Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This project is also a priority of my department. I think there has been a misunderstanding with the community. We have not deferred this project. It is still our priority. It is up to the community if they want to go ahead with it. The community may have thought that it has been deferred, but it has not. It is

up to the community what they want to do with it. We have approved it. It is ready to go and the department will be there for the community when they want us to proceed with the project. We just need direction from the community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Ms. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. At the AGM in Hay River, the department will be meeting with the mayor of Fort McPherson and we will be giving him some information. At this time, this is our priority, and we will do everything we can to help the Member because he has been working very hard on this initiative and also give the information out to the community the best we can. It is also our priority. I do not have the documentation that he is talking about, but we will proceed with this project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Ms. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we will get the answers to his questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Oral questions. Mr. Enuaraq.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question will be directed to the Minister of Transportation, the honourable Mr. Antoine. Mr. Speaker, it has been some time now that the residents of Pangnirtung have been asking to have their airport runway relocated. I understand the federal officials from Ottawa and from the Department of Transportation were in Pangnirtung not too long ago. I was wondering if the Minister could update this House on the relocation of the runway in Pangnirtung? Thank you.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we did have a tour of some of the Baffin communities in the winter time with members representative of the federal government, Transport Canada. We did visit the honourable Member's community of Pangnirtung to see if we could get some partnership arrangements going with the federal government to look at some of these airports which require attention. This is one of them. Mr. Speaker, this government does not have the financial capacity at this time, to do the major relocation of the community airport in Pangnirtung. We need to make some sort of arrangement. If we could get commitments from the federal government, Transport Canada, then it would be easier to do it. However, following the visit with the officials of Transport Canada, there has been no movement at all on their part. Apparently, there were some personnel changes within that department and it seems as a result of that the process that we had agreed upon has been slowed down. I will get back to the Member on exactly where this whole process is at as soon as I can. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in about six weeks, the Nunavut leaders are scheduled to meet in Nunavut. It will be a very important meeting to update people and Members of this House and all the organizations involved in the creation of Nunavut with the progress to date. My question is for the Deputy Premier, Mr. Arlooktoo. There was concern at the last meeting that it was a closed door meeting and the public was not allowed. Has any thought been made to opening the meeting this time around to the public, like previous meetings? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Premier, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, at the last meeting, we did have several working sessions in the beginning that only the working parties were involved in. We did open the meeting in the end to inform the public on what the discussions had been and to allow the public and media to ask questions. At this point in time, we have not

discussed the issue on whether we would follow the same process or not. We are planning to have a conference call in the next few days between myself, the Minister of DIAND and the NTI president on such issues as location, chairmanship, et cetera, I can certainly bring up the issue. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Picco.

Earlier, three or four months, I was involved in some discussions concerning the planned Nunavut celebrations and represented the Deputy Premier at a meeting. I am wondering has the Deputy Premier been involved in any discussions as the Deputy Premier of the Northwest Territories government concerning the Nunavut celebrations and what aspect, financial contribution and other contributions that the territorial government will be making toward these important celebrations. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Deputy Premier, Mr. Arlooktoo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First, I do appreciate the fact that the Member agreed to represent me. I could not attend the meeting that I was invited to for the Nunavut celebrations. Other than some correspondence I have received from Mr. Amagoalik on the emblem and on the flag, I have not been intimately involved in the discussions about the celebration. I, along with Mr. Todd, have focused our attention on actual government functions, programs, capacity, the contracting out functions of the real groundwork of division and have basically left the issue of celebrations and that part of the program to the committee which was selected to do the job.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, will this government be providing logistic and other help to the organizers of the Nunavut celebrations? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Arlooktoo.