Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, as I indicated before, both now and in the past, the department has been fairly aggressive in trying to encourage the federal government to come forward with a plan that would address the needs that we have to bring our portion of the national highway system up to standards.
We have met with our federal counterparts and we have met with Mr. Collenette on more than one occasion. My department officials have been in touch with federal officials on the same issue. We have met with them trying to work out a formula. Now that we have convinced the federal government to put money towards the national highway system, we are working on how that money is going to be distributed and feel that we have a very strong point in that we have a portion of the national highway system that is not up to standards. We do use the fact that it is subject to closure due to freeze up and breakup. We are using all the avenues that we can. I set my limits at parking at Mr. Collenette's door. I do not think that is going to be that effective. I suppose you could say there are certain limits to what the federal Minister can do to respond because he does have an area that is bigger than the Northwest Territories. He does have political pressure that is larger than just us. I am not disappointed with the responses I have received from Mr. Collenette.
On the other hand, like the Member, I do not want to put all my eggs in a basket that I am going to get money from the federal government. We are operating right now on our existing funds. We are trying to address the needs of Highway No. 3 over a ten-year period because we do not have any other capital. I cannot reduce my capital in the other areas in order to meet Highway No. 3. There are needs territorial wide. I have the support of the committee, I believe, in that there should not be any more reductions of capital in the department. I am very encouraged with that and I am hoping that the rest of the government departments will be able to function without having to cut any more of our capital in order to address the social programs. It is not a decision made just by this department. It is made with Cabinet. It is made with committee's involvement and made in the Legislature. We do try to meet the needs that are identified. We are trying the best we can with the money we have. I do not know what the Member could expect out of the department over what we are doing. We are trying our best. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.