Thank you, Mr. Payne. It's good to be here with you from Alberta.
Actually, I reread this last night on the way down, and I think I would have reworded this a little better if I'd had a little more time. Having said that, let me just talk about those three areas that I talk about.
I don't think the NWT is much different from any other part of this country: people are appointed to boards, they're told to make it work, and they don't really get any guidance from anybody.
I chaired a committee in Alberta a couple of years ago on the agencies, boards, and commissions that come out of the Alberta government. When we started the process, I was told we were to look at 125. When we finished, we found out there were 250. Obviously, governments don't necessarily keep track of their agencies, boards, and commissions as well as they should, and in keeping with that, training and orientation and continuing education are often absent. So the NWT is no different.
Having said that, I think an ideal system would be that when people take on these roles, they.... The NEB is a good example of people who are actually, I think, brought to Ottawa for some course that's put on for them. They're continuously upgraded, and they're allowed to go to meetings where they can get upgraded. I don't think that's necessarily occurring in the NWT, or in most boards in Canada. It should be. It's very important that we allow them to keep up with current technology and current thinking in those areas.
I hope that answers your question, sir.