Thank you, Mr. Vician. General comments. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a couple in other areas and I'd like to get some response from the Minister, but maybe I'll start where my colleague left off with the motor vehicles registry office and the fact that we've now taken this service back from the private sector. Presumably, I guess the business case wasn't making itself for the private operator who was operating the service. I know the department has sort of billed this as a cost-neutral exercise, so that the additional fees that were being paid on top of the registration fee that I would go in and pay, the mark-up that was being collected by the private operator is now going to be collected or saved, that in fact will pay for the staff in order to carry out this service. That may have been a very convoluted and complicated way of explaining it, Mr. Chairman. I hope that the Minister understood what I'm talking about. I'd like to get some assurance from the Minister that the level of service that our constituents were receiving at the registries office isn't going to somehow be diminished now that we've taken this out of the hands of the private sector, and maybe he could speak to that.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The amount that is included in the licence fee that the operator of the licensing bureau retains is $8.50. It has remained at that. It appears that the amount of money hasn't been enough to attract anyone to take on this business. When the last operator indicated that he wanted out of his contract, we had an RFP to fill it and there were no proposals at all so we have taken it over. We will operate and are operating the same hours as did the operator when it was private. The office opened this morning in the Laing Building. It has moved from the old location. I think we have the same number of staff. Our intention is to make sure that we do it as expediently as possible for everyone. Again, we encourage people not to come on the last day of the month, because there are days when it is very busy if people wait to the last minute. I think it will be just as good and will be cost neutral, as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Bell.

Thank you. I had a constituent call me today and indicate that they had been down to get passport photos previously at the operation when it was located across from Boston Pizza, and I didn't realize it was the first day of opening today. In any event, they were down to the office today to try to get passport photos at the Laing Building and were told oh no, we don't do that anymore. We did that kind of thing when it was privatized, but now that it's government we're not doing that and you're going to have to get a passport photo at a photo shop. Is that really the case and are we now making this so much more difficult to get a licence that somebody has to venture somewhere else to get the photos?

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, the Department of Transportation licensing offices have never provided passport photos. You could get them when the private operator was running the outlet because he provided that service. But when it comes to the photo for your licence, we do that. For passport photos, people looking for those would have to go to one of the other outlets, the photography shops and so on that provide that service.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Bell.

Okay. I guess as long as we're obviously still providing photographs for licences, people will quickly come to realize when they stop now at the Laing Building that they can't get passport photos there and that will be that.

There's one other issue I wanted to ask the Minister to provide some public statement on, and that is the possibility of a new governance model for the airport operations. Coming on the heels of the airport authority workshop which was just held in Yellowknife, I have had a couple of constituents contact me with some concerns and I've been in touch with the Minister back and forth with a couple of letters about this issue. I guess the crux of the concerns really are about uncertainty as to what would happen should a new governance model be adopted, and what would happen to people who are employed out at the airport? Would they keep their jobs? Would they keep their pay levels? Would they keep their benefits?

I know in writing to the Minister to ask him for some clarification on this and ask him to send some sort of message to the people who are working out there and who may have significant investment in this community, bought homes and these kinds of things, he's indicated really he didn't want to put the cart before the horse because he has a panel looking at new governance models, we're not sure what's going to happen, they'll look at the pros and cons. I do have some concerns about the potential new governance model where it relates to the potential for costs being offloaded on the local taxpayers.

But that aside, I would like the Minister to make a public statement about his willingness to ensure that there is an effective employee communication plan in place, and certainly that in these negotiations and discussions about new governance models that one of the principles be that we ensure the interests of the employees at the airport is safeguarded during any sort of transition. I think that a lot of these folks who work out at the airport, there still are some who were with the airport when it was devolved from the federal government to the territorial government, and I think they're still fairly upset by some of what transpired around that process and the fact that they were shortchanged as far as benefits and pensions and some of these kinds of things are concerned, and certainly don't want to see it happen again.

