Mr. Morin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member knows, the government is very quick in responding to the majority of the concerns raised in this Assembly. As Members know, we do have very effective and efficient staff in our offices upstairs watching these procedures, so through those processes I will request my staff immediately to contact the Department of Renewable Resources and Economic Development to pen a letter immediately for my signature to the federal government, so that within an hour or two I can fax it off. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Miltenberger.

The Minister of the Financial Management Board, Mr. Todd.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It would be fair to say, there has been a continued concern expressed, not only by some of the community-based providers of communications, but also others within the constituency at large. My staff has had numerous meetings with NorthwesTel and impressed upon them the need for them to move aggressively and meet the deadlines that we have set. If my memory serves me correct, the deadline I had said at the time was we would have this whole system up and running in the majority of the communities by April 1, 1999. Certainly, that was the intent. I do not have before me an up-to-date record to provide my colleague as to where we have successfully or unsuccessfully concluded the digital communication network system, but certainly the intention is and the direction I have given to my department is to put the right kind of pressure and to work in coordination with NorthwesTel to achieve that overall goal of having this communication system up and running by April 1, 1999, in all communities within the territories. Thank you.

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

Mr. Todd.

Mr. Speaker, I am not aware of where that is occurring, but if it is, I think I can probably say I would be disappointed. I do not want to prejudge whether, in fact, that is happening. All I can tell you is that I fundamentally believe a year, a year and a half ago that we would be the anchor tenant, in respect to this communication system and that we would get it up and running. If ever there was a place that the advanced state of the art digital communication system would work, it would be in a country like this. I will check with my staff and see what the status is and if there has been any attempt to downgrade or to give us any less than what we requested, then I will take the appropriate course of action to correct that. Thank you.

Oral question. Supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Todd.

I know in the previous discussions that were brought to my honourable colleague and my colleague from Inuvik as well, there was some concern about the impact of this overall digital communication network. There was some concern how it would impact upon the local Internet service providers. Again, I would hope that in the discussions that were undertaken with my department's officials and the community providers that we had reached some accommodation here that would not impact on their services. I will have to be brought up-to-date on this issue to determine if, in fact, there is validity to my colleague's question and if there is, I will take the appropriate action necessary to correct it. I will also look into some of the concerns he has expressed with respect to the technology because if we are getting any less than what we have asked for, you have my assurances corrective action will be taken. Thank you.

Oral questions. Final supplementary, Mr. Miltenberger.

Mr. Todd.

Thank you. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I will make every effort to do that. I would again, suggest, I am not up-to-date on this file as of today. I will look into it. There were supposed to be ongoing discussions that were to take place. Now, in any debate, of course, you never satisfy all of the people all of the time. Sometimes, hopefully, you satisfy some of the people, some of the time. It may be a situation like that. As we speak, Mr. Speaker, I am sending a note to my office to get a full briefing tomorrow morning. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Premier.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is my understanding that there are groups in the western Arctic working with the Arctic Tourism Association or something similar to that. I do not understand the local level of tourism and how it works, where the funding comes from, but I will be pleased to take that question as notice and I will have the Minister respond to the Member directly as soon as possible. Thank you.

Thank you. The question is taken as notice. Oral questions. Mr. Barnabas.