Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Speaker, we do have two vessels right in Providence. One of the vessels is used for an emergency in the event there is a breakdown in the other vessel. In this case that is not what happened. In this case they had traffic waiting, and I suppose they also had people in Yellowknife waiting for freight etc. While that was happening money was wasted, both for the operation of the ferry, which this government pays for. I think in this case I would like to ask the Minister why the stand-by ferry was not used in the meantime, and why we should not be billing the federal government?

Two questions, Mr. Whitford.

Item 5, Oral Questions. Mr. Zoe.

Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department is investigating whether in fact there was harassment by helicopters to the caribou. To date, we have had difficulty finding the responsible people who were disturbing the caribou. What I would like to get, with the permission of the Member, and I know we cannot go very far without witnesses, but I would like to ask if it is okay with the Member to ask my department, the Renewable Resources officers in Fort Rae to talk directly to the chief to see if he could find some witnesses and people who saw the harassment. Then we could proceed with specific information in issuing tickets or everything we have to do in order to make the responsible people be more responsible in terms of respecting natural habitats of caribou. Thank you.

Oral Questions. Supplementary, Mr. Zoe.

Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, but we cannot go far with the absence of the witnesses. Thank you.

Item 5, Oral Questions. Ms. Mike.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Economic Development and Tourism. First of all, I would like to thank him for providing me with the departmental official fisheries management expertise list, region by region. However, I am somewhat disappointed, the staff in my region has a Bachelor of Arts but compared to the other regions, the staff have their Bachelor of Science, Geology and Microbiology. They are a little better qualified than the staff in my region which has the fastest growing fisheries in the Northwest Territories since 1986. What is the criteria for hiring of this staff who are considered to be the experts in your department?

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, over the years the criteria has changed, as the economic development has changed, as the interest in particular renewable resource projects have changed. I cannot say what the criteria was when this particular person was hired, but these days, Mr. Speaker, when we are hiring for those particular positions we are anxious to get people with expertise in the field and it may be that it is not a degree, Mr. Speaker, it may be a lot of experience in that particular field, but certainly we are looking for experience. Thank you.

Item 5, Oral Questions. Supplementary, Ms. Mike.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Supplementary to the same Minister, this position which I am talking about, the person has only six years of experience compared to 30 years, eight years, and 12 years experience in other regions who are involved in the same field. We have the least number of years experience in the same position and I am really wondering what the criteria is at the present time?

Mr. Pollard.

Mr. Speaker, I do not think there is any criteria as far as years are concerned. Six years in a trade would be pretty good experience. For instance, apprenticeships do not last that long, Mr. Speaker. In this particular instance I do not think we place a number of years that we are looking for, it may depend on the local hiring, the local superintendent, it may depend on the requirement by the deputy minister. It may be something which Personnel has something to say about. Six years would seem considerable experience to me, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Item 5, Oral Questions. Mr. Gargan.

Mr. Speaker, on October 11 I was in Fort Simpson and I had an opportunity to take a helicopter ride to the ferry landing. Mr. Speaker, the river was fairly open and there was very little ice on the river, but the ferry has been in dry dock for about a month. It cost me quite a bit to get to Simpson by charter. It is a brand new ferry which is supposed to draw less water. It is supposed to handle the worst ice conditions. This was not the case during my visit, the ferry was on dry dock. Is it the governments decision when they dock them, or is it at the discretion of the person who operates them?

Mr. Whitford.