Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the honourable Member for Nunakput for his concerns with regard to transportation linkage between Inuvik and Tuk. He has raised this issue with me before, and I think it's a good initiative for his part of the area. The department experts have looked at this section of the road that is being proposed, and with their best estimates, the figure --as Mr. Steen stated - was roughly $160 million to build such a road. On the other hand, it is correct that the federal government is responsible for all new roads in the Northwest Territories. This being a new road, it fits under their mandate. This is one of the areas that the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs has the task, has no money and has nobody running that program for them.

Until the federal government decides to spend more money on their infrastructure development in Canada, only then will we have a chance to get some money from the federal government for new roads. On the other hand, the federal government is also looking for places where there could be some programs for employment development. Perhaps that might be an area to seek it out. But at the present time, the Department of Transportation, as everybody in this House knows, is going through a business planning process and we have been asked to look at reducing how much is in this budget already. By adding a project of that significance, it is difficult. On the other hand, I have no problems in looking into a joint venture project at the same time as making cuts in different areas. We also have to look at what we can do to enhance economic development in different areas. Perhaps this would be one area to look at. I will seriously consider such a proposal perhaps once the Member puts forward a good proposal. Maybe we can talk about it. That is what we are here for: to look at what we can do to develop the North. Mahsi.