Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would have liked to settle weeks ago, but unfortunately we are caught up in a battle that is not necessarily being driven by territorial politics and more by national ones. It is certainly our desire, one to deal with the bad faith bargaining issue, which is an allegation by the UNW not us. I believe that gets dealt with on Monday. I am hopeful that the courts will see that we are bargaining in good faith. We will apply, under the Public Service Act, in accordance with the rules that are in place, that a mediator will be appointed because we can not come to an agreement with the union on that. Once that is done, the mediator is supposed to help both parties reach a resolve. I want to resolve this thing. As I have said to my honourable colleague many times, both informally and formally, as quickly as possible to put money in the hands of our employees. At the end of the day, it is up to the UNW to give the democratic right to each of our constituents and employees to vote on what we think is a fair and reasonable settlement. I want to remind everybody that we want to give the people more money not less money. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Oral questions. Ms. Groenewegen.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as Minister of Transportation and also having travelled on the highway system, whenever there is a capital project, I notice there is a sign but I have never really asked the department what is the policy with the sign but I know it describes the project and it also lists the MLA's riding as well as the Minister responsible for the project. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Enterprise is in the Hay River constituency, so I do not know. We will talk to the MLAs involved and we will talk to the department.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Antoine.

I did not really study that particular sign in my travels, Mr. Speaker, so I am not aware of that situation until today. We will take a look at it. Thank you.

Oral questions. Mr. Steen.

The Minister responsible for Municipal and Community Affairs, Ms. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and welcome back to the session. This to everybody. I will have to take the question as notice because I am not briefed on the different types of solutions or chemicals that are put on the roads. I will get back to the Member as soon as I get more information on this issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The question is taken as notice. Oral questions. Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Transportation in regard to NAV Canada and their notice of new revised service charges. Earlier I had indicated that I had sent the federal Minister Collenette a few letters asking him to invoke Section 35(2) of the Civil Air and Navigation Services Commercial Act, that states the charging methodology may recognize that the value of the services differs among users. I know also that the Minister and his officials have been working hard on these issues. Could the Minister be kind enough to update us on what they have been doing over the course of the summer to try to get NAV Canada to change their user fees?

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, NAV Canada had a 60-day consultation process that they have gone throughout the summer. Through the consultation process we were expressing our concern about the increases that they were planning to impose upon us in the North here on the air carriers which will in turn be reflected down into higher costs in air transportation, passengers and airfares as well as cargo. We are told by NAV Canada that they are doing away with the ATT, the tax that they put on carriers, passengers, however they will replace it with a fee. They will be doing away with this tax however, they will have an increase of $7.5 million above the taxes they used to recover. As a result of that, we realize this will be an additional financial burden to people in the north. As a result, through the consultation processes with NAV Canada we were writing letters and expressing our concerns. We also work with the other stakeholders in the north, the air carriers, different interest groups, different organizations explaining to them, briefing them what we interpret this new fee structure to be. As a result, there has been a strategy campaign to try to get to NAV Canada and their board to express upon them our concern here. We felt that going through the consultation process, they do not seem to be taking us very seriously so I was able to meet personally with the Chairman of the NAV Canada board, Mr. Louis Comeau in the early part of August and told him personally, all our concerns and expressed to him what we were seeking is that we do not want to see an increase in the cost of airfare in the north, that we would seek cost-neutral arrangements where they have all the numbers, they have done all the consultation, so it is up to them to figure out a structure that would not see any increase in the north and we left it with them. The board met and put a proposal together and presented it to federal Minister Collenette and he has 30 days from the time it is presented to him. I understand tomorrow is the last day when he will decide whether he is going to approve this proposal or not.

I also had the opportunity of talking to Minister Collenette on the telephone. I again impressed upon him the severe consequences that these new fees will have here in the north. Despite our representation to him, he has until tomorrow. We have no indication whether he is going to approve it. We expressed upon him that he should amend this proposal, so that we will not see any increases. The NAV Can proposal is to delay this whole process for a few months, about six months and another six months for another fee structure, but at the end of the day, they will still want to increase fees. This is where we are at. I am attending a Minister of Transportation meeting next week in Regina. Minister Collenette will be there and one of the agenda items is NAV Canada. It is not only we, here in the Northwest Territories, who are in the same predicament. We are also dealing with the Yukon which is in the same situation, as well as the northern provinces in the south. That is where we are at right now. Thank you.

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister indicated there was a 30-day period after NAV Canada had announced their fees, whereby there was time for the federal Minister to review this. What does that actually mean? Can you explain that a little bit?

Mr. Antoine.