Thank you, Mr. Chair. On the larger ones, my assessment is that, probably, the one that we are making the most progress on is the Akaitcho. The NWT Metis Nation have put their negotiations on hold for the next couple of months until the new fiscal year. The Dehcho have determined that, instead of focusing on the land and resource development side, they are going to focus on self-government. Acho Dene Koe have a new negotiating team and advisors, and they are revisiting their negotiated-since mandates.

I think that we still can expect a lot of success in self-government agreements. Up and down the valley, the Sahtu community self-government negotiations are going well. The Gwich'in are back to the table with Nihtat Gwich'in and the GTC of Fort McPherson, Tsiigehtchic, and Aklavik, and I think that we will continue to make progress in those areas. To the south, the Dehcho First Nations are looking at treaty land, I believe. So that's sort of a cross section of where we're at with all these different tables. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The $250,000 that was in my opening remarks, I was referring to contracted facilitators. One of the actions that I took in partnership with the federal Minister of CIRNA, where we hired two ministerial special representatives, one of the recommendations was that the government should take much more of a leadership role in facilitating discussions on self-government implementation. That is what this money is for, so that we can try to help facilitate these discussions to advance the finalization of self-government agreements. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Not that we are aware of, Mr. Chair. My understanding is that money is a constant issue in negotiations, and everybody could always use more money, I am sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We certainly work closely with the NWT Metis Nation. In addition to being one of the tripartite negotiators, we have committed to support the NWT Metis Nation in their efforts to get increased funding, not only for their land claim, but also their cost of negotiations.

I wouldn't say that we have given them advice, but we have talked to them about the size of negotiating teams. Obviously, the NWT Metis Nation will make their own decisions on what is most effective for them in their negotiations. We recognize that the federal government has made different promises, and one of the things that they are tightening up on is the cost of negotiations, even though they have made statements in the public that they are covering the costs of negotiations, and in some cases, they will reimburse them. I guess that is a long answer to your question. We are supportive, but, at the end of the day, it is a decision made by the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes. Generally, the overages have been picked up by the departments which, in some cases, could possibly impact on delivering programs and services. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. These are costs that we have been trying to carry for the past three years, and every year we have exceeded the appropriation by an average of $344,000. We expect this to continue, if not increase, hence the addition to the main estimates. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

That is correct, as well as government promotions in different sectors. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Over the past three years, there has been a significant increase in ministerial travel, primarily because of the fact that the current federal government operates a lot more out of Ottawa than the previous government. Our Ministers have to travel a lot more to Ottawa to meet with their counterparts and to advance our Federal Engagement Strategy and to promote the priorities of the Government of the Northwest Territories. As well, we have committed to increase public engagement, be it Cabinet meetings in regional centres and so on. That is the reason for the increase. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess we could look at it from a couple of angles. One is that, if the workload supports the fact that we need full-time positions, then we are prepared to look at it. Secondly, a lot of the service workers are only working half-time because that is their preference. A lot of them would prefer to stay at half-time, because, in some cases, if we change it, then we will probably have to find other people who are willing to work full-time. Certainly, though, we are prepared to look at it if the workload warrants it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.