Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod. Mr. McLeod, your question.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister responsible for Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. I would like to ask him if he could give us a status report on what the decision is on the retrofit for the tourist information booth on the Alberta/NWT border?

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would have to take that as notice. I do not know offhand exactly where we are with the retrofit of that particular facility. Thank you.

The question has been taken as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think I know where these questions are leading to now. I know what it is related to. If I am correct, we are discussing the use of the quarry pit in Inuvik and the letters that the department received in relation to this request from the town to use our quarry pit in Inuvik. We responded that although this was done in the past, and we allowed the community to use that particular quarry site in the past, it was with the understanding that they were using it during the same time we were using it. In other words, while this contractor was crushing for us, the department, the municipality had the option to use the contractor to crush some material for themselves as well.

In this particular situation, the town is asking us to use this pit even though we have no crushing activity going on within that pit. We responded that we would have to review the use of that pit, the material in the pit and get back to the town as to whether or not we in fact have surplus material they can use. We are still considering that.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a government, realizing that gravel materials are pretty hard to come by in most areas and municipalities depend on gravel as one of the means of upgrading the roads, especially in the case of Inuvik where there is a lot of growth and expansion going on. They need gravel. So I would like to know exactly what is the process for departments who have gravel to share that resource with municipalities, who may request it by means of a letter or what not?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department would take the request into consideration, as I have informed the Member, which we are doing now. However, there are other things that come into play as well as just general need. The Department of Transportation holds the permits and therefore we are responsible for maintaining the pits from an environmental point of view. As well, we have to ensure that there is material in that particular site sufficient to address our needs. This may not just be a yearly or annual need. We have to look to the future as to how long we expect to have to rely on that particular pit to service our own needs. That is what we are doing as far as the study is concerned. We are going to get back to the community on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question to the Minister is do they have any idea as to how long the pit, the gravel source in Inuvik, will be off limits to the public?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, after we have done our evaluation, we will then get back to the town. We have not received any requests from the public at this point for using that pit. The request was from the town.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me if he has responded to the request from the mayor of Inuvik with regard to their ability to access that quarry?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we replied to the mayor of Inuvik on August 23rd by letter, which basically outlined what I have said here today. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Nitah.

Thank you, Mr. Nitah. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Allen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the concepts of allowing more flexibility in the community government funding is for the communities to set out some priorities. One of the priorities is community roads and community infrastructure that meets the ever-growing needs of their citizens. I see this new community-based funding policy allowing those communities to re-assess their needs and re-establish those priorities. Perhaps community roads would be one of them. Thank you.