The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Antoine.

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

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I also have another question for the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Antoine. You stated that you have been looking into this. I am asking if you can give me a written statement on what is happening up to today, stating what has been happening with the question that I have? Thank you, Mr. Speaker. (Translation ends)

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will provide the honourable Member with the development that is taking place in regards to the airport terminal building in Broughton Island. I will try to provide that information to him as soon as I can. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Transportation. Mr. Speaker, capital projects help bring critical employment and business opportunities to our communities. Arviat was expecting to get a new airport lighting system for this year. Can the Minister indicate whether or not my community will get this lighting system? Thank you.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the previous years the Arviat airport had a substantial amount of money, about $500,000, that was put into the five year capital plan in anticipation that the life of this airport and their lighting system would last maybe about 15 to 20 years. As you know, this is a five year capital plan. It is a planning exercise as the year of the actual project comes closer, which is the case in this year.

Last June, personnel from the Department of Transportation went into Arviat and took a real close look at the existing lighting system in Arviat. At that point in time, they determined that the present system could have an additional life of a few more years, like 5 to 8 years, if I recall correctly. This is how long the present system could last. As a result of that, the technicians determined that, perhaps, we could do maybe $50,000 worth of work this year.

I indicated to the Member earlier to our discussions, privately, that once we start looking at the system this summer, if it requires additional work, then we would put that additional work in its place. The information I have is that upon investigating the current system, it does not warrant a substantial amount of work as it was thought previously that it may have required that type of budget. Now it is a smaller budget. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is extremely disappointing to hear that, once again, Arviat will lose a very significant project. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister explain to me the process in relation to who makes the actual recommendation? I have some difficulty in understanding that, at one point, there is a need for a $500,000 retrofit to the airport lighting system, then, at another point, it is not needed anymore. Who actually makes the recommendation? Is it made at the regional level or at the headquarters level? Thank you.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in this particular case, the technical people went into the communities and took a real close look at the equipment that was there. It was determined, at that time, that it only required about $50,000 worth of work and there was no need to allocate any more resources to that until it is warranted during the actual fixing up of this system. The technical people then report to the assistant deputy minister in the east and this information is moved over towards the headquarters here. During the budget restraint exercise this department had to take, we had to look at everything. As a result of that, we did not target any community specifically, but we do not need that amount of resources to be allocated to this particular project. As a result, a decision was made here at headquarters level with myself involved, to determine that this project will have less resources put into it than was originally thought it would require. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I cannot begin to tell you the negative impact that this will have on my community, where we suffer from anywhere between 70 and 80 percent unemployment. It could mean possibly four or five jobs short-term even, in the matter of three or four weeks. Mr. Speaker, we talk about community empowerment here, community involvement. Mr. Speaker, my question to the Minister is, was the community consulted before the decision was made to remove this from the budget or the capital plan? Thank you.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am told that the hamlet was notified that there were going to be some changes to this particular budget. That is what I have been told by the department officials. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. O'Brien.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated, the smaller communities depend heavily on these capital projects to provide some short-term employment. Can the Minister tell me whether there was any consideration given to leaving the funding at least in the community to be used for other projects? Where the money could be used, for example, to extend the runway, which in itself, would provide probably four or five weeks work in the summer for three or four employees? Thank you.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in this case, no, that was not a factor. This department has taken quite a substantial reduction in participating in the budget reduction exercise. I think that if you look at the total budget, we have taken quite a big hit and we have to do with less all over the place.

I just want to add that, since the honourable Member mentioned his community, that it depends on a lot of different projects to go into the community. I appreciate that. I could add that there are other projects that we have bumped up, last year and this year. I think we put money into the wharf one year ahead of schedule from monies that came from other parts of the Keewatin, I believe. There are other projects in the honourable Member's constituency, not particularly in Arviat but in the other communities, that we have been able to put more resources into to help out the project. Like I said, again, if a project warrants that additional funds are required, then we try to find it from within the department. But, in this case, the lighting system does not require that amount of funding, so we took it out and we are doing minor repairs with it. If there are other projects that warrant additional resources, we try to find it from within the system. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Roland.