Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will just make some quick, brief comments. I concur with the Member with respect to the erosion of operation sealift. We are working closely with Public Works and Services in an effort to try to resolve that. I believe the word he used was "pirating." I concur with that as well. At this time I am not able to tell you, not because I don't want to but because I haven't got the full information. We are working very closely with that because it is essential that we have a reasonable sealift at a reasonable price for the small operators as well as the large ones.
I appreciate the Member's comments with respect to the Greenland component. The first visit we made to Greenland was a technical visit made up of bureaucrats from Transportation and Public Works and Services. It was in an effort to look at the sealift operation and the POL products, et cetera.
What transpired was that we also found that the Greenland government is currently looking into the development of a significant airport program in building airports. I believe at the time Kuupik Kleist, who is the current Minister of Public Works and Transportation, indicated that there was somewhere in the range of about $200 million to build some airstrips in that area, and we agreed to provide them, at no cost and no charge, some technical advice on how they can perhaps build these airstrips in a more cost effective way. They were extremely pleased with our offer.
I also, of course -- knowing the entrepreneur in me -- indicated to them that perhaps there may be an opportunity for some northern business people to assist them and perhaps joint venture when they decide to move forward with these strips. There was clearly a sense of cooperation there, so I am optimistic that if this comes to pass and the dollars are there and the Department of Transportation can provide the Greenland government with significant technical expertise, that we may, in fact, manage to acquire some business for people who are in that field. Minister Kleist was in Yellowknife recently, and I am hopeful that we can take a small trade delegation, and others who may be interested, to Greenland in late May in an effort to -- not just, as Mr. Patterson said, to go and have a good time -- but try to perhaps secure some business for those people who are directly involved in it.
So I think this is an exciting initiative. There are large dollars involved. Yes, we are, on the front end, providing some free advice to them. I think that's good for us. It shows that Canadians and northern Canadians have some expertise in this field. So I think it's a laudable initiative and I'm hopeful that we will get an invitation some time in May. I would put together a contingency of people who are directly involved in that industry and others who are interested to go there and see if we can perhaps conclude an arrangement. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.