Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Amittuq, that Bill 1, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 1991-92, be read for the second time. The purpose of this bill is to make supplementary appropriations for the Government of the Northwest Territories for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1992. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will get the report and table it again in the House.

Mr. Speaker, we are aware as a government that boards have been putting the block funding that we have been giving them, the lump sum funding, into the bank and drawing interest. I think some of them have been investing it back with us. They have been using the interest on those sums of money to enhance the programs for

the children in the schools. We are aware of that.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, the Auditor General is not pleased with the fact that we deal with public funds in that manner, by giving it out in block, and has recommended that we cease to do that and we do it on a more monthly basis, which, of course, is going to reduce the interest earned on that money by the boards, and consequently they will not have as much money to fund the extra programs that they have been putting on. We are aware of it. We are prepared to sit down with the boards and work it out with them. You have the commitment from myself and the Minister of Education in that regard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

You can see the excitement on my face, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think there is an agreement in place right now, and maybe the boards are not in agreement, but certainly we have tried to reach an accommodation whereby at the end of this fiscal year we do not pay that block funding in three-month chunks. However, Mr. Speaker, we are aware that if we do something of that nature it may cause some harm to programs that boards have been delivering in schools. I think the approach we would like to take is to say, "We cannot be giving you these kinds of moneys in those kinds of amounts. It has to be on a shorter-term basis, but if that is going to leave you short, then please make arguments to us and we will duly look at those arguments." We are going to try to work it out with the boards, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I think I can say on behalf of my department, and I think my colleague's department, that yes, we will work with communities in that regard. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to a question asked by Mr. Pudluk on December 12, 1991, regarding the difficulties in joining Yellowknife's co-operative. The co-op in Yellowknife is a direct charge co-op, while all other co-ops in the Northwest Territories, with the exception of the co-op in Hay River, are consumer co-ops. Consumer co-ops operate like any other store or business with many shareholders. Goods are purchased and resold. Operating costs are covered by store revenue. The prices on goods sold in any consumer co-op are competitive with similar stores. Anyone can shop in the store, but profits from operations are distributed only to the members through dividends.

A direct charge co-op sells only to members. The reason for this is that goods are sold at prices much lower than those set by competitors. The store operates on a break-even basis. Members pay the operating costs of the store through a weekly fee. The owners get their return on investment by paying less for goods. No dividends are paid to members. Any year-end surplus funds are used to reduce the cost of goods to members.

The Yellowknife Co-op has had to restrict membership because the physical plant could not handle the number of people wishing to join. By extending hours and upgrading equipment, the waiting period to get into the co-op has been reduced. I have been informed that people joining the co-op no longer have to wait 18 months. If application was made today, the new member would likely be shopping in the store by February. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to a question asked by Mr. Dent on December 11, 1991, concerning NWT participation at Expo '92, Mr. Speaker. I have reviewed the information provided to me by departmental officials, Mr. Speaker, and the Government of the Northwest Territories is not considering withdrawing from participation in Expo '92.

As I informed the House previously in my answer to Mr. Antoine's question, to date $979,048.30 has been expended or committed for Expo '92. In addition, we have other commitments, both financial and otherwise. We have made job offers to 48 Northerners, the majority of whom are native people from all regions of the Northwest Territories. We have ordered 20 tons of musk-ox meat from the Inuvialuit, and we are in the process of making commitments for 12 tons of fish from northern fishermen. These commitments are worth some $600,000, Mr. Speaker. We have purchased $420,000 worth of arts and crafts from northern producers for sale at Expo '92, and we have a further $270,000 in arts and crafts provided to us on consignment. We expect to purchase a further $450,000 worth by the end of Expo '92 for a total of almost $1.2 million. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to a question asked by Mr. Antoine on December 11, 1991, concerning the Expo '92 budget and expenditures to date. Four million dollars have been budgeted for Expo '92, and to date $979,048.30 has been expended or committed. No revenues have been received to date, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Gargan on December 10, 1991, concerning first class travel for Expo '92 personnel, Mr. Speaker. No first class tickets have been purchased for travel by government officials or contractors to travel to Seville. Between February and September, officials travelled to Spain on different airlines, including Canadian Airlines International and Air Canada. Different fare bases were used for these trips, including economy and business class.

In September of this year, Canadian Airlines International became a corporate partner with the Government of the Northwest Territories in the Expo '92 project and, as such, is the carrier that our officials now use for travel to Seville. They offer business class service, Mr. Speaker, and, as part of the sponsorship arrangements, provide our officials with business class service for the price of economy seats. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause