Do you mean how was the decision made as to where the money should be spent? I don't want to make a long story, but I may as well tell you the history of this thing.

Last Christmas, there was an announcement made by the previous federal Minister, Mr. Mazankowski, that there would be a significant infrastructure, half a billion dollar program, across the country. It is my understanding -- and I stand to be corrected, of course, by Mr. Pollard who is the Finance Minister -- that the Northwest Territories wasn't a part of any discussion that took place to get some of this money.

Through Mr. Pollard's efforts and others, we were able to get, as they say, on the agenda. The federal Department of Transportation has made up their mind they were going to put the money in infrastructure that it already had money in place to do. I was determined to ensure that the $10 million we were trying to get would be in projects that would be reflective of our needs across the territories.

The federal Minister of the Department of Transportation wanted to put the money somewhere else. On top of that, we had the former Minister of Indian Affairs -- the now deposed, the Honourable Tom Siddon -- sorry, defeated I meant -- who also wanted to put the $10 million into hydrographic work in the Coppermine area. Again, I felt this was not the kind of priority that this government and this Assembly would support.

Based on consultation -- I had to do this thing in a hurry -- it was during the Christmas period, I remember, because it was done long distance. I was in St. Paul, Quebec. Based on the advice I got from the department, based on looking at what I thought the needs were and the direction I wanted to take the department -- and that is the improvement of the basic infrastructure in the territories -- and based upon the fact that Members from the east had indicated a need for some marine infrastructure, and the Members in the west had asked for upgrading of their airports, I decided, in consultation with the department in one day, to put the money where it currently sits.