Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I do want to commend the honourable Member for keeping the transportation initiatives in his area, whether it is in Cape Dorset or Lake Harbour, front and centre in terms of our agenda. I think he should be applauded for that and I'm sure his constituents will agree.

---Applause

I'm glad that in some small way, we were able to help both in Sanikiluaq and Cape Dorset. We have a full program to assist both those communities.

On the issue of Lake Harbour, again, I found that the honourable Member has never asked for anything that is outrageous. He has been fair in his debates on the Department of Transportation's budget in the past. We know the cost to move a new airstrip in Lake Harbour would be very high. I've assured the Member before and I want to assure him again that we will try to fit that in somewhere. I don't know whether it will be in the life of this Assembly, or the next one, but we are certainly going to address that issue. We will try the

best we can. But, as he says, we are working under fairly restrictive fiscal conditions.

I do, however, think that there is a crushing program, not run by Transportation, but run by Public Works, which has a revolving fund. Perhaps I can discuss with my colleague, Mr. Morin, and see where we can fit the possibility of a crushing program in Lake Harbour during the next two or three years. I can't make any commitments. The only commitment I'll make would be to discuss it with the honourable Member who is responsible for Public Works to see if they can fit it into their long-term plan for crushing in these communities.

We're going to do the best we can. We're taking a hard look at Lake Harbour. It is recognized, both by myself and the honourable Member, that there is an enormous cost to building a new strip there. Hopefully, we'll be able to show it, in the long term, sometime in the capital budget down the road. That's what we're working towards at this time. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to suggest that we sit until we conclude this department.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Again, like my colleague, Kenoayoak Pudlat, I recognize the honourable Minister for being very straightforward in dealing with our communities and our concerns. I know that the honourable Minister is not able to provide every request from the Northwest Territories, but he is trying his very best given the means and ways that he has within his department.

One of the things that I would like to recognize or commend the Minister for, is that there is an endeavour in Gjoa Haven to construct a road to 30-Mile Lake. I hope the Minister will consider this very seriously. For one thing, it's going to facilitate recreation in the community. There are no parks in the community as is the case in the larger centres. Also, a tourism facility would entail extra income for the community and also facilitate hunting. Subsequently, would provide

subsistence for the community within the limited opportunity in that community.

There is another request from the hamlet of Pelly Bay to build an all-terrain vehicle access road to Barrow Lake which is about 12 kilometres from the community. Also, Taloyoak, I think is planning to upgrade the road to Meadow Lake which was built many years ago. It is usable by trucks, but it is not very far from the community. I hope the honourable Minister and his staff will keep that in mind. Other than that, I don't have too many comments on this department.

I would also like to thank the Minister and express the appreciation of the community of Pelly Bay for bringing the barge into the community during the summer-time. They were able to bring in over one million litres of heating fuel, and I think this is providing a saving to the Government of the Northwest Territories. Sometime in the future, I hope we will be able to bring general supplies to that community. It gets to be very expensive bringing things by air. Also, I think we are very lucky because in the past we were able to get some fresh produce to the community from other points, in ways other than by air. I think bringing in supplies by barge is another way of transporting general supplies into the community. I don't want to prolong discussion on this matter, so thank you, Mr. Chairman. There was no question. Maybe it was question regarding access roads to hunting areas, tourism areas and so on. Thank you.

As I said earlier, this access road policy...The credit really belongs to the honourable Member, Mr. Ningark. He raised the issue a year ago. The previous Transportation Minister had $200,000 in the budget. We've managed to move some more money in the budget. Our ability to build these access roads, and the amount we can build, is going to be based on our ability to find the appropriate funding. I want to assure the honourable Member that these issues are just as important as it is to build highways in the west.

On the issue of the sealift, we're pleased as punch that we were able to do our thing last year by bringing a shipment to Pelly Bay for the first time. I am told that there will be some dry cargo on the ship this year. In fact, there will be two ice breakers in the area. We're optimistic, that we can move some dry cargo, I believe the housing will be in Pelly Bay as an experiment. Perhaps, in the following years, all of it will be able to come that way, providing significant savings to this government. Thank you.

Agreed.

---Agreed

Transportation Engineering

Agreed.

---Agreed

Marine Services

Agreed.

---Agreed

Highway Operations

Agreed.

---Agreed

Arctic Airports

Agreed.

---Agreed

Motor Vehicles

Mr. Chairman, is there any plan or idea that Transportation may consider for having a government insurance program for remote communities? For example, in my constituency we have to go to Churchill and Hyska's Insurance Agency, with the outrageous prices. Actually, it's not too bad if you're not living in Yellowknife, I learned that too. Are there any plans in the future to serve the communities with an insurance program? There are more and more vehicles now coming into a community, and the hamlet councils demand there be insurance for snowmobiles and four-wheel vehicles, ATVs. Qujannamiik.

There are no plans to have this government involved in delivery of any insurance programs. Thank you.