Minister of Transportation, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The cost of the study itself is unknown to me at the present time. I will get that information to the honourable Member before this House closes. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.,

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I apologize for my misunderstanding. Mr. Speaker, this study was done in 1990 just to look at what the costs would be to build a road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. What this study did was look at three scenarios and it varied in cost. It looked at the terrain, the types of rivers and creeks that have to be crossed, and where the material would come from to build this road. As you know, we're talking about the Mackenzie Delta which has very silty-type terrain. In order to build a proper road, you need a good base of gravel. Therefore, you have to go quite a ways to haul this material. All this was worked into the study. As a result of it, they estimated the cost to be $160 million to do this section of road between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk. Thank you.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my recollection, after looking at that study, I would say that the study was done to build the types of roads we have now in the Delta. That is the total cost of the road. Yes, there are different classes of roads. There are different types of highways. As you know, a lot of the section of the highway between here and the Alberta border is paved or chipsealed, so it's a higher class of road. As you get into other parts of the North, you have gravel sections. Now we're building a fair-weather access road into Jean Marie River which is a smaller type of road system with a single lane. It's not built to have too many places where you have two-way traffic; the bridges are even single lane.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, there are different types of highways in the North. The type of highway that was looked at in the study was similar to the type of roads that are in existence in the Delta at the present time. Thank you.

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

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to direct my question to the Minister of Transportation. I have a concern about the wharf in Clyde River. Is it possible to get some funding from the Coast Guard to fix up this wharf in Clyde River? Thank you.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the honourable Member representing Clyde River. I was in Clyde River last winter, Mr. Speaker, and I know what the Member is talking about. The people in Clyde River want to have the wharf work done as soon as possible. The position of the Department of Transportation is that, yes, we intend to build a wharf. However, we'd like to do a study of the area first, perhaps this summer. We would then move on and build a wharf the following summer. The request was to see if we could get the funding to accelerate the construction of the wharf and that we would look at other sources of funding.

At the present time, I have to tell the Member that the plan that we laid out is still in place and that we haven't received any additional funding to accelerate this project for this summer. We are aware of their concern. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

The Premier, Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I expect Mr. Todd will be back today. He is the Minister responsible for tabling the affirmative action plan in this House. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe the Minister responsible, Mr. Todd, had made a commitment to Members to try and get that to this House prior to adjournment. We will try and get it here as soon as we can. Thank you.

Thank you. Item 6, oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.