Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We agree with the Member that the material we used on the Dempster Highway is a poor granular material. We are using the best that we have available to us for surfacing the Dempster Highway. We are looking for other granular material that would be better material to do that, and we are looking at Inuvik and other sources. We have a plan in place to reconstruct the Dempster Highway starting in 1995. We are still looking at the feasibility of the bridge at Arctic Red River, and along with that it is in our transportation strategy to look at the airport as well as the feasibility of a bridge into Arctic Red River.

For the Dempster Highway to include Aklavik, our information up to this point is that the cost is very high compared to the benefits, and also Aklavik has a barge service, as the Member stated, and also a winter road during that season. I agree with the Member that our long-term goal at some point in the future is, when we are able, to construct a year-round road to Aklavik. We would prefer that, but at this point in time because of the financial realities that exist throughout our government and the resources that are available to our department, the best we can do at this point is a barge and winter road. Thank you.