Mr. Chairman, if the Member is referring to the Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy and asking how much of the money that was proposed has been spent, I would have to get back. I do not know off-hand how much of the Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy money we have received from Indian Affairs and how much of it we have contributed ourselves.

This particular one is asking for a total of $2.4 million to be spent in support of the Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The reason I ask is this strategy has been here for some time. I am just wondering why it is that we are having to bring the recommendations or the strategy through a supplementary process, when it should have been done through a business planning process. We knew exactly what was required. Also, why did we not do it through the main estimate process instead of using this avenue? Why did we not use the regular planning process, knowing this strategy has been around for a while?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, the Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy was developed over a year ago. We then went into consultation and had it out as a consultation document until this past January. It was not a finalized document until just a few months ago. This was not included in the capital plan because we did not have the document, the Non-Renewable Resource Strategy, until well after we were into the business planning-main estimates process.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Through the strategy, we have looked at bridges in the Sahtu, in which that came through by a program from the federal government that we had to match it. I believe that came through the main estimates. We knew ahead of time that these things are out there. Everybody has to go through the planning process. We have dollars identified for all the different airports and what not in the Territories. There is work that has been done over the last number of years in different airports. Knowing that this had a direct effect on a departmental area, airports, why could it not have come through that process for us to say some programs are in and some programs are out? I would like to know why we have not done that.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, the Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy was a strategy we developed as a proposal to the federal government to rationalize our request for some $230 million, and a commitment on our part to spend $100 million. The federal government made it clear to us that we were not going to get a cheque for the whole amount, but they would make money available project by project.

Last fall, I met with Minister Nault. It was probably in late September, early October. He had approved the bridge. He agreed to the bridge money. Then it took a few months to finalize where the money was going to come from. That money came to us late last year, late in the last fiscal year.

Now we are moving into this fiscal year. We did not have the strategy approved in time, but we want to get on with some of these projects in order to prepare for the oil and gas activity. What we see here are items that came to us after the business planning-main estimates process, but yet they are items we feel are essential to get on with if we are going to have oil and gas development up and down the valley.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, how many other initiatives under the strategy do we see having to come forth, say in the fall session, under the same argument, where we say we require it immediately because we did not have time to put it into the business plan? I feel we knew well in advance what these issues were. Again, I would like to ask the Minister how many other initiatives such as this one do we see coming through a similar process like a supplementary appropriation because it is not in the main estimates?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, if everything stayed the same as it is today and there were no new developments, then likely we would have none coming forward. The oil and gas activities are speeding up very quickly. We are not at all sure what is happening with the Aboriginal Pipeline Group and their application.

We do not know what arrangements communities may come up with, or regions may come up with as partnerships with oil and gas companies. We do not know what investments companies might choose to make in areas like training. There are a whole bunch of unknowns out there.

It is very difficult to predict what may come forward in the next few months or come forward at times when we cannot fit it into our business cycle. When these things come, we have to take advantage of them. We cannot wait a year to build them into a business plan or we will lose the opportunity. It is practically impossible to predict what might come in the future.

If the Aboriginal Pipeline Group goes ahead and we get an application for a pipeline, then things could move very quickly.

Through the Non-Renewable Resource Strategy and our economic strategy, we do have an overall approach that we are taking, but we cannot predict each of these expenditures.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

The Minister stated the federal government is committed to paying us a certain amount of money for the strategy. How soon do we feel that the federal obligation will be adhered to? We have been down this road before where we thought the whole incremental costs for division was going to be taken care of by the feds and it did not happen. We followed along hook, line and sinker, knowing it is out there, but when will we see some of the federal dollars committed to this strategy?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, as I have mentioned before, the federal government has been clear with us. They are not going to give us a cheque for $230 million. Rather, they will fund these things project by project. I expect we will continue to receive support from the federal government, whether it is in training, infrastructure support, or wherever it may be. It will come in small pieces. At that time, we may be expected to cost-share in it. Some will come to us directly. Some will come to us through aboriginal corporations, aboriginal governments. It is very difficult, as I said earlier, to predict exactly when and how much we are going to be expected to contribute. Hopefully, it will continue to come to us over the next number of years as oil and gas develops.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to know how the Norman Wells airport development plan became part of this strategy. You mentioned the pipeline and what not. The community of Tsiigehtchic has been fighting for years just to get a heli-pad. If anything, with the activity in the Delta, the pipeline and what not, that is one community that is going to be impacted. How did they get their requirements put into this strategy, saying we require just as much attention as the Norman Wells thing? You are talking pipelines. How does a community get funds put into developing infrastructure such as airports, terminals, whatever in the communities that do not have them?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, the departments are continually doing an assessment of where the greatest impact is going to be and where there is going to be a need to move quickly in providing a service, upgrading a service and so on.

In the case of the Norman Wells airport development, it was felt that given the amount of activity in the Norman Wells area and the Colville Lake area, it was necessary to get on with a new Norman Wells airport development plan. Mr. Steen may have more to add to that, I do not know. We have to choose where the priorities are based on the amount of anticipated activity. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Steen, did you have anything to add to that?

No, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Steen. We are on Transportation, operation expenditures, airports, not previously authorized, $85,000. Mr. Krutko.