Thank you, Mr. Vician. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can the Minister tell me if this includes all highways in the Northwest Territories that are presently not paved or chip-sealed?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will defer that to Mr. Vician.

Mr. Vician.

Thank you, Mr. Vician. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to know the scenario that they came up with calculating 50 vehicles to cause the problem with dust control.

I thought dust control was based on the heat and the limited rainfall that you have which causes dust. I did not realize you had to have 50 vehicles to calculate a formula, and that is the reason you get calcium. I would like to know from the Minister exactly where this formula came from? What is the basis of the argument that it takes 50 vehicles?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will defer that question to the deputy minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Vician. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Looking at the budget, I see there is some $500,000 that has been taken out of Highway No. 8. I would like to ask the Minister, are there plans to re-instate that money and bring it back up to the capital allocations that were in the five-year capital plan?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, at the present time we reduced Highway No. 8 from $2.5 million to $2 million. Next year, we will plan to put it back to $2.5 million. We plan to keep it at $2.5 million for the next four years.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The other question I have for the Minister is that I notice in the budget that there has been several items taken out, but they are not in the interim appropriation, specifically community access roads. Could I receive some assurances from the Minister that those dollars will be put back into the capital planning process, especially for those communities that have the monies taken out at this time through the interim? Will they be in the main estimates?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, although it may look like there are some communities that had their access road funding reduced or deleted, that is not the case. It is just that we only identified the access road funding for those communities that identified to the department that they needed the funding within the first four months. We have not reduced any access road program in any communities. In the Member's riding, since we have had our committee meetings and the Member made us aware that his community of Aklavik was, in fact, planning to use their money before break-up, the department is now re-examining how we can supply the funding to the community so that they can carry out their gravel requirements. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. One of the problems that we have is the whole process that we use to calculate or evaluating needs versus volumes versus priorities and trying to determine a system that is fair to the communities, or fair to the different jurisdictions in the Territories, making sure everybody gets their fair share of dollars for maintaining the 2200 kilometres of highways we have in the Northwest Territories.

Yet, on one hand we will be talking about one highway based on volume traffic. On another highway, we will talk about the calcium project based on, say, 50 vehicles. Are there any plans in the works for the department to come up with a fair system? All communities and regions on all the other highways feel that there is a more workable way of finding a fair system that is out there, say one that is based on numbers? I think numbers is one of many methods we can use. I am wondering if the department is considering the possibility of having a conference or getting together with other interested parties to find a more workable solution.

The reason I say that is because one thing I find, especially hearing from people that have to drive on different highways, that the snow has not been removed or the winter roads are too rough. It is because the decision making is usually left in Yellowknife, in which they have a minimum amount of money to maintain a road, but they do not have any money available to maintain on an as-and-when needed basis. It is always determined by someone else that you cannot maintain a road because there is not enough snow. You cannot get the calcium on the road because you used up your limit.

But somehow, there has to be a system in place where we are able to give the powers to the people that work on these roads day in and day out. The contractors get a lot of flack from the general public because they are wondering why you are not on the road. Why is your grader not grading this spot? Then we have to raise the issues here in the Legislative Assembly.

I am wondering if there is a mechanism in place that the department, along with the people in the field and the contractors, could come up with solutions to these problems we hear a lot of complaints about, especially from the general public? Could we find a more workable solution to deal with those problems? Is the Minister and his department open to considering such an offer to see if there are ways we can find a more fair and open process for maintaining our highway systems? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I know the department has a maintenance schedule based on classification of highways. As well, the reports the highways supervisors do of inspections on a daily basis on the highways. They in turn either instruct or expect the contractors to take action if the highway requires grading or plowing. However, in case I missed something here, I will ask my deputy to expand a little bit on that. Thank you.