Mr. Chairman, most of the patrol personnel are here in Yellowknife and Hay River. I would hope that by redistributing the personnel that we would, in the spirit of community transfer initiatives, see that the communities would be able to have jurisdiction over certain parts of the highway and be able to carry out those responsibilities, and that part of the personnel who would stay in the communities.
Mr. Chairman, I see the highway patrols which go into the communities. I see them leave the communities during certain parts of the day. For all the travel they do, I do not think the government should be spending more monies on overtime, the wear and tear of the vehicles, or for gasoline, if in fact those individuals could be located in the communities, and I would hope this would relieve other highway patrol personnel in other areas. I am looking at having something like in Eagles Plain, in Fort McPherson, Arctic Red River, Inuvik, Yellowknife, Fort Rae, Fort Providence, Fort Simpson, Fort Liard, Fort Wrigley, Enterprise, Hay River, Fort Smith and Fort Resolution. Those are all the communities which are on the highway system. If we are looking at the responsibility being transferred with regard to the transfer initiative, I think this is one area which the department should be open for suggestions.
It is a recommendation and nothing more. I would hope the department would seriously look at it. Thank you.