest in training. So I started to make that argument when I had the opportunity. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. He wanted to know what the acronym was, ASEP. Mr. Dent.

I'm sorry, Mr. Chairman. It's an abbreviation for Aboriginal Skills Employment Partnership.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Braden.

Thank you. The Minister mentioned $9.9 million. Is that an annual value, or over what period of time has this partnership been in place, Mr. Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I believe that the oil and gas agreement is going to take place over three years.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Braden.

Mr. Chairman, one of the things that we noticed in looking over the terms and conditions in the socio-economic agreement that was signed for the Mackenzie Valley pipeline is that we've committed to put in half a million a year and the proponents are putting in half a million a year for 10 years for training programs in I'm assuming specifically related to the natural gas industry. Now, is that commitment, assuming that we do get ASEP up and running again for another few years, is the SEA agreement for $1 million a year for 10 years going to be on top of this, or is it going to be linked? Does the Minister have any sense of that, Mr. Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It will be up to the will of the government-of-the-day. It could be on top of the money that is currently in the budget for training or it could replace the money that's in the budget for training. That stipulation was not made as part of the agreement. So legislative assemblies to come will get to make that choice.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One more question on another aspect of this. In the information on this page, it tells us that this current year we spent $510,000 to support the replacement of equipment for Aurora College's Heavy Equipment Operator Program. Mr. Chairman, I understand there are quite a number of people who are interested or lined up or signed up to take the Heavy Equipment Operator course at, I believe this is provided at Thebacha college. In fact, I understand it may be in the neighbourhood of five or six dozen who are looking to get into that program. So I was curious, Mr. Chairman, to see is the Heavy Equipment Operator Training Program fully subscribed. Have we got all the seats filled there? If we're enjoying a line up, that's a good thing, but I'm also wondering, Mr. Chairman, to what extent equipment is an issue. Are we able to keep up with current equipment and technology and subsequently, of course, the training of our students at Thebacha, Mr. Chairman?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm afraid I don't have the numbers here with me to say whether or not the Heavy Equipment Operator Program is always fully subscribed. I could endeavour to get the enrolment over the past couple of years and get that information to the Member so that he can have an understanding of what the enrolment has been. In terms of equipment, the college was, for quite some time, pressing us for funding to replace their equipment and it took us a long time to get this $500,000 into the budget. I have no doubt that if you were to ask them, they would say they could use that much again, if not more right now to replace other equipment, but apparently this money was used to purchase I believe three pieces of equipment and I expect that they will come forward with further requests as we get closer to the next business plan process.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Braden.