Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, clearly the $2.5 million that is in the budget for the 2002-2003 year was not enough money to improve all of the public highway access roads to a standard that everybody would want. We have a number of these roads. The allocation has not been finalized in terms of how we would allocate the $2.5 million this year. I intend to meet with each of the representatives here who have public highway access roads in need of repair to work with them on the allocation of that money. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, in principle, yes, I would be willing to move money from one project to another, if the need is greater. I have made a commitment to the Members that before we do that, we would consult with all of the Members who would be impacted by any kind of movement of money like that. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, at this point, I intend to continue to use the highway strategy that has been developed earlier. Even within that strategy, there has been occasion where it is needed to move money from one project to another.

We have changed our fiscal projections in terms of money for highways considerably when we decided not to proceed at this point with the trip permit fee. So how we implement that strategy will certainly be different than was contemplated a couple of months ago. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, I do not believe that 50 percent -- maybe the Member said 15 percent, I am not sure which. Fifteen is probably closer, but in terms of dollar amounts toward improving Highway No. 4 or Ingraham Trail, as it is commonly called, the amount that is going on that road is a fairly small portion of the total allocation for roads this year. In comparison, on Highway No. 3, for example, we are spending over $10 million this coming year on improvements to Highway No. 3. We intend to continue with Highway No. 3 as being a priority. That is a highway with heavy traffic and it continues to be our priority now as it was in the highway strategy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement, I talked about the importance of an economic development agreement for the Northwest Territories. Not so long ago, this government expended a tremendous amount of time, energy and resources into developing a Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy that covered quite a range of different initiatives and issues, and I believe was actually encouraged to do so by the federal government.

Out of the $200 million plus that we indicated to the federal government that we needed in order to access opportunities for our people, I would like to know how much we have received to date. Thank you.

I am not sure, Mr. Speaker, who has the lead on the Non-Renewable Resource Development Strategy right now. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That is not a very large amount of money. I know that in some of the areas, our government has stepped into that gap, Maximizing Northern Employment, looking for training opportunities, transportation infrastructure. What additionally would this government be prepared to do to address the void created by not having an economic development agreement where people could access financial resources to develop businesses to service the non-renewable resource sector? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Mr. Antoine.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as the Minister indicates, this government does not have the adequate resources to meet this need in a way that a Northwest Territories-federal economic development agreement could.

He has referred to the Premier's attendance on a trade mission where he may have the ear of the Prime Minister, but we need to be kept apprised of the tangible actions of this government to address this void.

I agree we do not have adequate resources within this government to do that and that is why we have to keep this on the radar screen of the federal government. What are their plans? What has been done? What other future plans are in the works to secure this agreement for the Northwest Territories again? Thank you.