I do not have it immediately at hand, but I will provide it to the Members later on today or tomorrow, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am not interested in the information tomorrow, but I would be interested in receiving it sometime. Mr. Chairman, I would also like to ask the Minister with respect to underground mines, he indicated that there has been 30 mining inspections on underground mines for 1992. Is that correct?

Sorry, for the first nine months of the year there have been 40 underground mine inspections.

Mr. Chairman, could the Minister also provide us with a breakdown of where all these inspections took place and what dates, for the underground mines specifically?

Yes, we will provide that to the Member and to the House.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Fire Safety

Mr. Chairman, I have a question with regard to inspection regulations. Is there a different category of inspection for residential and commercial areas, this building for example?

Mr. Chairman, the primary focus of fire safety is in the commercial buildings. In fact, we do very little domestic fire safety inspections unless it has been specifically requested. Most of our work is done in commercial buildings similar to this one.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Fire safety includes the office of the fire marshal, Mr. Chairman. There was a bit of controversy in the media with regard to the Minister by some of the comments he had made, and the previous fire marshal's public statements questioning the Minister responsible for this department. I was wondering if the Minister responsible for this office could inform us of his position with regard to fire safety in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

They say in this business that sometimes your words come back to haunt you and I guess they did on this one, when I was being humorous as the chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance. I want to assure the House that there has been no deviation from the previous Minister in terms of the fire marshal. The system which was in place in the past is currently there. I have not made any attempts to add any humour to the fire marshal's office. The previous fire marshal departed by his own decision. We are in the throws of looking to recruit a new fire marshal. The deputy minister is interviewing next week. I want to say for the record, and I appreciate the question, it is business as usual. It is a dangerous business. We need to ensure that the integrity of the fire marshal's office is maintained and that is exactly the way in which I intend to behave. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This activity of fire safety deals with training of professional and volunteer fire chiefs and fire departments, and the delivery of fire prevention programs, et cetera. It has been brought to my attention, by some of the smaller communities which I represent, that there is a real need to upgrade the fire equipment. I believe your department received a letter from Fort Liard. Trout Lake and Jean Marie River have also indicated their concerns to me. You have a good program for volunteer fire chiefs. I believe they go for training in Rae-Edzo. The comments I have received indicate it is a good program and when they attend training they learn a great deal of useful information which they take back to their communities. They are also told that there is a number of different kinds of equipment which they are entitled to in each community. Once the get back to their communities and ask for the type of equipment which they are supposed to have, it takes them a long time to obtain the equipment from your department. Can the Minister inform me if his department has been able to find out what the problem is and to solve these problems? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, the fiscal responsibility for the capital, of course, lies with MACA. However, the department works closely with MACA in trying to identify real needs, et cetera. I recognize the importance for the need of proper equipment in these communities, and for the equipment to reflect the kind of community they have, particularly as they grow in size. We are working closely with MACA on the issue.

On the issue of training, I would like to see more of it because our volunteer firemen require as much support as possible. I want to assure the honourable Member that every effort is being made, particular in this area, within the confines of the budget, to try to meet the needs of these small communities. Thank you.

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