So I'd like some sort of commitment from the Minister that we're going to involve all the staff in this process, and make sure that these people who made a commitment to this government and to this city are not going to be shortchanged, they're not going to be ignored and are not going to have something sprung on them at the last minute. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, I want to assure the Member and the public that there is absolutely no intention to spring anything on anybody, no intention to use this as a way of offloading anything onto someone else. Mr. Chairman, my view is that we have a very strong economy. There are a lot of things happening in the Territories. International polar flights have become much more common. I think we have an opportunity in the Northwest Territories to capitalize on some of these things. It may be long term, we could be talking 10 or 15 years from now, but it's never too early to take a look at what the alternatives might be. I don't have a preferred alternative in mind. I have struck a panel with a good cross section of stakeholders at the airport who are looking at that. They will be reporting back to me with some recommendations at the end of May. But there is no preconceived plan here. We're simply looking at what the options are, what the possibilities are, given the strength of our economy and our fairly bright future as a northern airport.

We will not spring anything on anybody. We have roughly 24 employees at the airport. If there was going to be a change in governance at the airport for whatever good reason, then we would certainly make sure that there's lots of notice. But I don't see anything happening quickly or overnight or anything like that. We want to make sure that the rights and benefits that our employees enjoy are not unduly jeopardized in any way. But clearly we don't want to spook anyone either. This is looking at the options. I'd like to wait until we have the recommendations from the panel, and then we'll certainly share those with the Members at that time and see where it seems to be pointing us. It may very well be that the recommendations will stay with the current model and nothing changes. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Bell.

I'd like to thank the Minister for those comments. I think that part of the concern really stems from uncertainty. I think there are some bright possibilities. As the Minister said whether it's now or in 15 or 20 years, no one is certain. I'm sure the panel will come to some conclusions when I look at the list of the people who are on the panel membership, and this is a group of talented people who I think can do some good work here. So that's very positive.

As far as reassuring the employees, I felt that it was necessary for the Minister to say something publicly about how they will be consulted. I'm wondering if the Minister would be prepared to meet personally with the group of employees at the airport to send this same message and reassure these folks that nothing has happened yet; there's a panel looking at this, and that they will certainly be kept informed and apprised of any developments. I think that this would go a long way toward reassuring people that we value the contribution they've made over the years, and look forward to their contribution going forward. I think it would be a significant good sign and step if the Minister would agree to address these people himself. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a point of calling the UNW president and seeing if he has any concerns about it, or if he wants me to meet with the employees at the airport I'll be happy to do that. The airport manager I believe has been trying to keep the employees apprised of what's being looked at. But if meeting them would be of help, I'm certainly open to doing that when I have time. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. The Chair will recognize Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to follow up on the questions that I had earlier. Perhaps I wasn't very clear about what I was asking in terms of permits and licensing and so on that I was pursuing earlier. The question that I had has to do with the fact that Canada being a federation and especially motor vehicles being a jurisdiction of the provinces, when someone wants to move things or move a truck from one part of the country to up here, you have to go through a lot: every province to get a safety permit and permission to drive and so on. I'm just wondering where someone would go. Is there a well-known number that someone could call in Yellowknife if someone wants to bring a commercial truck from Nova Scotia to Yellowknife? Is this something too specific and should I be calling the department separately? That's the question I had on that one. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.

Mr. Chairman, the number that anyone would call if he wants to bring a commercial vehicle from another jurisdiction to the Territories would be at the Enterprise weigh scale. It operates from 7:00 in the morning until 11:00 each day, and they could call there. That's the point of entry for these vehicles. If there are other more complicated questions, I'm sure our director of motor vehicle licensing would be more than willing to help overcome whatever the complications are. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Handley. Ms. Lee.

Thank you. I think I'll just leave that there. The point, though, is that we want these things to operate smoothly in a way that they don't have to call an MLA or anybody or a director of anything. It should be made in such a way that it's common knowledge for somebody who wants to do that could call. I'll follow that up separately.

Another point that I wanted to make has to do with the highway signage. I think my colleagues in this House might have noticed that I haven't been raising too many hot issues about Highway No. 3 lately. I have driven that road over Christmas, and it was a very good drive. It was icy and foggy and there were buffalo signs everywhere, but as long as you kept your speed I guess I came to accept the reality that the last leg of Highway No. 3 will take its time in getting fixed. From the time that I was elected to this office, that distance has shortened considerably. I think we're looking at about 50 kilometres, and as long as you consider that as a little bit of a construction zone and drive accordingly, it's not too bad. But I did have a concern about the signage. One thing was there are not enough signs. I don't know if it's because you're driving a long, winding road, but it would be helpful that every so many Ks it would tell us the distance remaining to whatever destination we are heading to, whether it's Yellowknife or Rae or whatever. But I found myself constantly seeking that sign.

Another thing is the buffalo signs that were on Highway No. 3. