(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have one concern. My second question was already dealt with by John Ningark. There seems to be no money allocated for docks and breakwaters. The budget seems more directed to the creation of bridges. (Translation ends) For the past few years, we've had severe weather conditions in early and late fall, especially in the eastern Arctic where we don't have any highway systems. A number of outfitters and fishermen have lost their vessels due to high waters. I don't see anything in the budget to address this problem. Especially in my riding, tourism is a viable business for outfitters, as well as Fisheries. Although, in one of my communities, the breakwater is under construction.

There are many other smaller communities, including in the Keewatin, that don't have any docking facilities or breakwaters to at least try to accommodate the vessel owners when we do have severe storms in early and late fall. There has been a number of boats that have been lost. Some of these vessels were purchased by this government through Economic Development and Tourism. Because I think we are going through some climate change, the weather in the eastern Arctic has changed dramatically. I am somewhat disappointed not having seen any dollars allocated to what I call marine services. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would say to the honourable Member that while there are no significant dollars in the O and M budget, we have managed to shift some capital dollars in terms of trying to develop marine services in the Nunavut and Arctic areas. I think the Member is correct. Over the last 10, 15 or 20 years, we have spent an average of somewhere between $15 million and $20 million on an annual basis on road development in the western Arctic. We have spent significant money historically in trying to develop airports, if you want, in Nunavut. Clearly, in the coming years with the development of airstrips in to the western Arctic where they don't already have them, such as Nahanni Butte, Deline, or whether it's improvements to those airstrips, there is going to be a requirement for a closer look at equity in terms of the distribution of the dollars and where we put our money.

I am looking very carefully at that because I concur with the Member that we don't have a road system in the eastern Arctic. The theory behind it was that you would put airstrips into it. We are developing a comprehensive airstrip program in the west now. I believe by 1998, we will have airstrips in all communities except Mr. Zoe's...

---Laughter

...which we are endeavouring to look at, which Mr. Zoe knows full well.

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Am I supposed to...

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We are endeavouring to try and find resources to assess the marine development, whether it's breakwaters in Pangnirtung, or whether it is Gjoa Haven, Pelly Bay or other communities in the eastern Arctic. If you want to go back to the capital budget, you'll see that we have made some improvement -- by no means perfect, but some improvement -- and I am optimistic that in the coming years we will be able to improve that even more.

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Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the Minister mentioned before, one of the only things that we have in the Nunavut area is the airstrips to get people from place to place. They are probably a few thousand years behind the western territories, who are very lucky to have highways to communities, winter roads and even paved highways over here. As the Minister knows, the CARS program, which I believe was the federal government's idea to assist to have the airport radios operating 24 hours a day, in some places has been cut severely, in some cases endangering airplanes to some degree. In my case, in my constituency of Pond Inlet, we used to have 24-hour radio operators who would assist the airplanes coming into the community. I understand the number of hours of operation has been cut and the airplane cannot utilize the weather reports and atmospheric conditions from the air radio operators. Mr. Chairman, I would like to know if there has been any progress in terms of getting those air radio operators to go back to 24 hours to assist airplanes? Thank you.

I appreciate the Member's statements, and I certainly do recognize, coming from an eastern Arctic community, the vital importance of air safety and the absolute necessity to try to ensure that we get good, accurate, timely weather reports, particularly if you come from Rankin Inlet. So they tell me anyway.

Last year, the honourable Member did raise the issue about Pond Inlet, and I believe Clyde River was the other community where there had been a cutback. I believe at that time it was 40 hours work. Currently we are trying to negotiate for 65 hours, I believe. I stand to be corrected. I'd have to check my notes. We are trying to increase the hours of these CARS programs in the eastern Arctic communities that have them. These discussions have been going on for some time now. At this time, no, we have not come to a satisfactory arrangement, but we are still working on it very hard for that part of the country. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate the response I got from the Minister that the department is still working towards getting resources so that those places where they rely on aircraft for transportation will be able to get 24-hour assistance to give the airplanes updated information on atmospheric information. I would like to thank the Minister for that ongoing work.

On the other hand, Pond Inlet is fast becoming a centre of Nunavut, if not the centre of the universe pretty soon, as the Minister stated earlier during the sitting. Pond Inlet does not have a jet airstrip but it is a centre for the north Baffin and it is unique in having very good weather. I doubt very much that in the last few years an airplane has been prohibited from going in to Pond Inlet due to the weather conditions. The Pond Inlet business community and the hamlet are interested in getting a jet airstrip. It would not be a lot of work. It would require an additional 2,000 feet, I believe, to extend the runway, and the community is willing to contribute some resources to that effect so that, in the event that jets could land there, it would give the aircraft companies another choice in the north Baffin. Mr. Chairman, I wonder if there's any process where, if the community is willing to contribute some resources for that kind of project, that sort of project could be assisted by the department? Thank you.

Well, to be very frank with the honourable Member and to be fair to him, I will say there is nothing in our long-term plans to make significant expansions to the Pond Inlet airstrip. That would come under capital, of course. I know this community well. It is a marvellous community; I lived there in 1975. If the community shows the kind of initiative that I know it can, I would be prepared to send in some of our people from Transportation to at least initiate discussions in relation to this issue. But, I would have to say that at the present time, there is nothing in the long-term plan to expand. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the Minister for the response and would like to say that the community of Pond Inlet will shortly be asking the Minister's department to assist them in terms of planning and will let the government know their commitment of substantial resources. Even though the community of Pond Inlet is very poor, they are very willing to contribute, both in real resources and in kind, towards extending the runway. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.