Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I MOVE, seconded by the honourable Member for Aivilik, that this Legislative Assembly orders the topic of "the sobriety clause in contribution agreements" be moved into the committee of the whole for discussion.

Your motion is in order. To the motion. The question has been called. All those in favour? Opposed? Motion is carried.

---Carried

The motion will be put into committee of the whole. Item 16, first reading of bills. Mr. Pollard.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Nunakput, that Bill 21, Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 3, 1990-91, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The motion is in order, Mr. Pollard. All those in favour? Opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Bill 21 has had first reading. First reading of bills. Mr. Whitford.

The motion is in order, Mr. Whitford. All those in favour? Opposed? The motion is carried.

---Carried

Bill 20 has had first reading.

Item 17, second reading of bills. Item 18, consideration in committee of the whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 9-12(2), Strength at Two Levels; Tabled Document 10-12(2), Reshaping Northern Government; Tabled Document 12-12(2), Plebiscite Direction; Bill 14, Appropriation Act, No. 1, 1992-93; and Committee Report 3-12(2), SCOF Review of the 1992-93 Capital Estimates, with Mr. Nerysoo in the chair.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Thank you. Does the Minister wish to invite witnesses?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes.

Thank you. Mr. Minister, could you introduce your witness, please?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the record, to my right is the acting deputy minister of Transportation, Mr. Andrew Gamble.

Thank you. If Members will recall, Mr. Antoine was in the midst of his general comments yesterday, so I will go back on general comments to Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On Transportation, by general comments yesterday, I was talking about my support for finishing the highway from Wrigley north through Fort Norman and Norman Wells. Yesterday I was quoting some prices I got from 1985. That is the last time that I received some figures. I was going to offer those figures as something to start with.

I had talked about it yesterday, and today I am just going to say that in the area of transportation, we also have airports. In most of the communities we have airports in my area, but Nahanni Butte is another community in my constituency that requires an airport. They have a small strip and sometimes it is not possible for the plane to land there. The only transportation in there is through air in the summertime, so it is necessary to have an airport in Nahanni Butte. Also, they have buffalo there too, so this time of the year the pilots have to fly past the airport to check the airstrip to see that there are no buffalo droppings on the airstrip, because that is dangerous.

Anyway, that is just a side point, but in the rest of my region we have winter roads, and in a question the other day the Minister said they were going to review the winter roads budget. I am concerned about it. We have winter roads into Trout Lake and Nahanni Butte, and there is the construction of a road out of Jean Marie but that is not going to be completed for the next few years. These three communities require winter roads and if there are going to be some changes to it, it is certainly going to affect the people in these communities, and I have some concern about it. This is for the people that rely on winter roads. That is my general comment. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Antoine. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As for the winter roads, there is not going to be a change for the remainder of this year, but for next year we are reviewing the opening days and the closing days of the winter roads because of the concern raised by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. They are concerned about the environmental concern regarding crossings of rivers and lakes. If there are going to be any changes to the opening and closing of winter roads, we will keep the public informed as much as possible and communicate to the communities who that affected.

As for the roads, road construction to the Member's particular area, our plan has not changed. Thank you.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a question for the Minister of Transportation. The people of Wrigley have waited for the bridge to be built across the Willowlake River to provide direct road access to Fort Simpson for some years now, and every year they look forward to growth in the tourism and resource harvesting sectors. This bridge has been bumped back a few years, I am told, and this year especially most of the capital projects for Wrigley have been bumped, so they were gearing up to hopefully have some work on this transportation, so I would like to ask the Minister of Transportation; can the Minister tell me when this important transportation link will be built?

Thank you. Mr. Allooloo.

Mr. Chairman, there was a meeting yesterday consisting of the chief of Wrigley and my department concerning this. The community is aware that the decision to defer the opening of the Mackenzie Highway to Wrigley by one year was discussed, and the capital expenditure for the building of a bridge over Willowlake River was discussed. The current winter road serving the community will not be affected by this decision, but the road that was planned to be constructed for this year has been deferred by one year.

Thank you. General comments. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am a little confused. The transportation strategy that has been put in place, and God knows what it cost us -- are we using that strategy as a means by which to determine priorities as to where things are going regionally right now? That is my first question.

The second one was, my understanding was that there was going to be some kind of joint federal/territorial initiative where this government was going to put "X" amount of dollars into the pot, the feds were going to match it, and those dollars were going to be used to build the infrastructure we need whether it was wharves, roads, highways or airports. I wonder if it is possible that you could let me know the status of that. Is that whole strategy still in place in relationship to the joint funding?

Thank you. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, the strategy that was developed and tabled in this House back in 1990 was used as a guide, and also with respect to the plans that we have developed in terms of addressing the requirements of roads and transportation throughout the Northwest Territories. We are still talking to the federal government to see where they could help us. As far as I am told, the Ministers of Transportation throughout the country still have to meet on this issue, and I am told that the federal Minister of Transportation is very interested in this document that our government has developed. So far, the meeting of Ministers of Transportation is scheduled some time this fall I believe.