Thanks, Mr. Chair. The expenditure category there, there is a significant reduction for travel, and I think the Minister may have explained that in terms of reduced fuel costs and so on. Is that the case for the reduction there? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

I am going to have to apologize to Mr. O'Reilly. I didn't quite hear the question. I apologize for that.

Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.

Mr. Chair. Is a reduction in the travel line below? I think the Minister talked about a reduced fuel expenditure. Is that the explanation for the reduced travel there? I guess what I am asking is, I want to make sure that our staff have the ability to travel to do the work to properly manage and inspect the lands that we have inherited. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the fuel shows up under utilities, just below travel. There was a restricted base funding for inspection response to be filled was a $250,000 that the Member would have noted under travel. We still have a fairly healthy budget. I think there is not much happening out there on the water side of it. So inspection requirements may not be as high as they are, but we still have folks out on inspection. I think we have 28 total across the Department of Lands and all the regions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.

That is all the questions I have. Thank you.

Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I had one question I didn't ask. With the affected employees, were any of those positions, are they federal transfers, or were they existing GNWT employees when they started out? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.

I don't have that level of detail right now, but I will provide it to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Would the Minister like to respond?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we actually have some from the GNWT that were affected. Also some of the federal employees were affected as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I thank the Minister for that answer. Just clarifying some rumours out there. It is better to get information on the floor, so people are aware of it. I thank the Minister, and I have no further questions at this time.

Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Vanthuyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just one, kind of, general question relative to this area: during the business planning review, the committee of economic development and environment made the suggestion at the time that the department take meaningful steps to harmonize the Commissioner's Land and Territorial Lands Act. I wonder if the Minister can comment with regard to the department's intention on giving that consideration. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as I said before that, where possible, we will make some amendments that might need to be made right away. I think the overall amalgamation of the two acts is going to be a very large piece of work. We will be more than happy to provide committee an update. As I committed to Member Beaulieu, we would be more than happy to give committee an update with all the work that we have going on, including an update on the Commissioner and Territorial Lands Act. It is going to be a huge undertaking.

What we would like to do is try to get some amendments in there to help us as we go forward, with the understanding that eventually we are going to amalgamate the two Acts. As I said before, the preliminary work might start during the life of this Assembly, but I think it is going to be a future Assembly that is probably going to take on the bulk of the work, because it will be a huge piece of legislation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Seeing nothing further, do I have further comments on questions on page 305? Seeing none, I will call the page. Lands, operations, operations expenditure summary, activity total: $11,282,000. Agreed?