Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you. Two questions, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I indicated earlier, I did send a letter to the chairman of the respective standing committee and offered that a complete briefing is available to the Members of the standing committee. For the second question, Mr. Speaker, the schedule of transfer to take place is April 1, 1996. This is for the transfer of the program. The staff will be completely transferred by June or July. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Given the talk in this House over the past few days, centring on our fiscal situation, I still note that many GNWT employees continue to be brought into Yellowknife for meetings. Mr. Speaker, several of my constituents have called me to voice their concern about this. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister of Finance direct departments to ensure that all travel be a priority and, where possible, when meetings are to be held, be it conference call or other means, to send the signal that this government is taking our deficit reduction plan seriously, not only on wage reductions, but on all aspects of the government?

Minister of Finance, Mr. Todd.

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That's a nice answer. Mr. Speaker, when will and how will the Minister direct this most important message?

Mr. Todd.

Mr. Speaker, I was just asked ... (Microphone turned off) ... honourable Member, since he has given me this direction, when would he like me to send the direction out to the government on the question he asked?

Mr. Todd, there was a question directed to you by the Member for Iqaluit. The Minister is supposed to respond, not ask questions. Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I apologize for my flippant response to the very serious question asked by Mr. Picco. I will endeavour to communicate Mr. Picco's concerns to the staff and to the GNWT employees across the Territories, posthaste. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

I enjoy question period, but I didn't think it would be 20 questions. I appreciate the fact that the Minister will do that posthaste; but how will the Minister do that? Will it be a directive of the government? What happened before, Mr. Speaker, and my reason for saying this is that when the deficit reduction came about at Christmas, and when I went back to my constituency, I heard the talk, as did other people from their constituencies, that people didn't take seriously the letter that we had sent out earlier. So my question to the Minster of Finance is how will he direct this message. Will it be a directive of this government to put this in place at the most opportune time? He said, posthaste, but I want to know how he will do this. Will it be a directive from him?

Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will advise the deputies through a directive that we would like this course of action taken. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the honourable Minister of Transportation. The previous government was committed to construct access roads in the Eastern Arctic to facilitate hunting, fishing, tourism and recreation. The access roads, in this case, are a very essential part of the economy in the Eastern Arctic communities. Will the honourable Minister honour the previous commitment of this government to complete those roads that are already under construction? Thank you.

Minister of Transportation, Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the community access road program within the Department of Transportation has become a very popular program. As I have travelled in the central Baffin and in the Keewatin recently, this was always a topic that came up, so I'm aware of what the honourable Member is talking about. The honourable Member knows that we're still going through our budgeting process. We won't have the complete budget done until May. But if everything works out okay, at the end of the day, in May, we hope to maintain the budget that is in place for the community access road. If that's the case, I'll honour the commitments made by the previous government towards the community access roads. Thank you.

Thank you. Again, just to remind the ordinary Members, I realize that a lot of Members like to get a second turn at asking questions, but I also would like the other Members who haven't asked questions to have an opportunity to ask. So just be patient with me, for the Members who wish to ask a second question. I like to give all the Members the same opportunity. Mr. Steen.