Mr. Whitford.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The work that was done this summer was done through the use of electronic depth sounders and is very detailed. It is digital and is coded onto tapes. Those tapes are being edited now to be put onto paper into configurations and contours. I have yet to see the map of the bottom of Pelly Bay, but my understanding, Mr. Chairman, is that the work is progressing well and it will be ready shortly. This does take some time to interpret all of the findings that were made. The preliminary indications that the department has on the Pelly Bay marine-way are very positive. There are channels there that our boats and ships are able to get into and close enough to the shore. We just have to see the hard copy of it, but the preliminary information we have is very positive and is coming along well. As soon as I get it, I will get the information to the Member.

Thank you, general comments. Mr. Ningark.

Mr. Whitford.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Not specifically for the Member's community. I am not sure whether he is referring to Pelly Bay, but there is money under the community access fund to provide some assistance to communities to build a road to hunting areas. It is not a great deal of money but it is money that is available upon submission of a proposal to our department, and through M.A.C.A., to access funds to make that kind of a road. There is not that much money in the big scheme of things. The dollar amount is not a lot, but there is enough there to meet most of the needs that have come forward so far.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, general comments. Department of Transportation, Mr. Zoe.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, our government has always been saying that we should be improving our economy in the territories. If we are going to be making improvements in the economy, then I think that the improvements in public industry and transportation infrastructure is the key to economic development in the

territories, particularly in the disadvantaged communities. Mr. Chairman, the government conducted three reports pertaining to that. The interdependence of transportation and economic development were made very clear in the three government studies and reports. One of them was in the Special Committee on Northern Economy's final report called "Building our Economic Future." The other one was done by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism Report called "Building on Strengths" and the last one is called "A Community Based Approach" and the Department of Transportation's own N.W.T. transportation strategy. Now those reports surely tell our government that we have got to have this basic transportation structure in place, if we are going to benefit and improve our economy as a whole. Now to me it appears that our government and the Minister responsible for Transportation, do not keep this in mind when they are doing these types of things in the capital program. These disadvantaged communities need to be listened to. Without the proper infrastructure in place in the area of transportation, those communities will not get anywhere. Their local economy will not grow and they will be way behind. We need to have transportation infrastructure in place or else the whole territories will not grow. This is why I have been emphasizing the need to put more money in these areas in terms of roads, airport facilities and highways. I hope the Minister responsible will read those reports I mentioned so that he has a better understanding as to the importance of a transportation infrastructure if we are going to improve our economy in the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Chairman, I am not going to get into long general comments pertaining to Transportation. I wanted to say this so that the Minister could have a better understanding of the importance of transportation infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you. General comments, Department of Transportation? Mr. Ningark.

Thank you. Mr. Whitford.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am not up-to-date on the specifics of that road. I am aware of it. I am aware of the community's needs. As I said earlier there is money available to assist in community access. These funds are available to assist a community to put a road out to an area that would be deemed hunting or fishing and that would benefit the community. It is not an entirely government funded program. The community is required to contribute. I am not sure whether it would be in time or money, but somehow they are expected to make contributions. The Department of Transportation does make contributions under its Community Access Program.

There are a number of requests which have come forward and I am keenly aware of them. I hear what the Members are saying about Arctic communities which do not have major highways and how important roads to hunting and fishing areas are. In our discussions with department officials we are going to be collecting all of these requests. There is a limited amount of money involved and I would imagine that we would have to set certain priorities and some timetables on assisting communities. We need not only a verbal request, but written materials, a proposal, put forward by the community to advise the department on how this is to be accomplished.

I think we would be available to assist in any way that we can. We will not do anything until we get a letter. There are a lot of requests and we need to have some specifics and I think we stack them up against other needs. We are very keenly aware of the needs of this program and wish we had more money in it to account for all of the requests. Yes, we certainly will be able to review all of these requests for community access roads.

Thank you. Mr. Ningark.

Thank you. General comments? Mr. Gargan.

General comments? Does this committee agree that we are ready to examine detail?

Mr. Minister did you want to bring departmental officials in?

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Does this committee agree?