Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Now I am totally confused. Let me put it to the Minister very clearly. The first response, I think he said the authorities all had approved budgets. If that is the case, is Stanton's budget for this current fiscal year a surplus budget?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if the Member could clarify, is he talking about the current fiscal year, 2002-2003?

Thank you, Mr. Minister. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think this is the third time now, we will have to check Hansard, that I said current, but current means this year, yes, starting April 1, 2002 and concluding March 31, 2003.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, then I believe the Member asked me, does Stanton have a surplus for the current fiscal year that we are currently only three months into? I am not quite sure of the question.

Thank you. Supplementary, Mr. Dent.

Thank you. Clearly this is not the Minister of Finance. The question was, in the budget, is there more revenue than there are expenditures? Budget has no relation to how much has actually been spent in the first three months. I am asking about the approved budget. Is there more on the revenue side than there is on the expenditure side?

Thank you, Mr. Dent. The honourable Minister responsible for the Department of Health and Social Services, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that on a roughly $54 million budget, a slight surplus was projected.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Item 7, oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River North, Mr. Delorey.

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

Mr. Speaker, in order to qualify as local, a company fills out an application with the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development with the BIP office. When they fill that out, it is either accepted or rejected.

If it is accepted, then they become registered as local for that community in which they have applied. Then, when a contract is tendered and the results analyzed, the Department of Transportation would look at the registry and see who is registered as local for that particular contract. They would go back to the BIP registry to determine it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Why then would a contract be issued on work, whether it starts in a community or not, but if it is between communities or out on the highway somewhere, why would there be a local established for work if it is not in a community, whether it starts there or not? If it is territorial work on territorial highways, why would anybody be listed as local? Why would they not all be listed local?

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in the BIP program, we would consider any contractor eligible if part of that project, even if only part of it was within a local jurisdiction, which they were registered. We would not take that project and break it into pieces under the current BIP project and say they are considered local for this two kilometres but the other 20 kilometres, no one has it. We have considered that to be one project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That really gives me some concern, Mr. Speaker, because in the community that I represent, where the road into that community is paved and is probably not necessarily going to require any major work coming out of there for some time, how does a business from Hay River ever get a local contract on any territorial work? I would like to know that, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, if a piece of road is not adjacent to or through any local community, then it is possible that no one would get the local preference.

In the case of Hay River, or any other community, a company located in one of those communities would only get local preference if the work they were bidding on was either in that municipality or immediately adjacent to it. That is the condition under the current BIP.

I can also, Mr. Speaker, ask the Department to raise this issue with the BIP Steering Committee to look at it, but we have to operate with the BIP policy as it currently exists. Thank you.

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