Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe the Member should be assured that this government will always encourage officials who deal with communities to make themselves available to the communities they are serving, to ensure there is as much communication and effort being made to resolve issues and concerns that arise in the course of business as conducted between the government and the communities involved. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, another area I have some concerns with is ensuring that we do work for the benefit of all of the people in the North and that we be consistent when we do something for one community, the opportunity is there for other communities, especially when communities find themselves in financial difficulties and it is affecting the programs and services we have given them the ability to carry out. They cannot do that.

I would like to ask the Premier if he could ensure that we have fairness in the way programs are being allocated. That we do not pick one community over the other and we try to be fair to all communities when it comes to distributing and assisting communities to help them with the budgetary problems they are running into. Will the Premier commit to that?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the Member can be assured that we try to be as consistent and as fair as possible and that we will deal with all communities, all people of the Northwest Territories. It is also true that communities, as they take on increased responsibility, also have a responsibility to manage their money and their budgets. If they run into deficits, take on the responsibility for recovering those as well. Where it is not solely their responsibility, this government is prepared to discuss that situation with them. I think that has been fairly consistent. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, for one, would like to hear it from the Premier. I think it is apparent that we do have different resources used in different areas. We have programs that are structured to assist some communities and not all communities. We have to realize there is a financial impact not only to the communities, but it is a financial impact to this government. The services we provide are on behalf of this government for all people. I think we have to ensure that if one community is getting funds through a supplementary appropriation, other communities have the ability to also access dollars to assist them under the same circumstances through that process.

So I would like to ask the Premier, will he consider ensuring that the use of supplementary appropriation is open to all communities?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, supplementary appropriations are used by this government to request additional financial resources for departments that find themselves facing additional needs through the course of the year that are beyond what is appropriated to them through the normal budgetary process.

Where, on occasion, communities face difficulties that we believe are not solely their responsibility and are created through unforeseen circumstances, there are sometimes supplementary appropriations requested by departments to address that. It is not intended for communities to unilaterally request money through appropriation bills themselves. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the document and the strategy is a living document that will be around for awhile. It is the department's intent to make changes as required. All through the document, you will see that it suggests that there is encouragement for aboriginal companies, aboriginal people to get employment or business opportunities. The strategy really realizes that to have these particular routes put in place would require cooperation and coordination with the aboriginal groups and with the aboriginal communities.

The Lupin road, which I think is giving the Member some concern, is really just a winter road into the Lupin mine country which services the diamond mines at the present time as well as some gold explorations. There is no intention at this time that this is eventually going to become the all-weather route into the Slave Geological Province.

The document clearly states there is going to be involvement with communities to define exactly where an all-weather route would eventually be built in the North Slave. If this route services the communities and the mines at the same time and it is the cheapest route, then that is the route that we will probably take, but there is no decision in this document at this point. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the main purposes of this government in considering taking over the Lupin winter road is to allow for aboriginal participation in the maintenance of that road for future. It allows for northern control of the route.

The whole strategy would include consultation with aboriginal groups and consultation with aboriginal communities as to where and what we will do with this particular route in the future. The whole purpose at this point is to allow for northern control of that particular route into the Slave Geological Province and, like the Member's concern, it is aboriginal participation.

Thank you, Minister Steen. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you. Mr. Lafferty, I would think that is a difficult question to ask. Could you rephrase that question please?

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the intent here is to allow for aboriginal participation, like I said. We are discussing these issues with industry. We are having discussions with all stakeholders to identify the needs. The overall plan of this Lupin winter road would be at no cost to this government. Right now, it operates on a similar system with industry. Industry pays the full cost. I am a bit concerned that the Member is suggesting that we do not take aboriginal concerns and we do not identify them specifically in this document. The document is following on the lines of "Common Ground". It is following the lines of "Towards a Better Tomorrow" and the whole intent is to involve the aboriginal groups in the benefits from this construction of these roads. Thank you.