Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. Antoine on November 25, regarding federal priorities for the transportation infrastructure.
As of September, 1992, three months before the former Minister of Finance had announced the federal government's new infrastructure initiative, Transport Canada's capital plan for 1993-94 included $3.7 million for a maintenance garage and $1.8 million for a pavement overlay at the Fort Simpson airport.
In March of 1993, these same two projects at the Fort Simpson airport, along with several others, appeared as part of Transport Canada's proposal for Mr. Mazankowski's infrastructure program. In discussion with my federal counterparts, I was able to convince them that these projects did not really qualify as new initiatives, nor did they meet the priorities of the territorial government.
My officials at the Department of Transportation have found that the maintenance garage and pavement overlay at the Fort Simpson airport were deferred for a year. A month ago, October 1993, the same two projects appear again in Transport Canada's capital plan. They are now scheduled for 1994-95.
Other than to say that the rescheduling and deferral of projects is a routine budget management decision federal and territorial departments must make from time to time, I am not privy to the internal decisions of Transport Canada and I do not know why the Fort Simpson projects were deferred for one year. Thank you.