Thank you, Mr. O'Brien. Good morning. I would like to advise the House that I have received the following message from Her Honour the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories.

Dear Mr. Speaker: I wish to advise that I recommend to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories, the passage of Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 2, 1998-99 during the Sixth Session of the 13th Legislative Assembly. It is signed by yours truly, Helen Maksagak, Commissioner.

Orders of the day. Item 2, Ministers' statements. Item 3, Members' statements. Mr. Roland.

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Picco.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, NTI recently won an important decision in its favour at the federal Court of Appeal. The court found there was no evidence in the record that the federal Fisheries Minister had given special consideration to Nunavut's Inuit claim of adjacency to the turbot ad agency resources when he allocated Nunavut 100 tonnes of 1,100 increase through Canada's total allowable catch. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, that decision had the effect of decreasing or reducing Nunavut's share to 24.4 percent of the overall catch. Mr. Speaker, I have raised this question in the House several times on what this government was doing to support NTI and the Inuit of Nunavut with regard to the principle of adjacency with fishing rights off Baffin and Nunavut's east coast. Since NTI won the appeal, there are apparently no grounds on which to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court. NTI is to be congratulated for bringing this issue forward in such a vigorous way.

Next week, our Minister for RWED will be attending a meeting of Fisheries Ministers and I would hope that Mr. Kakfwi again will bring this topic up with his federal counterparts. Later today, I will address some questions to the Minister on the principles of adjacency as outlined in the Nunavut land claim that has been held up in the recent supreme court decision and our government's reaction to them. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Miltenberger.

The Member for Thebacha is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Do we have any nays? There are no nays. You have unanimous consent, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Kakfwi. Members' statements. Mr. Rabesca.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I bring forward a concern raised by my constituents of Snare Lake. For the past number of years, the community of Snare Lake has had the option to drive out of the community during the winter resupply. However, this option was mainly available as a result of this government's cooperation agreement that the Department of Transportation had with the Colomac gold mine. This agreement allowed for Transportation to build a winter road to Snare Lake. The road would connect to the Colomac road and thus saving many thousands of dollars for this government and the residents of Snare Lake. The residents and government were able to bring freight and fuel into the community at a reasonable rate compared to that of flying everything in, as is the case during most of the year.

Which bring me to my point, as you may recall Royal Oak shut down the Colomac mine approximately a year and a half ago. This means that after last year's winter road where Royal Oak removed all of its equipment, there will no longer be a winter road that could be utilized by the residents of Snare Lake. The residents will once again be dependent solely on the airline companies and the higher than normal freight costs. To give you one good example of these high costs, a litre of gas is $0.99. This is a very high cost, considering in Pelly Bay, the price for the same goods are 96.9 for a litre of gas. Now I realize one cannot compare the two communities. The distance between Pelly Bay and Yellowknife as well as other differences. However, Snare Lake is only a 45 minute flight from Yellowknife. Is there something that can be done to lessen the impact to our residents of Snare Lake? I do not know. I am, however, hoping the honourable Minister of Transportation will be able to inform us later today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Henry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to make some suggestions to the Minister of Transportation that may solve the anticipated financial hardship that will be foisted upon northerners by the implementation of the proposed NAV Canada fee schedule, if it is enacted. Mr. Speaker, my honourable colleague from Yellowknife North has quite rightly raised the point that NAV Canada stands to make enormous profits on the opening of circumpolar routes that overfly previously restricted Russian airspace. When you consider that the airliners will spend a considerable amount, if not the majority, of their time in the NWT airspace, it is only fair that this financial windfall be used to subsidize the cost of air travel in the north.

Mr. Speaker, it is Friday and I am going to have some fun with some of the facts and figures to make my point. So what do we do, Mr. Speaker? How do we get NAV Canada and the federal Minister of Transportation to see the validity of our points? I believe the GNWT have legal ownership on the ground that the magnetic north originates from. I would like to suggest that we as a government charge NAV Canada a fee for the use of the magnetic north signal. In fact, we could charge the whole aviation world a fee for the use of that signal.

What I propose, Mr. Speaker, is that we apply to the courts for the right to charge a fee for the use of the magnetic north signal emanating from the Northwest Territories. We could block out the signal to those who would not subscribe to the program, just like the cable TV operators do. I would like to suggest that Minister Antoine when he is putting this regime in place that he consider retroactivity, for say the past ten years. I would like to make it perfectly clear, Mr. Speaker, that Santa Claus would be exempt from any of these fees. I say this as a demonstration of my good will as opposed to what NAV Canada has shown the north.

I was pleased to hear, Mr. Speaker, that NAV Canada, in their benevolence, will not be charging fees to air ambulances or fire fighting planes. What an amazing concession. I had this vision in my head of the president of NAV Canada playing a fiddle and dancing while the Western Territories forests burn because somebody in RWED forgot to pay the aviation fees. Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

The Member for Yellowknife South is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Do we have any nays? Mr. Henry, you have unanimous consent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and thank you, colleagues. On the subject of air ambulances, I have another idea since NAV Canada made the concession on those fees. I have a strong suspicion that nearly every commercial flight made by a scheduled airline in the Northwest Territories has on board, someone travelling for medical reasons. All we have to do is document it and refuse to pay the fees for that flight. We have to make the federal government and NAV Canada understand that the proposed fee structure will create undue hardship for the residents of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. This privatization of an essential public service must not impact upon those people least equipped to pay, such as the majority of northern residents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--Applause

Thank you. Members' statements. Mr. Barnabas.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on a concern that was raised by my constituency regarding the social workers in the communities I represent. Mr. Speaker, even in small communities social problems occur just like any other community. Mr. Speaker, in Arctic Bay and in the constituency I represent, in Grise Fiord there has been no social worker in those two communities for the past six months in Arctic Bay and over a month now in Grise Fiord. What I would like to address to the government is that these small communities need social assistance as well as bigger communities. For this reason, I rise today to address this issue of the social workers in these two communities. When the appropriate Minister is in the House, I will be asking questions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Members' statements. Item 4, returns to oral questions. Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral question asked by Mr. Krutko on September 16, 1998 in regard to poor conditions of the Dempster Highway.

Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, September 16, 1998, the Member for Mackenzie Delta called attention to the state of repair of the Dempster Highway. The Dempster Highway was built through terrain where permafrost is a common feature. Every summer the frozen earth melts causing settlement and slumping in the road bed and side embankments. This summer was both warmer and wetter than most causing more than the usual amount of melting and settling in the road.

The Department of Transportation attended steadily to road repairs throughout the summer although the wet weather did cause some delays. Through a labour contract with the Fort McPherson Band, the department retained the services of a highway foreman who regularly patrolled the highway watching for surface or embankment failures that would require maintenance attention.

Over the summer, the department's project engineer from the Inuvik office was staying in Fort McPherson on the Dempster Highway reconstruction project. From Fort McPherson he was able to give technical and supervisory advice on the road repairs as necessary.

The department's highway maintenance contractor for this section of the Dempster Highway, Tetlit Zeh Trucking of Fort McPherson also provided services needed to maintain the highway in a safe, functional condition.

The department is keeping pace with the road repairs and will continue to watch the highway carefully until it freezes once again for the winter. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Returns to oral questions. Mr. Kakfwi.