Mr. Chairman, ideally we would like to see each department build that into their budgets. In some cases, departments were able to do it and in other cases, they just did not get the information or could not get the information on time to be able to do it. I agree with the Member. Ideally we would like to have all departments do it. Most of this information came late and some departments were not able to readjust their estimates. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

With regard to the expenditure, has the department looked at alternative fuel? You said it is based on fuel that is available. Right now, Arctic Dove, which is the Esso dealership out of Inuvik, has a vehicle that runs between Inuvik and Fort McPherson to distribute fuel in the community. It is almost 23 cents cheaper than what this government is selling it in the community. Surprisingly enough, the Co-op, which distributes fuel for this government, also purchases their fuel from Arctic Dove in Inuvik, yet they are the distributors for the Department of Public Works. If these companies have already taken it onto themselves, realizing there are savings they can find by going out and trying to find other retail distributors for diesel fuel and try to find ways of saving costs, why is this government also not doing that?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, I hope we are doing that. I would think if we are not, either we do not know the specific arrangements, and I appreciate the Member's information on that, or else we are locked into contracts that we are not able to just walk away from. However, I would hope that we are able to take advantage of the best possible prices, as the Member suggests. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

Is the Minister saying that the department made a bad deal where we got caught having to pay this extra price because we did not make a good deal on the purchase of diesel fuel and fuel products in the time frame that these expenditures were made?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, I did not say we made a bad deal. What I am saying is we should take advantage of the opportunities where we can. If we enter into a contract for six months before a price drops, then it may be that in hindsight, we would have had a better deal. Hindsight is great but often, we are not able to take advantage of it.

The objective by government should be to take advantage of the best prices possible where we have the opportunity. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Has the department looked at the possibility of meeting with different producers? Right now, we purchase a lot of our fuel products from the south. We bring it up by rail to Hay River and either distribute it by tanker or what not. At one time, there was a refinery in Norman Wells where we had the Norman Wells Area Proven Agreement, which had a set price that was based on a certain percentage of rate. At that time, we knew what the amount was. It was set, but because of doing away with that contract and going with that contract from an Alberta-based distributor, now we seem to be caught because we are dependent on that market and that it is a set price. It is not set like it was in the Norman Wells Proven Area Agreement, where it was a set price because there was a refinery and we knew exactly what the percentage was.

Has the department looked at talking to other distributors, other companies and the possibility of looking at that, instead of importing a lot of these fuel products, seeing what is the scenario if companies are willing to refine those products in the North and revisiting the Norman Wells Proven Area Agreement?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, yes, we have looked at that recently. In fact, we have looked at the Norman Wells refinery. I am told that all of the refining equipment has been taken out of that facility. It is basically just a shell left there now. That one does not hold much hope immediately.

In a longer term, I agree with the Member. We will continue to find ways of cutting our fuel costs down to a minimum. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Public Works and Services, operations expenditures, asset management, not previously authorized, $485,000. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will not prolong this for very much longer, but I just went back to my office and looked at the information that the Minister provided us with regarding our questions around this area. Mr. Voytilla stated that there was some new information that we did not receive regarding lease rates. Just going from the information they provided us, and the concerns are relatively the same, they gave us retail prices for home heating fuel in the Northwest Territories. They compared prices from July 2000, September 2000 to January 2001. I guess to me, it seems that the more you dig, you will get to the finer detail. Hopefully we will get to the details as put out properly instead of going through this whole process and spending a lot of time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Handley.

No comment. I appreciate the advice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Public Works and Services, operations expenditures, asset management, not previously authorized, $485,000.

Total department, not previously authorized, $485,000.

Health and Social Services, directorate and corporate services, not previously authorized, negative $50,000.

Primary and acute care programs, not previously authorized, $1,470,000. Mr. Roland.