The Minister responsible for Public Works and Services, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker. No, not necessarily. A request for proposals, as I explained yesterday, is when the government has a specific job that it wants done but does not have all the details on how it should be done. What we do is, we send a call letter out asking for proposals which is different from a public tender contract, where we know exactly what needs to be done. A request for proposals could be on construction management proposal.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A request for proposals could be on absolutely anything. We have had requests for proposals this past year on field contracting, on privatization of systems and computers, some housing projects. So, a request for proposals is just that. We are asking companies to submit plans and ideas, costing et cetera, on how they would do a specific job for the government to review.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, there are specific cases where the government does have some resources, some equipment, that it has for use on a specific project but requires the use of expertise to manage them. That is what it covers.

Thank you. Final supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Mr. Arlooktoo.

Mr. Speaker, I really do not know. There are various construction projects, some of them large, that do have site superintendents or site managers and they could be called various things and called site superintendents.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Roland.

The Minister of Transportation. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the information that the Honourable David Keenan, Minister of Transportation for Yukon, passed on to us in regards to the cost reduction exercises relating to the Dempster Highway, involves closures and seasonal staff reductions on the highway system. According to their proposal, during the spring break-up and during the fall freeze-up, there is about a period of maybe four weeks, four weeks in the spring and four weeks in the fall. As we all know, living in the north, we do not know exactly when the ice is going to break up in the spring and we do not know exactly when it is going to freeze up as well in the fall. So, trying to look at the times over the years, around what time these natural incidents happen, with that in mind, and working along with us, we will try to develop a more firm time with the Yukon Government. At this point in time, we do not have the exact time.

I think what the honourable Minister from the Yukon was trying to do, was pass on information to us that this is their intention of doing it. They are still not into their budget yet. I think they are still developing their budget. I think, in time, we will have firmer dates. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Roland.

Thank you. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think the example where, a couple of days ago, when the Honourable Minister Keenan came down and the three MLAs from the Delta were invited, along with community leaders, should be an indication of the type of working together that I would like to see continue on as we deal with the Dempster situation. We will be keeping you very well informed as we move along. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Finance, Mr. Todd. It is concerning student summer employment. It is about the time of the year that we have to start thinking about employing as many students as we can, so that we can be prepared, by the time they get out of school. I know that, last year, we did not have as many job openings as we had wanted to. I know that the Finance Minister had indicated that he was going to try to improve the situation this year, so, I was wondering if the Finance Minister has, in fact, done anything so that we can get more students employed this year than last year.