Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we are very much aware of the Iqaluit airport. The honourable Member has briefed us thoroughly on the situation there. In regards to the equipment, there was an analysis done by the consultants. What we could do is work with the community and the honourable Member and take a closer look at these pieces of equipment for the community of Iqaluit and determine what type of additional renovation or upgrade is required. Perhaps we could work out some sort of arrangement on that in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I do have a suggestion that might be able to help all parties involved. The sale of fuel at the Iqaluit airport is about five million litres a year. Is it possible at this time that some of the royalties from that fuel sales per litre, could be dedicated to the airport in Iqaluit, like had been done before from the federal government to carry on the cost of upgrading our equipment, so that we have the proper equipment to fight the eventuality of some type of accident at the airport? That is my question.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, were you reading the rule book last night? Well, I think I am on capital projects, Mr. Chairman. The Minister has informed us that we do not have the money, so I am saying here is a suggestion that the Minister in co-operation with the other Minister we could look at. I am not asking it in a flippant manner, Mr. Chairman, I am asking it in all seriousness. I would like to hear a response from the Minister who I know is sincerely looking at this and trying to help us.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it is correct that the sale of the fuel in the Iqaluit airport, aviation fuels and other fuels, the revenue that is derived from those sales goes into the general revenue of this government. If any type of arrangement is going to be made in regards to the honourable Member's request, it has to go to the government, the Minister of Finance, and my colleagues in Cabinet. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, yes we could look at other programs. Maybe other federal programs or some emergency measure programs that are there, that we have not really taken a serious close look at. We can certainly commit to look for these other sources to try to comply to the honourable Member's request for assistance in regards to upgrading the existing equipment for the airport in Iqaluit. Thank you.

(Translation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the honourable Minister is aware that we have been asking that the airstrip in Pond Inlet be extended for over 10 years. Under the current capital projects, it is not stated. The airplanes that are 747 and larger do arrive in Pond Inlet. It does not state this in the detail of capital. Can the Minister tell me as to why the capital is not included in the lengthening of the airstrip of Pond Inlet? I wonder why it is not included in the capital detail? Thank you, Mr. Chairman (Translation ends).

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the cost of the cutback that this department has to take in this fiscal year, we are not building any new infrastructure or adding on or extending. We are renovating and upgrading existing facilities so that we could extend the life of it for safety and so forth.

Extension of airports is one of the requests that is very common among some of the communities. Upon listening to the request, what we have to do here as a department, is to begin to start taking a real close look at how to accommodate those requests.

In this current year, we have nothing in the plans to extend any of the airports that have been requested, but we are going to have to look in the future to see how to accommodate those requests.

At the present time, I am told that the existing airports in the north are adequately serviced by the aircrafts, the critical aircraft that are designated to service these communities. If there is a requirement for more service, what I am told is that these critical aircrafts will increase the amount of time to go into the communities to provide that service. In regards to extending it for whatever reason, maybe economic reasons or maybe regulatory reasons, then we need to hear those arguments. In regards to the regulatory reason to extend the airports, we have a reprieve until the year 2010 to do that. We are going to have to start planning for 2010 now, so that once the reprieve is over, we know what we do at that point in time. But for economic reasons, the airline companies are the ones that are providing the service. What I am told is that the aircraft that goes into all these communities are providing the adequate services necessary for those communities. Based on those arguments and based on the reasons for cutting back in this department, it is not in the plans for this year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the Minister for visiting my constituencies over the winter. I would like to thank him for having a meeting with the hamlet councils in my constituency. I have a concern over one airport, which is in my home riding of Arctic Bay, which is supposed to be an emergency airstrip. It does not have lighting. There was a case over the winter where an ill person was supposed to leave, an emergency case, because of bad weather in Nanisivik and the Nanisivik airport not having a guiding instrument system, when there is bad weather, the planes can not make it there in most of the cases. My concern is why the Arctic Bay emergency airstrip is not lighted? There is no lighting system there. There is no ATB. Let me remind the Minister, we had to land in Nanisivik when he was visiting in Arctic Bay and we had to travel by land for 20 miles. If we were to land in Arctic Bay, we would have had to travel five minutes. That is my question. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Arctic Bay emergency strip is just that. It is a fairly good strip, but it does not have any power going to it. It is some distance from the municipality and the airport that serves the municipality is in Nanisivik. It is 20 to 30 kilometres or so. I do not know exactly, but it is some distance from Arctic Bay. You have to travel by the highway to it. This airport, at Nanisivik, has the lights and the terminal and the garages and the equipment, to maintain it. It serviced the jet that serviced the Nanisivik mine, so they have fairly good air service. The community itself, some distance away, only has an emergency service strip. There has not been any planning to upgrade it, to put any lights on it or to put an airport terminal building at the emergency strip, up to this point in time. As we are working on trying to figure out what we are going to do with the Nanisivik airport, perhaps once we come to an understanding with the owners of the Nanisivik mine to get involved in the operation of the airport in Nanisivik, that may free up some of the funds that we are spending to maintain that airport and maybe make arrangements to divert it towards the emergency airstrip in Arctic Bay. These are the types of things that we are talking about with the community. To see that the emergency airstrip right in Arctic Bay could have the type of lighting and facilities that will allow it to be used more on a regular basis in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to remind the Minister that for the lighting system, there is a cable from Nanisivik to the airport, which is about five kilometres, and the closest line in Arctic Bay is only about a mile. That should not be an excuse for runway lighting for a community. The other reason is because it is 20 miles, there is sometimes very different weather in Nanisivik than Arctic Bay. That is why I mentioned that Nanisivik does not have GIS, which even when there is bad weather, no plane could land. As a matter of fact, about a few years ago, we never had a plane land for seven weeks. Imagine that. The community suffered with the lack of supplies that we were supposed to be getting into the community, both Nanisivik and Arctic Bay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the situation that we find ourselves in regarding the Nanisivik airport and Arctic Bay and the emergency strip is it is going to take some time to come to a good resolution. There is work being done between the department and the owners of the Nanisivik mine and the municipality of Arctic Bay, to try to figure out how to best deal with this situation. During my visit to the community, in meeting with the hamlet of Arctic Bay, we covered some of this area. I am told that the people in the department in the east are also continuing to work with the municipalities and talking with the owners of the mine to try to come to a resolution. This department spends a lot of money maintaining the airport at Nanisivik mines. We clear their airstrip and keep the lighting going and the equipment going and we also maintain a highway to Arctic Bay to the airport and thus to the mine itself. There is a considerable amount of money that we spend towards keeping the airport open. What we would like to try is to make some sort of an arrangement with the owners of the mine, if they could take over the operation of the airport themselves, that would free up the type of money that we are spending on the airport. That way, we may divert some of those resources towards the emergency airstrip in Arctic Bay and build it up into the type of airstrip that the honourable Member has been requesting. It is going to take some time to do that, and we are actively trying to make that kind of arrangement at the present time. Thank you.

I would like to thank the Minister for responding quite clearly. My question is, we have an idea that Nanisivik might close and the airport is 20 miles away from Arctic Bay, which is pretty far from Arctic Bay. With Nanisivik

closed, will the airport be built or extended for Arctic Bay prior to the closing of the Nanisivik mine?