Madam Premier.

Mr. Speaker, as a Cabinet, when a Cabinet Minister speaks it is assumed that discussions have taken place and it is a Cabinet statement. However, I am listening to a certain part of the Member's reference to statements made yesterday and I will confer with the Minister responsible and see if we can give the Member some assurance that the statement was clear and concise in terms of the obligations that we have. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Patterson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Transportation. Mr. Speaker, the Minister has been a champion within the Cabinet of devolving authority to the regions and I have sung his praises in this House many times on that subject. I would like to ask him, now that his department is about to obtain responsibility for two major airports in the Baffin region, in Iqaluit and Resolute Bay, will there be additional support to the regional Department of Transportation in the Baffin now that they are taking on these major additional responsibilities for these two major airports? Thank you.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In keeping with our regional thrust in Mr. Patterson's area as well as others, there is an overall plan to increase the technical where withal in each of these regional offices so that it will be more autonomous from the centre. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Patterson.

I am pleased to hear about this, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister when might we get details of this plan. Thank you.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am hopefully going to be in the position later next week to have an overall plan as it relates to increasing the required services in regional offices, both east and west, in preparation for the orderly transfer towards the division of the territories. And at that time, I should be able to share that strategic plan with the honourable Member and this House, if they so wish. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Patterson.

Minister of Finance, Mr. Pollard.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe the Union of Northern Workers is exercising its right as an organization, and their representative is exercising his or her right to sit in the audience and listen to us talk. God knows, we need the audience, Mr. Speaker, thank you.

---Laughter

---Applause

Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Ballantyne.

I have a question for the Minister of Renewable Resources. Mr. Speaker, over the last number of years, many Members of this House have expressed concern about probably the deadliest environmental threat that we're facing in the Northwest Territories; that is caused by airborne pollutants from the old Soviet Union and other places in the world. We have in our sea mammals levels of toxins six to seven times the acceptable rate. This has been a concern expressed by many Members in this House. My question to the Minister is, what is the strategy being pursued by this government in dealing with this very serious and insidious problem?

Minister of Renewable Resources, Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the present time, the only air quality monitoring that has taken place has been here in the city of Yellowknife. The amount of equipment that is required to monitor air quality has not allowed it to expand much further than addressing the concerns raised by residents of the city in terms of the quality of air surrounding Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Ballantyne.

Mr. Speaker, here in this Assembly we've been given the results of alarming studies where toxins in mothers' milk in some areas of the eastern Arctic is many times the acceptable norm and where sea mammals haven't been nearly as healthy as they should have been. There is a lot of concern and a lot of documentation about it. I'm not talking about what monitoring is being done right now. I assume that the situation is being monitored. What I'm asking is what is the government doing about the facts that we already know. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Arngna'naaq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll have to take that question as notice. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. Mrs. Marie-Jewell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We didn't run out of questions. I have a question here for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, some time ago, the Premier tabled Tabled Document 40-12(7), History of the GNWT's Decision With Regard to the Fort Smith Aircraft Maintenance Facility and the Communications with Fort Smith. In that document, there appeared to be documents missing, as Mr. Pollard indicated in the House. They were going to review this and possibly table additional information. I would like to ask the Premier whether or not she's considering tabling additional information which should have been in Tabled Document 40-12(7). Thank you.