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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly we will look at past expenditures, look at whether or not what we are doing is fair to all of the harvesters. We recognize that the money we provide is meant as an incentive, as a contribution. It is not meant to cover all costs every year. There are some differences sometimes. Mr. Speaker, we will take a look at past expenditures. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We heard earlier today the government's intention not to proceed with the highway toll bills, but of equal significance to me was the commitment to go back out into the community, to industry, to look for ways to bring back more acceptable ways of investing in our highway infrastructure and for paying for it. I think this is a very positive signal and I look forward to that work.

Mr. Speaker, my question for the Minister of Transportation is what plans does he have for including and bringing in communities, individuals and industry experts to help redesign the Highway Investment Strategy? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department is considering different options as to how we could approach this particular issue and how we can include all the stakeholders in a review of what our plans are and how best to approach this important subject and come to some kind of agreement as to what type of legislation we could put in place that people could agree with and live with.

At this present time, we are considering all options, including the use of consultants, if necessary.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The overall initiative, as I have said, is a very good one but you know, I think we heard a lot of expertise when we were taking the bill out in committee and in the discourse over the last few weeks. I would again ask, of all the information and the people who are available, when, Mr. Speaker, will the Minister be contacting those people to bring them into the process of redesigning this new plan? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Considering all we have to do before we come forward with a plan here, including discussing this at Cabinet level, I expect it will be at least two weeks before we come out with any kind of plan.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

You know, Mr. Speaker, I do not think the Minister gets it. He still seems to be telling us that the government's approach here is to design a plan and then go out and get people to react to it. I am advocating that the government brings people in to help build the plan. That is how we are going to get buy-in and ownership of the plan and how to make it work.

I would have to ask just how does the Minister expect to come up with a workable plan if he does not include the expertise that we already have out there? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has a good suggestion and that will be taken into consideration as well. We have had a lot of different suggestions brought forward by trucking firms, chambers of commerce, chamber of mines. We have to review all of these, whether they can be used in the short term or whether they are long-term options. We have had suggestions that the chamber is going to put together a force of people that would go and lobby the federal government. We are giving them the opportunity to do this. The department is open to all suggestions, including the one from the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, the approach, the attitude, the appetite from Members here and from the people in the Northwest Territories is that we want, we need, we will help put the plan together. There is a lot of good will out there to go in this direction. The signal that we really need to receive from the Minister is that people will be welcomed and encouraged to participate in the process. When will the Minister be issuing an invitation to participate in an organized fashion and forum to help build this plan? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I would like to emphasize that this is not something the department will be doing on its own. We need the input from Cabinet on this as to what the consultation package is going to be, what process we are going to take in order to have input into this plan and how we are going to do the approach.

Like I said, I do not expect that this thing is going to be done overnight. There is no doubt that it is going to take a lot of thought on the part of the department as to how we can have an effective plan, whereby people take ownership of this thing, whatever the proposal comes out to be. However, the initial proposal that we are suggesting at this time is going to be the same proposal with amendments, as we have identified. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Premier, Mr. Kakfwi.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will take that question as notice. Thank you.

Thank you. The question has been taken as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.