The Honourable Member from Yellowknife North asked how many of the 16 people from Lac La Martre, who participated in the Department of Transportation's heavy equipment operator training program for the 1992 Lac La Martre airport project, had found employment with the Nishi Khon/PCL joint venture this winter on the Lac La Martre-Rae Lakes winter road.

The construction and maintenance phases of a winter road program have different employment requirements. The Nishi Khon/PCL joint venture involved 12 positions in the construction phase of the Lac La Martre-Rae Lakes winter road:

-four supervisory positions (three filled from outside the Northwest Territories and one by a northerner);

-six equipment operators from the Dogrib communities - two each hired from Fort Rae, Lac La Martre and Rae Lakes; and,

-two subcontractor positions filled by a Hay River company.

Nishi Khon/PCL hired two of those who received training on the Lac La Martre airport project to work on the winter road. One was discharged after a week and one is still employed on the project.

Following construction, the maintenance of the road is done on an "as and when" required basis. The employment requirement is less. Nishi Khon/PCL has two supervisory staff on the road and four employees working on a stand-by basis; two from Fort Rae, one from Lac La Martre (the same person hired during the construction phase) and one from Rae Lakes.

As an aside to the question asked by the Member, Robinson Trucking Ltd. of Yellowknife, the company that conducted the training during the Lac La Martre airport project, subsequently hired two of the operators and, as of this writing, one of the two continues to work for the company.