Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issues with regard to highway speeds, transportation of wide loads, oversized loads and so on falls within the Highways Act, not the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act. I am certainly open to looking at that continually.

Each year before the winter season starts, we hold a number of meetings with the truckers and with the mines on what is being transported and we will continue to do everything we can to improve the safety and expediency of those materials. 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, yes, in answering the question, there are two pieces of legislation. The honourable Member asked about transportation of dangerous goods. That is under the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act. If there are ways of improving that, I would be happy to do that.

When we deal with issues like the speed the trucks are travelling and the hours they carry extra-wide or oversized loads, that is a different piece of legislation, but I am certainly open to looking at both of those pieces of legislation if it can improve the safety and the use of our highways. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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, yes, we are in the middle of our trucking season for hauling materials up to the mines. I know my department is meeting almost on a daily basis with either the truckers or the mines, with communities, with whoever is dealing with specific issues, so they are dealing with that on a daily basis. If there are specific issues of any community then I would certainly like to talk on those ones.

When it comes to reviewing our legislation, I would like to meet with the truckers once they are over their busiest period and have time to do so and look to see whether or not there are things that we should be changing in the legislation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. McLeod.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are two separate pieces of legislation that could be used to control the storage of dangerous goods. One is under the City, Towns and Villages Act. Municipalities may put in place by-laws to control the storage. Secondly, the storage of dangerous goods is regulated by Municipal and Community Affairs under the National Fire Code of Canada. So under either one of these pieces of legislation the storage of dangerous goods would be addressed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister, could he tell me if the community of Enterprise is in a position to pass such by-laws as he has indicated?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure whether Enterprise would have the authority to pass the by-law. That is where the fire code would kick in. It would be under that legislation that the storage would come into play. In this particular case of Enterprise, the assistant fire marshal went in there in December and inspected the storage facilities of RTL. There were a number of deficiencies found. RTL was advised in writing of the deficiencies. RTL responded accordingly by improving the storage to prevent access by anyone, providing a spill control contingency plan for the product, and preparing an emergency plan and procedures, which are prominently posted in the outdoor storage site.

Since that time, the assistant fire marshal has been into the community on three separate occasions and is satisfied that the facilities now meet the standards of the fire code.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister has indicated, the fire marshal assistant has been to the community at the request of the community on three different occasions. The community, however, is not satisfied. I would like to ask the Minister, can the fire marshal allow the companies to bypass the requirements as per the legislation when it comes to temporary facilities? The facility in Enterprise is certainly not under lock and key and is not in an enclosed area. Can you tell me if there are other rules for the temporary storage?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I will have the department respond to me on what the fire marshal can and cannot do as far as allowing for temporary storage, but I believe the report I have suggests that the storage is now meeting the standards of the fire code. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister if he would consider it as my understanding now is that all that is required is a fire permit or a fire certificate from the fire marshal to set up a depot. I believe that there should be stronger legislation to enforce the handling and the storage of facilities in the community.

I would like to ask the Minister, would he consider legislation that would require storage facility certification in order to set up a depot? Thank you.

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