Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just have a question under contract services for $1.3 million next year. Could I just get a breakdown on that, please?

Mr. Chairman, if you'd just bear with me, we'll get that breakdown. Mr. Chairman, effectively what we've done is moved some of the money out of materials and supplies and purchased services and put it in the contracted services. It was for the production of our certificates related to diamonds. So not a large growth; more a moving of budgets, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Ms. Lee.

Thank you. That might speak to the increase between 1.1 to 1.3, but what I wanted to know is the breakdown of $1.3 million in terms of where that contract services will be disbursed to. What kind of contract services does the department obtain under this program?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Chairman, generally the bulk I think of the contracted money goes to the geoscience area, our work with the Geoscience Centre. We also have contracts related to diamonds; we have contracts related to pipelines. So if you want specific breakdown by dollars, we can provide that for you, but I can't do it here tonight. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Ms. Lee.

Perhaps not the exact dollar figure, but could I get more information from the Minister as to what kind of work is being contracted? Is this all consulting working, or is it training, or what is the objective under this program for $1.3 million?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Chairman, as an example, if you look in the geoscience area we would spend a lot of that contract money on helicopter time as people go out to do some of the survey work that we conduct primarily in the summer, Mr. Chairman. So that would be a contracted service that we would go out for.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Ms. Lee.

So would that geoscience work, for example, makes up 50 percent of the budget, 60 percent of the budget? Could I just get a breakdown on what we're looking at in terms of how that money is spent?

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Chairman, of the 1.3, over one goes to geoscience, so it would be contracts related to the science. We have a joint office with the federal government, as Members know, and we conduct a lot of research which provides the public information necessary to incent future exploration and development. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Ms. Lee.

Thank you. That's fine.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Next I have Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Chair, the geoscience office has these contractors that work in the different regions. Could I ask the Minister if he would consider looking with his federal counterpart in terms of the amount of employment that could be available to beneficiaries from that region in terms of the work that could be done by some of our post-graduate students from the universities, or the high school grade students, kids, young adults who are finishing Grade 12 and may want to be introduced the world of geoscience when these agreements are taking place and that has an impact in our region? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Chairman, it's always our aim and our goal to try to maximize local participation when we're going out to contract this work. I know that we work very much with our regional people and I think the Member referred earlier, in his opening comments, to the strength we have and the strength of our people at the region. I appreciate the comment, and I think that's something we've invested a lot of time in, is working with this department to develop that local capacity, that regional capacity. We go out for these contracts. Local participation is important, but we are looking for, oftentimes, geologists, geoscientists, sometimes it's very specialized, sometimes it's expertise we have to go south for. But we're looking to use local contractors as much as possible. We're talking about helicopters, we're talking about fixed-wing charters, Mr. Chairman, so there is other work related to that. We are trying to pull in, as much as possible, northern intern students, where possible, and we will continue to try to maximize that. I appreciate the Member's support. I know that he's been very active in this and in trying to make the case that in the Sahtu we need to do whatever we can to make sure we're using Sahtu companies and then looking to involving Sahtu students in this work for the summer. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the point I'm hoping I could convey to the Minister is that some of these interns that do come in, even for northern interns, I think we looked at some of these interns that some of these students from the Northwest Territories I believe that some of them from the South last year from some of the universities and schools who are specializing in geology, specializing in picking up different kinds of rocks and identifying them, and they're in our area. I'm not too sure what type of arrangements the geoscience centres have with the GNWT and the federal government work with post-secondary institutions to promote these students through their degrees of geology or geophysics. I guess what I'm asking is that enough concentrated effort be given to some of our students who are in Grade 12 who are finishing school who may have an interest in the whole world of geoscience. It could be mapping, it could be rock collection, it could be analyzing the rock collection or a whole variety of work that could be looked at. That's what I'm asking, Mr. Chair, in terms of this work being done in the North. It's very important work, even traditional knowledge in this area here in the geoscience. It needs to be happening in terms of traditional knowledge into the mountains or the areas they work on. So I would appreciate it if the Minister would look at this and give it some thought and see how they could work out something that would involve people in the Northwest Territories, and from my example, my region involved in this work. I appreciate that, because the companies certainly look forward to this type of work by local companies that have either 100 percent or 51 percent ownership on joint ventures with fixed-wing or heliport or camping. I know that's an issue that at least our land claim organizations really work hard to ensure when they come into our regions. So I want to ask the Minister on this one here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.