Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think the argument could be used for a number of roads. For example, activity in the Slave Geological Province would benefit from a winter road into Wekweti. There is an argument there that could be used.

Roads to the diamond mines; companies do it themselves by charging themselves per tonne per kilometre. I have asked the Minister recently in the House for some work to be done on the crossings in my area on the Dempster Highway and have been told we could not afford $50,000 more, that it just was not built into the system. However, we have something for double that amount, on the idea that it would help. Is this going to be a pattern? If it is, I will be happy with that and I will hope to see some of those funds flowing further north, where there is going to be much activity if we can help out companies in the exploration phase.

I know, for example, outside the community of Tsiigehtchic, Devlin Resources is pushing to get in there to do some seismic and drilling. There is 80 kilometres of road there. Is the department going to come in and support that initiative? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Steen.

Mr. Chairman, I am not the Minister responsible for Finance. I am the Minister responsible for Transportation and I will take the Member's question.

We are not building this road to help out the oil and gas companies. What we are building this road for is to give job opportunities and business opportunities to Northerners. They would be involved in the exploration activity. There is no suggestion here that just because an oil company wants access into the region that we are going to build a road for them. They have the opportunity like everyone else to apply for a land use permit and build the road themselves.

The point here is that there is more than one user. This is going to be an identified ongoing need. Furthermore, as Members are well aware, the department has a mandate to connect all communities to our highway system. This includes Wekweti. We are not trying to avoid that.

What the funding identifies is what we will need for this year. There is a lot to follow to this, in order to bring that road up to winter road standards. There are going to be more additions to this for next year, but that is in the business plans. This is what you would see in the business plans.

What we are asking for here is for this year, and we have already identified some of the costs and how we are going to recover some of that cost this year. For instance, $94,000 is available from existing sources and it breaks down: $50,000 will be contributed by Public Works; $20,000 by Housing, reflecting a decrease in annual resupply costs for fuel and housing units; and $24,000 from the Transportation Assistance Program, which will be transferred from Public Works to the Department of Transportation. So the $101,000 is less $94,000. Thank you.

Just for clarification, that was the Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Steen. The question was directed to the Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat and I directed it to Mr. Steen, for the record. Would you like to add anything, Mr. Handley?

Mr. Chairman, just to be clear here, the total cost of building the road is estimated at $195,000. Ninety-four thousand dollars, as Mr. Steen has said, comes from existing sources, Public Works and Services, Housing Corporation, and the Transportation Assistance Program, so the shortfall is the $101,000.

Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess that goes to the saying, let not your right hand know what your left hand is doing. Yesterday in defending this before committee, there was no mention of another $94,000, and I will have to ask to see the transcripts. I do not think other Members recall that either. As the Minister responsible for Transportation stated that there will be more going to it, in fact, as we see in interdepartmental activities of transfers, they are usually identified in here, that it is coming from one department to the next. That is not the case. Why is that, Mr. Chairman?

Our documents still say community access roads, so is there going to be an amendment to this act? Thank you.

The Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, no, there will not be a correction here because we do not vote it at that level. The Department of Public Works and Services, for example, will simply make a contribution of $50,000. The Housing Corporation does the same at $20,000, so there is no correction needed here.

Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I still dispute the fact that we only vote on the whole department. The FAA mentions activity for a reason. That is one of my pet peeves we will have to discuss further at some other time. It goes back, right now, saying that does not have to be changed; but the fact is, I think we are missing some key information here. When this was presented to us, and it was not until further questioning that it has come out. Members had the idea that it was only $101,000 that we were looking at. In fact, it has almost doubled when you look at the figures now. Where is it identified, the other dollars transferred from Public Works and the Housing Corporation? Thank you.

The Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, I did not realize that there was confusion. Certainly in the supplementary appropriation, we are asking for including $101,000 as supplementary funding. That is above what we have now. We would have to spend money to move fuel into Colville Lake, to move housing packages into Colville Lake, so there is money in the departments in the government already to cover those costs. That is the $94,000, which is what it totals up to. So what we are short to put a winter road in here is the $101,000 that is in the supplementary document.

Mr. Lafferty.

The Minister responsible for the Financial Management Board Secretariat, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, as we make decisions on where we are going to extend winter roads, we have to look at a number of factors. Resupply of the community is certainly one factor that has to be looked at. It is a major one in terms of getting basic needs into the community. The other major factor besides public use is the economic activity that could be or would be generated by extending a road into that community.

In the case of Colville Lake, there clearly is economic activity in terms of oil and gas exploration going on there this winter. There are jobs and business opportunities for the community of Colville Lake as well as other communities. There is good economic justification, as we said last night, for putting this road into that particular community. If someone can show us that there is the same level of activity going on in Wekweti, then it should be no different for that community than it is for any other one. We want to treat all communities fairly, but there has to be some economic return. We cannot justify a road just for a community resupply. There are other ways of doing that. Thank you.

Mr. Lafferty.

Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, what was included in the budget for this year was the amount of money needed for resupply of the community. When we prepared the business plans and budget documents we did not know with certainty whether or not there was going to be the oil and gas activity that is now confirmed happening in that area. It was not included because we did not know it. Therefore, we bring it back as a supplementary. Thank you.

Mr. Lafferty.

Mr. Handley.