Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that. On the ongoing cost contributions to day cares, if a particular day care finds itself in financial difficulty, through no fault of its own, I wonder if there is money available, through the contribution agreements through Education, Culture and Employment, to help out that day care? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. My question is directed to the honourable Minister of Transportation. Mr. Speaker, this is in regards to the airport runway extension in Taloyoak. This is not a new issue and I do not think I have to take that much time to explain the purpose of why we need the extension in the runway. This has been provided to the honourable Minister on a number of occasions. I believe the Minister has the information as to why we need the runway. During the beginning of the session, I asked the same question and the honourable Minister indicated, at that time, that he would communicate with his federal counterpart and come back to me at a later time. My question is, what is the status of the request of the Hamlet of Taloyoak to extend the runway? The extension needed is only 400 feet. I understand the projected cost by this government is in the neighbourhood of $600,000. The community is willing, Mr. Speaker, to see the extension happen. The community is saying that they could do it at a much lesser cost. What is the status of their request? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Transportation. Mr. Antoine.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a request that was made earlier in the session. This is similar to other requests in regards to the extension of the airport. As I indicated earlier, this request is pretty hard to accommodate because of the budget restraint that this department has undergone. We are going to be getting into the details of it later on. It is going to indicate that we are going to be dealing with all these different issues in regards to airport extensions. In this particular case, I have met with the representatives of Taloyoak and the MLA, and our position is still the same. It would be very difficult to accommodate this request at this time. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, supplementary to the same honourable Minister. One of the associated costs to the proposed project was that the runway has to be widened in order to be extended. It is my understanding, Mr. Speaker, that the runway does not have to be widened at this time. Mr. Speaker, my supplementary is, did the Minister communicate with his federal counterpart? When I asked him, he indicated he was going to. Has he had any communication?

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do not think that we have communicated with the Transport Minister unless someone in the department has. Normally, in some of these requests, somebody in the department will do some preliminary contacts. If this is the case, I will get back to the honourable Member with whatever kind of communication that may have taken place. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ningark.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the safety of the public and the potential for lives in that situation is also penalized. In the winter and summer as well, we depend upon aircraft for medical evacuation. A number of things are penalized because of the change in the regulations of the federal government. Will the Minister communicate with his federal counterpart and indicate to him that, in fact, the safety of the public is penalized and the safety of people, who are in very life-threatening situations is penalized because we depend on air travel for medical evacuation? Thank you.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department has had contacts with the Minister of Transportation of the federal government in regard to the changes in their regulations. As you know, we have mentioned this before, the regulations have been changed throughout Canada, so that the actual airport and the amount of take-off that you need has been reduced somewhat in regard to the regulation. In the north here, we have a reprieve until the year 2010. We do not have to comply to the new regulations. However, it is a safety factor and we are very concerned about it. There have been communications with the federal department in regard to those regulations, and in regards to what the honourable Member is saying about the safety that is a factor here in the north. As I said, one of the main objectives of the department is that we have a safe transportation system. We will continue to communicate with our federal counterpart in this regard. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Miltenberger.

The Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. Mr. Kakfwi.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Kakfwi.