Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a few short comments. I have made these before about this department, but I want to reiterate them and note further progress since we last reviewed this budget. I am delighted that the Minister has made significant steps to enhance the authority of staff in the region to deliver Transportation programs. He said he was going to do it. He made steps each year to do it and now we have not only a superintendent in the Baffin, but a very experienced and able long-term Government of the Northwest Territories public servant in Mr. Methuselah Kunuk, who spent many years working in Municipal and Community Affairs and is well-known in the region, who I believe is very well qualified to do this important job.

The other point I wish to commend the department on is of all the departments, I think Transportation stands out for the method by which it consults communities on its capital works. I am judging, as MLA for Iqaluit. The department spends a very modest $50,000 each year moving rocks around the beach in Iqaluit. I am very grateful that that amount is in the budget for the coming fiscal year. It isn't a lot of money, but I think it is a measure of the approach that this department takes that even to spend this relatively small amount of money, we can count on every year not just a visit from marine facilities experts from the department but they come prepared to discuss options, they come with diagrams, charts, materials in Inuktitut, they come well in advance, they make sure the MLA is involved, and now this process will be supported by the services of a bilingual superintendent in the region.

Mr. Chairman, I want to commend the Minister and his officials on doing it right on two counts: through consultation on projects and, secondly, moving authority out to the regions. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to make those comments.

I just have one other issue that I want to flag, and perhaps it will come up in the detailed comments, but I do want to say -- and I think the Minister is aware of my concern -- that although I believe the transfer of the Arctic A airports from MOT to our government is appropriate and timely, I do believe that the Minister has managed to capture what resources are in place. I do have some apprehension about the adequacy of funds for situations like that of Iqaluit where some of the critical services are contracted. I think if we didn't know that the funds were lean and mean in this contract earlier, we now know because the contractor has been forced to give up the contract and it's now being run by a bonding company.

Mr. Chairman, I just want to, for the record, reiterate my concern that the Government of the Northwest Territories is going to have to somehow do a better job at providing adequate monies to attract qualified employees for this important airport because the present contractor certainly didn't have the money to do the job properly. Now I have been informed that this has been taken into account in the negotiations and I have every hope that the situation will improve, however, it is a concern.

The capacity of that airport to continue to provide emergency response is also a concern, and I just want to note this as the one concern I have as we undertake a review of this department today, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.