Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, the Power Corporation, if I remember correctly, submitted a proposal. It would have to be taken into consideration how many communities or ridings, like the Member's riding, are not supporting the Power Corporation proposal. That would definitely play a major factor in the decision.

I cannot say right now that the Power Corporation would not take on, in the end, facilities in Fort McPherson and Tsiigehtchic, because it may be that in the end the government decides that on a broad scale the Power Corporation is the better proposal. Again, I cannot say yes or no. We are hypothetical right now and I should not even be involved in this type of discussion because it is hypothetical.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Krutko.

Well, that is why you are the Minister. You have the ultimate hammer. You make the final say. You are the Minister of Public Works, so if you say hey, nay or good day, I think someone will listen to you. In this case, because it is a Cabinet directive, does that override your ability as the Minister to make the ultimate decision?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, these are a form of negotiated contract, so it takes Cabinet approval, not just the Minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When will Cabinet, along with yourself, come forth with a final decision on how you are going to privatize petroleum products?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, based on what is happening with the Power Corporation review right now, I think we are looking at April of this year for some form of decision, one way or the other.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Krutko.

In the meantime, with the proposals that are coming forth, will you rationalize the priorities of those proposals so the people who are developing these proposals know ahead of time that they either have a fighting chance of at least having a review of their proposal? That they do not do all this work, realizing that once Cabinet makes a decision, they are going to turn around and privatize, or else they will make a decision to go directly with the Power Corporation taking over petroleum products all together?

Will the Minister state clearly how great a chance these people have of actually having a fair hearing or a fair process once their proposals are submitted? That they will be given due process and they will have an opportunity to have their proposals thoroughly reviewed and they will have the opportunity to eventually take over petroleum products, having submitted proposals and having met the criteria that this government is setting?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, there is one advantage in delaying the decision in that it allows the smaller operators, the smaller firms, to put forward proposals and the opportunity to fine-tune those proposals, working with petroleum products staff. We work with them to help them improve their proposals to make sure the information required by Cabinet is all there so that we do not have to go back to them later, or that the proposal gets turned down for lack of information. There is that advantage.

I cannot suggest false expectations here that they may in fact have a better chance than NTPC, one versus the other. I cannot suggest that right now. All I can say is that we are working with these smaller operators to fine-tune their proposals.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. We are on page 5-17. Mr. Krutko.

With regard to another matter in petroleum products, there was a study done with regard to an environmental audit done by this government. One of the areas they looked at was the whole area of petroleum products, the fuel tanks and the facilities we have. A lot of those facilities either have to be replaced or there have to be cleanups done at those sites. If the government is going to privatize, will they also make the proponents know that there are these liabilities or these standards where they have to either improve those facilities or do certain work to either remove or replace the existing tank farms because of the liability question? Will the Minister consider that?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, those are the types of issues that are on the table for discussion and negotiation when we deal with privatization and with the specific contractor. All this is on the table. There are no hidden factors. We have liabilities. We have some facilities that would need replacing. Those are all built into the plan that we will sign with the particular contractor.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wonder about the legal aspects of transferring an environmental liability from a government to a private agency. Have you looked at the legal parameters of that? It does not matter whether they take over an asset or what not of this government, it is still a liability of this government. If we know we have developed certain tank farms or what not in an environmentally sensitive area and we have had leaks that have been detected through tests, I wonder what the liability aspect is on the legal side of this government transferring assets knowing that we have an environmental liability or price tag attached to that. We cannot just automatically, by transferring an asset to a private company or organization, renege on our liabilities, especially when it comes to environmental liabilities for cleanup.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Minister.

Mr. Chairman, the process involved, on a general basis anyway, is that the liabilities that exist at the time we sign the agreement are our responsibility. You cannot transfer liabilities. Anything that happens after the signing date is the responsibility of the contractors. That is the deal. We are not asking for the contractors to take on our liabilities. We would work with them to resolve the liabilities.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Krutko, anything else? Mr. Nitah.