Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my questions will be directed towards the policy and planning of the department as it applies to access roads. Mr. Chairman, yesterday we heard comments from some of the Members as to the benefits from this program. If I may preamble a little, Mr. Chairman, I believe Mr. Erasmus, Member for Yellowknife North, was referring to the Ingraham Trail as not being quite up to the standards of a highway and therefore was just a trail.

Mr. Chairman, where I come from a trail could also be classified as an access road, and I noticed that this trail over, the past number of years has been heavily used by fisherman, because there is a lot of fishing going on along that trail. I also noticed that there is a lot of hunting going on that trail and this is evident by the fact that there were some problems with people concerned about their safety there was so much hunting on that trail.

On the other hand, we have Mr. Henry, Yellowknife South, saying that we should not spend any money on these access roads that are just for hunting and fishing. I am getting a mixed message. I am sure the department is getting mixed messages as to where they should be directing their funding. Now, in my area, my community talks in particular, we have been after the government department for consideration of an access road which would serve more than just fishing and hunting purposes.

We look at it as an access road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. It is actually an access road to the Beaufort Sea and all the resources in the Beaufort Sea. We also look at it from the point of view that once the new territories are established, the Beaufort Sea is going to be the only seaport this territory has. We feel there should be a lot of priority put on what we call the access road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk. In that regard, I would like to ask the Minister if he could possibly identify to the committee how they prioritize their funding for this most popular program.