Yes, certainly, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I should correct myself. I said $46,000, it is $46,000 a month that this problem is costing. As I understand it, the accumulated cost now, due to that problem and other problems, is in the order of $160,000. Mr. Speaker, I can only repeat what I have told the Member. It is a priority to find a solution. We are not going to stand by and see the hamlet bankrupted by this problem, and one way or another I can assure the honourable Member that I am committed to finding a solution, and certainly before the end of this month is a reasonable deadline which I can accept. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the ground water outflow problem has cost the hamlet about $46,000, I understand. It comes from two consumers which are the responsibility of Government of the Northwest Territories departments or agencies. I can tell the honourable Member that my department feels that the sources of that ground water, namely those two institutional buildings, should take responsibility for those costs. My department, and my deputy minister, is working actively with his peers responsible in those areas for recovering those costs to assist the hamlet. As of today, I have no cheque to offer the Member or the hamlet, but I can assure him that I am aware that the hamlet is facing cash flow problems and I have conveyed the urgency to my deputy. Thank you.

Yes, I will make that commitment, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am not yet well enough briefed on the issues surrounding the Workers' Compensation Board to make a commitment like that today. I would ask the honourable Member to give me the opportunity, which I have not yet really had, partly because of my own schedule and the schedule of the chairman and other key people involved with the Workers' Compensation Board, to sit down and get myself briefed. Mr. Speaker, in doing that briefing I would want to find out where most claims and most business affecting the Workers' Compensation Board originates. I am told that because of medical facilities and because of the proximity of mines and other industrial activities in this region, that that is some justification for the present location of the board. However, I do not want to indicate that I have made up my mind on the question. I would like the chance to review it; to sit down with present members of the WCB and to look very carefully at that important issue before I say here today whether I am going to commit to a decentralization plan or not. I would like the Member to give me a little more time.

I would not dare say yes to that question, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, one name has been put forward to me, but I am also awaiting other suggestions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the process leading up to this announcement where I had consulted with industry and labour, I had asked them to think about names. I still have not met with them to get their

response. So at the moment there is no definite word on who would take that position. I am open to suggestions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The reason I am a bit vague on this at this point is because I have not yet ascertained whether industry and labour might be willing to contribute to this important process by contributing the cost of their representatives participating on this committee. If that happens, then the cost to government will be confined to supporting a chairperson who is knowledgeable in mining.

I also believe that if we do it properly, consultation with industry and labour will be done by the Chamber of Mines and the Alliance of Mine Workers, recently formed. So it will not be necessary to have, at least initially, an expensive public hearing type of process.

To answer the Member's question, I would estimate that we will need to retain the services of an expert in mining for a period of up to a year, but I am not sure we will have significant other costs. Those costs I am not prepared to guess at the moment, but consultants in the field can probably cost, if they are expert and credible, at least $500 a day.