Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The intent of this bill was very straightforward and long overdue to catch us up with the rest of Canada in what is really a very common sense choice that people have to use seatbelts. As the Minister has said, there is no shadow of a doubt this makes a difference. It saves lives and helps prevent injury.

Where I as a committee member had to stop and think about this was to reflect on the concerns raised by my colleagues from the smaller communities in the Northwest Territories, especially the off-road communities where pick-up trucks are very often the transportation mode of choice, and that we would really be, sort of by virtue of modernizing our legislation and making it even more common sense, we would in fact be imposing something on the people in those communities that was quite unfair and would make them law-breakers.

This was an area that concerned me. I think just about everybody in the North has had the occasion to be very grateful of a pick-up truck ride from a cold airstrip or a rainy shoreline to a community. These were aspects that were felt to be unavoidable, but a compromise through allowing municipalities, if it is their wish, to exempt themselves, is I think a very good one. It helps demonstrate, perhaps even in a relatively small way in this case, this Legislature does want to keep in mind the interests and the priorities that exist in the smaller communities. I think this was a good proposal to put forward and I compliment the Minister and the department for accommodating this.

I do have a question related to this, Mr. Chairman, and that is could the Minister outline for us just what steps would be taken to inform municipalities of the option that they have and how they would go about making an exemption that would suit their own communities? What kind of an information program will the department be putting together for municipalities? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.