Thank you, Mr. Minister. I do not think we want to get into a discussion on process. We have been talking about process for a while and we have been using a process, but I would encourage Members to keep their comments general and then deal with specific questions when we go to item by item. Mr. Krutko, anything further?

I do not know what I can speak on outside the budget, but seeing that there has been an increase in the budget, I would like to ask the Minister exactly, have they considered relooking at the different strategies that have been done to include our roads to be constructed to communities that do not have access to date?

We announced a $100 million initiative that this government has taken on, but yet there are communities out there that want to have permanent access. In my riding, in Aklavik, there was a petition filed in this House. Yet from the response to the petition, it seems like this department is not really interested because it does not benefit the non-renewable resource sector, it benefits the people of the North. I would like to ask the Minister exactly where is the priority of this government when it comes to the residents of the Northwest Territories overseeing the non-renewable sector?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, I will try to make my response short. The concern expressed by the Member, as I understand it, is that he feels his communities, because they are off the beaten path of the oil and gas activity and the main highways, he is feeling that the department does not have any program for highway or future roads that would serve his particular communities.

The department has always operated under the policy that new roads are the responsibility of Indian Affairs. That is simply because we do not have the revenue to do the job, and we have not been given the responsibility from Indian Affairs to construct new roads. However, we have been working with Indian Affairs to address some of the shortfalls in revenues through the winter road systems, through the bridge program that we undertook. We have entered into an agreement with Indian Affairs to construct some new bridges on the winter road in the Sahtu. We received funding from Indian Affairs for this.

To date, we have not received any funding from Indian Affairs for any new roads. The winter road, specifically, was not a new road. It was part of the winter road system. I hope that covers the Member's question.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. General comments. Mr. Krutko.

With regard to the responsibility of the federal government versus this government, we as a legislature are responsible for the residents of the Northwest Territories. I for one feel that we do have an obligation to ensure that the residents of the Northwest Territories are able to move freely between the communities and also have the ability to drive. This year in the Mackenzie Delta, it has been a real problem just getting the winter road systems, and elsewhere in the Northwest Territories. I think that we as a government have to seriously look at the challenges we face in a lot of our communities. I think that sooner or later, we will possibly have to look at permanent roads.

I think the federal government, under its natural resources agreement that they are responsible for...we are not responsible for mining, we are not responsible for oil and gas. That is a federal responsibility. Why is it as a government we are the ones that are taking on these initiatives to build these roads to where those resources are, yet the federal government gets 100 percent of those dollars from the resource development and also from the different taxes that come from it?

I would like to ask the Minister exactly why is it that when it comes to a community wanting to have access to our major highway or road systems, we are not looking at them as a priority. It seems that we are trying to take on a responsibility that is not ours. You mentioned that it is a federal responsibility. Yes, it is a federal responsibility, but under the natural resources agreement, which is the Canadian federal jurisdiction, unless we get a northern accord, or unless we get the resources and revenues that come from those types of agreement -- whatever mining companies or oil and gas companies want to do, the buildings of roads and what not should remain a federal responsibility.

I would like to ask the Minister again, why is it that we are developing these strategies and looking at spending a lot of time and emphasis on these different strategies, yet there are no real areas within those strategies to deal with the residents of the Northwest Territories. We are looking at more of a federal responsibility, so why is it that we are not taking on these federal responsibilities instead of leaving it to the federal government?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Steen.

Mr. Chairman, although it may look like we are taking on federal responsibilities, we do not feel that this is the case. What we are finding is that as the federal government approves more non-renewable resource activity, whether it be in oil and gas or mining, it is impacting our highways. We are responsible for those highways. We are also responsible for the winter roads. The winter road systems that we had in the past were initially just to service communities. However, the oil and gas activities are using these winter roads and impacting on those winter roads, and therefore we have to do something in order to counter this impact.

We have approached the federal government and we have entered into a partnership approach with aboriginals as well, whereby the federal government has agreed to some funding. As a matter of fact, it was a two to one on the feds' part for that winter road project. There were some conditions tied to it whereby we had to make conditions so that the aboriginals were the main beneficiaries of the projects. We have done that, and this in turn allows us to build these bridges on these river crossings, and reduces the impact on the environment and allows us to have the winter road open for a longer time.

It is not necessarily to address the needs of the oil and gas industry, but more to address the needs of the communities as well. The winter roads were opening later, so there was a very short time when they were operating. We tried to extend that, and this is what we are hoping we will accomplish.

The federal Minister, Mr. Nault, has expressed to me that he is not really interested in building new roads strictly for social benefits. He would prefer that these new roads address economic development as well, and we assume this is mining development as well as oil and gas activities, which would in turn increase the economic activities in the Territories for all residents. This is how we have been operating under. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Krutko.

Since the Minister said that he had met with the Minister, I would like to ask the Minister, did he just meet with the Minister to talk about the road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk lately, within the last number of weeks?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, yes, we did discuss the road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk with Minister Nault.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Mr. Krutko.

Is the Minister of Indian Affairs willing to fund that particular highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk with federal dollars at this time?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Steen.

Mr. Chairman, at this time, we have nothing in writing.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Mr. Krutko.

Did the Minister give him any notion that they are seriously considering the possibility of looking at that as a possibility of finding funds within Indian and Northern Affairs to assist funding that portion of the new road system?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Steen.

Mr. Chairman, the Minister did indicate that he was in favour of contributing towards the road project.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. Mr. Krutko.

Did the Minister indicate where those possible revenues will be coming from? The funding we received for the bridges I believe came from an aboriginal funding pot for...I do not know if it was an aboriginal partnership, but it was an economic development fund which is funded through Indian Affairs. Is that where he was looking at those funds?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Steen.

Mr. Chairman, no, the Minister never indicated directly which program this would come under. However, the program we approached him under was a program similar to what he had done and contributed to on the winter road in the Mackenzie Valley. This was the program whereby the feds fund two-thirds and this government would fund one-third, or in partnership with aboriginals. Under that particular program, the federal limit is two-thirds.