Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think one of the problems is the complexity of the whole resupply situation that it is one that involves the present resupply which is to take the fuel from the refinery, at this point in time, which is in Edmonton, at another point in time, it could be elsewhere, which is loaded onto rail cars and taken by rail to Churchill, unloaded at the big tank farms and taken again, to the communities after being loaded on barges. There are quite a number of issues. There was a point in time when we had some problems in getting permission, recently from the tank owners in Churchill about actually storing fuel in the tanks.
After some work by the Public Works and Services staff, there was an agreement to do use the Churchill tanks as we had before. I think the difference is that the fuel that will go to these tanks will not come through the railway, but will be delivered by NTCL by tanker and stored in Churchill, and then NTCL will take the fuel and deliver it to the communities this coming season.
That was the issue that had been worked out and that was apparently communicated to the resource committee, recently. As I said before, it was other staff or another Minister that had made the presentation, I was not involved in that.
As far as opposition to what we are doing now, I think it is important not to overstate the opposition. I understand that there has been a letter from Mr. Dillion from the Delta area, Mr. Wilcox from Cambridge Bay, the Hamlet of Arviat as I understand is the only council that has made a motion in this regard, and there has been other opposition. I think it is one, again, of making a decision, a choice, which we have obviously made, and a choice I think that a responsible government would make if you look at the long-term cost or long term savings. Thank you.