Thank you. Some of us could go back to building igloos. Thank you. Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we do have a plan. I will ask my deputy minister to elaborate more on that. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam deputy minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would just like to assure Members that included in community emergency response plans are our plans for evacuations in the event of power failure or any other emergency that might require the community be evacuated. We had an opportunity to put those plans to the test during the forest fires of a couple of years ago when we evacuated a couple of communities. Certainly, we know that in those cases, those plans did work. I would like to also just point out that in our 1998-99 business plan, we have identified a territorial joint support plan formalized as a new peace time plan, emergency response plan, for the Northwest Territories which is a national effort that is underway to make sure that all of the provincial and territorial plans do meet the national emergency response standards. To that end, we continue to ensure our regional superintendents receive upgrading and training in emergency response through the centre in Arnprior, Ontario, as well as through the national emergency response coordinating team. This ensures our superintendents' skills are sharp and that they are able to play that coordinating role. In addition, over the last couple of years, we have built emergency operating centres in each of the regional offices which are equipped with generators and radios to ensure that in the event of an emergency, our regional superintendents will be able to be in contact with hamlets and communities in their region to coordinate any actions that would be required. I hope that information is helpful to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the plan is available to the EMO staff, but when you are at the community level and you are in the middle of a storm or whatever, how would the community itself, the residents, for example, in my community or anyone else's community, know where they are supposed to go during a power outage, a storm, freezing temperatures? Would they have places identified, like go to a school where they would have a generator, for example? Would you go to the EMO office? How does the department get that type of information out to the general public? It is nice that the EMO staff has that information, but how does the general public know? Once you get into a storm situation, I remember in the last case just around Christmas time when we had a blizzard in Iqaluit. If the power had gone off and you have 100 kilometres per hour winds and visibility is nil, what do you do? Where do you go? The question was asked to me when I was home. Where do we go? How do the people know where to go? How do they get transported there? Do they have blankets, food, heat, medical supplies, and so on? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Madam Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I can only answer what I have experienced at the grassroots level in the communities that I have been to. I know in Repulse Bay, everybody is connected to the CB radio. Hardly anybody has a telephone. They do communicate where the people should be going to through CB radios. I know in Rankin, the local radio gets turned on, and then people are communicated with. It is the responsibility of the community on how they should be communicating to the people. In a bigger centre like Iqaluit, I would also be concerned where you cannot do this fast enough to communicate to a large population. I do know in the smaller communities, the communication is really well organized by the local people. There is a public education pamphlet that is being prepared by my department right now which is in the process regarding this situation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased to see the department is having a pamphlet prepared. Hopefully, it will be program specific to each of the communities, even in smaller communities, when the power goes off. I remember when I lived in Clyde River, the power went off in half the town. We did not know where to go. There was a blizzard situation. The power was off and the airport runway lights could not come on and planes could not land. We had to get all the vehicles up at the airport to light the runway. There all different types of circumstances. Sometimes when the power goes off, the local radio cannot come on and you cannot get that information out. All I was trying to say is, if there is an emergency or people have to go to some place and congregate in some area, those centres where people could go, should be identified; for example, if it is a school, if it is an EMO office, if it is a government office building, and so on. Hopefully, when the pamphlet is done, maybe contact numbers for EMO could be on for each region so you could phone your EMO office and say, where do I go or can I get someone to come and get us? In a lot of communities, the larger communities and sometimes the smaller communities, you have people moving in and out who might not be aware of the things other people who have been there for a longer period of time know. I am wondering if the Minister and her department could actually look at making that type of information available on that pamphlet and what, in actuality, is going to be in this pamphlet that will be produced? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. The honourable Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to thank the Member for his observation. The pamphlet has already been distributed. We will improve where it needs to be improved. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If the pamphlet has already been distributed, then it is too late to get notification on the pamphlet as to where to call. Maybe that is something that the EMO, through the department, could look at, letting people know in the communities what the EMO numbers are in case of emergencies and places to go again in case you had to abandon your homes? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you. Madame Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we will do that.

Thank you. Emergency services, total operations and maintenance. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. Madam deputy minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, municipal water supply is regularly tested. Certainly, in any community where residents would be raising a concern about the quality of the water, the environmental health officer from the regional health board would soon be in to sample and to test the water supply. This is something that is done regularly. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you. Through Madam Minister, I recognize deputy minister Ballantyne.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, in just very quickly checking with Mr. Christensen, I do not believe we have ever had an incident in which the municipal water supply has been contaminated and been unable to be used at all. From time to time, there certainly would have been public health advisories, for example, on boiling, et cetera, if there has been some turbidity in the water or in the case where there is some temporary problem. I think the Member is asking me, do we have a plan in place to provide fresh water to community residents in case the municipal water supply would be contaminated to the extent that it could not be used. My answer would have to be no. We do not have a plan specific to that issue. Thank you.