Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am going to address my questions to the Premier. I am not sure who is responsible for our regulatory bodies but I will address my question to the Premier, and it has to do with work that is going on in the Cameron Hills. Mr. Speaker, I have been an advocate for work around the Hay River area and into the Cameron Hills.

Paramount Resources did some work there last year and there were some companies from Hay River that did quite a bit of work for them. I am wondering if the Premier is aware of the payment policy from this company, Paramount Resources, to pay their subcontractors. Is he aware of what their policy is? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Paramount is a company that we are familiar with. It is a company that has operated in the Territories for a number of years; they operate in fact in the Sahtu as well. They are prepared to invest a considerable amount of money in their exploration work and are considered a good aggressive company that is prepared to do business in the North. Any need that we have to meet with them to discuss the way in which they do business is welcomed by them, and they are prepared to meet with us as the need arises. If the Member is indicating that, we are prepared to do that by contacting Paramount at the earliest possible date so we can discuss that in the proper context. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Premier. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the problems that has arisen out of the work that Paramount is doing is the fact that their payment policy is very detrimental to the companies that are working for them. Most of the Hay River companies that did work for Paramount last year are approaching 270 days where they have not been paid for the work that they did last winter and it is a considerable burden on these companies. I am wondering if we have any avenue through our regulatory process to address this issue with Paramount. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you. The question has been taken as notice. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for North Slave, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department has not considered this at all but we will be prepared to sit down with the community and discuss this as a future capital project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I think we all know the requirements for bringing forward a project under a special warrant. In this case we would have to justify the need for the project, we would have to justify that it is an emergency and we would have to justify that, in fact, it is in the interests of the general public that the project should be done immediately. I think we have other options under which we could consider the Member's suggestion. I am prepared to take his suggestion and just follow through the normal capital process, sit down with the community and see if we can, in fact, both agree that the project is needed.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member for the invitation but I believe that I have a meeting scheduled with either the band or the council from Rae Edzo, Fort Rae, on Thursday night. Although it is for a different project -- I believe for the water facilities and for the contracts surrounding the delivery of the water -- I think we can have an opportunity to discuss this project as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Final supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Steen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just for clarification, Mr. Speaker, the meeting is going to be held here in Yellowknife and we did write to the band, or to the mayor and council. We defined a time as well, I believe. I think the letter was copied to the Member.

As far as discussing the project, like I said, I would be happy to have that on the agenda for the discussion with the Rae-Edzo group as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.