Good morning. Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Lewis.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On March 9, 1993, I questioned Mr. Todd about the objectives of our transportation strategy. Several colleagues were upset over a radio broadcast of March 10 which indicated I was against the building of the Mackenzie Valley highway. Anyone who reads the transcripts for that day will know I did not say the Mackenzie Valley highway should not be built. In fact, I believe the Mackenzie Valley highway should be built and my views have not changed since 1972.

The point I want to make is this, in the 1970s there was a proposal to build a 48 inch natural gas pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley at a cost of $5 billion. Because there was a continental energy crisis, the price of oil had shot up dramatically. To get support for a pipeline, federal funds were allocated for the building of highway and we all remember the work of Hire North from those days. When the energy crisis was over and a small six inch oil pipeline was built from Norman Wells to Zama Lake the highway was suddenly forgotten. The pursuit of a gas pipeline was put on hold.

The building of new roads and highways in the Northwest Territories is a federal responsibility, Mr. Speaker. They will be built if they are in the federal government's interest, which usually means roads to resources to serve national, continental or international interests. As a government, Mr. Speaker, our prime objective should be roads which reduces the cost of moving goods, services and people, to encourage inter-settlement economic activity and to encourage tourism. In other words, to reduce the cost of living for our people and to improve the quality of life.

Our strategy should be always to keep in mind that federal objectives in new road construction may not be the same as our own. The point I tried to make to Mr. Todd is that we must always keep our objectives in front of us. We do not control new road construction. If the next new road is from Izok Lake to the Coronation Gulf, we should not invest our limited resources in it if it does not serve the interests of the people we represent.

If you read Hansard you will find, Mr. Todd did change his mind and state that objectives are important. I regret the confusion my remarks may have, in fact, caused. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Lewis. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Gargan.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. G K Chesterton was an English novelist who started his writing career about 100 years ago. One of the best lines he ever wrote was on the topic of law. He said, "We do not get good laws to restrain bad people, we get good people to restrain bad law." Mr. Speaker, old G K could have filled a whole book with these kinds of sayings if he were to visit the Northwest Territories. He could find in a jurisdiction of this size that we have over 4,100 pages of consolidated statutes and more arriving every session. That is one page of law for every three households, Mr. Speaker.

We have laws regarding CGAs, CMAs and CNAs. We have laws regarding dentists, dependents, domestic relations, documents and dogs. Mr. Speaker, those are only the statutes. We are buried up to our necks as well in regulations. I photocopied all the wildlife regulations from the NWT Gazette and it stacks four centimetres thick of paper.

Mr. Speaker, I want to be serious for a moment. We are moving ahead in an era that will see more political changes than we have ever seen before in the Northwest Territories. We will be seeing new forms of government emerge in Nunavut and Denendeh, and we will see a growing recognition of the inherent right of aboriginal people to govern themselves. We must make sure our hands are not tied by the type of legislation which has accumulated over the years. It takes a long time to amend all of this legislation, Mr. Speaker. We should be taking every precaution to make sure that when we pass laws in this House we are carefully considering the future changes that lie around the corner. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Item 3, Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Koe on March 4, 1993 with respect to the policy on shipping freight by NTCL north of Norman Wells.

It has been a policy of the Government of the Northwest Territories since 1979 that all major GNWT shipments to the western Arctic and Keewatin regions are to be carried by the Northern Transportation Company Ltd. Government support for NTCL over these many years has been thought to be necessary to maintain a viable common carrier service in the western and central Arctic for the benefit of both the public and private sectors.

After 14 years, it is time to reconsider the government's transportation policy to see if it still serves its original purpose and if exclusive public support for a designated common carrier is still necessary. The transportation system is the life blood of our northern economy. The government cannot change such a central economic policy hastily, without giving all due consideration to its possible ramifications.

As my colleague the Minister for Government Services and Public Works stated earlier, we expect to deal with the transportation policy before the fall session. In the meantime, I would welcome any advice or suggestions the Members or their constituents might have to give me. Thank you.

Item 4, returns to oral questions. Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No.

Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell the Minister and this House that although the Legislative Assembly building society and the Members' Services Board compositions have changed since the signs were erected in front of the construction site, the signs have been changed in one respect only. That is, to obliterate utterly any reference to the Honourable Nellie Cournoyea, who was Minister of Public Works when the project was started. A crew was dispatched to the site, her name was painted over and wiped out, and the Honourable Don Morin's name has been carefully painted in.

---Laughter

Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister of Public Works is, and I think this would be a good employment project for the Northwest Territories, will the Minister assure this House that he will make a priority to ensure that his deputy minister is instructed to ensure that every sign on every construction site in every community in the Northwest Territories is immediately inspected to ensure that any reference to the Minister's predecessor is obliterated and wiped out?

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes.

---Laughter

Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

Mr. Speaker, what happened to the humble guy from Fort Resolution who came to the big city to be a Minister without any pretence of putting on airs?

---Laughter

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am still humbly following Members' instructions. Thank you.

---Laughter

Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Whitford.

Mr. Allooloo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I requested a call to Mary Collins, since the Minister of the Environment, Jean Charest, was not available this morning. My staff has talked to Mr. Charest's office and we are also keeping in contact with ITC, who is thinking of putting in a notice of objection under the Environmental Protection Act. I asked my office to contact Mary Collins this morning and I am just waiting for a phone call back from them. Yesterday, when the Minister was asked about this project, she was not aware of the whole project. Thank you.

Item 5, oral questions. Mr. Arvaluk.