Mr. Howard.

Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If, for whatever reason, communities that right now have been approved and that come through and get their project off the ground, can other communities put an application in or do you have a list of them there, ready to go? Thank you.

Mr. Howard.

Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That is it in this area.

Community local access roads, grants and contributions, total grants and contributions, $380,000.

Motor vehicles program, operations expense, total operations expense, $2,636,000. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I know under this program activity the responsibility for legislation, acts and codes comes in. We heard, a few days ago, the Minister outlined the initiative that the department has undertaken with a number of stakeholders in the North to revise the Motor Vehicles Act, especially in the area of avoidance of substance abuse and people who get behind the wheel.

The area I would like to ask the Minister about stems from the responsibility under this act only for motor vehicles. We in the North have disturbingly high incidents of accidents involving alcohol and other substances in boats, on ATVs and snowmachines.

I wanted to ask the Minister what kind of initiatives might be in the works to toughen up those standards and help reduce the very disturbing level of accidents. Thank you.

Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we do have a proposal for legislation before the committee. For more specifics, to be specific on what we plan to do here, I will ask Mr. Howard to respond to that.

Mr. Howard.

Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In part, that answers the question. How about the area of ATVs and snowmachines? If I am correct, they are not technically covered under the Motor Vehicles Act. Can the department advise in that particular area? Thank you.

Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I believe the area of snowmachines and all highway vehicles in general will be addressed under new legislation proposals we have. We are trying to address what we see as a fair increase in impaired driving instances. We are trying to bring our legislation up to national standards in reference to stricter legislation which would allow us to impound vehicles and on the spot suspensions. We may even have longer and heavier fines and prison terms. We are trying to bring all our legislation in line with what they have in the provinces. That way, we would then be able to say we do have legislation that would be acceptable standards on a national level.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the answer. On another topic, I have a brief comment. It is where the Minister made an interesting point about recognition for things that occasionally are done well. Through your department and your colleagues, I believe it is the Ministers of Education and Health and Social Services, this government is making a contribution to somewhere in the neighbourhood of $30,000 to the conference that the Northwest Territories chapter of SADD is organizing in March. I applaud this. I think we all do. I am looking forward to further results from the commitment Mr. Allen made to contact his counterparts in other parts of Canada to solicit their support and see the strongest possible participation of Canada's youth in this initiative. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the department feels that under motor vehicles programs, we should take part. We actually encourage organizations like MADD and SADD to assist us in public awareness programs, any program that will reduce impaired driving. We are looking forward to this conference taking place that the SADD organization is involved in. I encourage my department to continue to work with the group to have a successful campaign there. Thank you.