Thank you, Minister. Anything further, Mr. O'Reilly?

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. I have no one further on my list so we can proceed to the next page, page 242. Economic diversification and business support, active positions. Comments? Questions? Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. There's a reduction in two positions here and can the Minister or staff tell us whether those are vacant positions and what they are and so on? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. There was internal reallocation of one position from MPR to MPI, and there's one reduction in an economic development officer position. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Yes, thanks Mr. Chair. I'm not sure how to approach this because I've asked, and now this will be third time I've asked for information to be compiled about staffing changes that are presented in the Budget and we still don't have it. We've just finished the Housing Corp. In any event, I've asked twice now different Ministers, the Finance Minister, the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, if we could get this information consolidated. I believe it's impeding my ability as an MLA to be able to review the budget.

I asked over 10 days ago now, I believe, for this information, I still don't have it, and I don't understand what the problem is in producing it. Now that I've got the Premier here I'll ask if they can undertake to provide this information to us to help us review the budget department by department? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess it is the first I heard of it. If the committee wants information in that fashion, we will endeavour to do so. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. I have raised this twice now. This is the third time. I would really appreciate having the information as soon as possible to help us review departmental budgets. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thanks Mr. O'Reilly. Any additions to that? Mr. Minister.

No, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Additional questions on page 242? Seeing none, we shall move on to 244. Go back. 239. Industry, Tourism and Investment, economic diversification and business support, operations expenditure summary. Total activity: $21,087,000. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. On this page, program detail, it says other program costs, there are $17 million in there. I think I understand what it is, but it would be much more helpful if that could be split out in some way. We are talking about economic diversification and business support. To have $17 million sort of lumped together is not really very helpful for the public or Regular MLAs in understanding how we are actually investing that money. Could I ask the Minister if he and his staff could undertake in the future to provide an actual breakdown here, so we could see what sort of funding is provided to agriculture, arts and crafts, traditional economy, film industry -- some of the things that we see in the contribution side, but presumably there is some program support dollars that go along with the contribution money, unless I am not really understanding things very well? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe that, through the budgeting process, normally we review the process with committee to see how it can be improved on, including the reporting and detail. My understanding is that is available. That is an exercise that is done on an annual basis. My understanding is that this is a template that all departments use. Certainly, if the committee feels that we should break it out into finer detail, we are quite prepared to do so. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Anything further? Mr. O'Reilly.

Yes. Thanks, Mr. Chair. I am asking for a breakdown similar to the description on page 238 where it says, "Specific programs support arts and fine crafts, agriculture, fisheries, trapping and commercial game harvesting." That kind of a breakdown if that is helpful at all. That, I think would be a reasonable thing to look at, rather than a $17 million investment in a whole number of different areas.

But, Mr. Chair, I do have one other question here. It is about the money for the diamond secondary industry. Can the Minister or his staff explain what we are actually getting for the $617,000 that we spend on that? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. The 17 other program costs, that is noted as a request for detail.

We will move on to the upper programs, $617,000 as requested by Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do have a diamond division, I guess if I could call it that, that includes three people that work with the diamond industry promoting value added and also promoting the brands of the diamonds in the Northwest Territories. We are involved with marketing, and we also keep track of the trends in the diamond industry. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The amount of money in this line is decreasing over time. Is that what we can expect in the future as well? I am just not sure what we are getting out of the secondary industry at this point. Thank you, Mr. Chair.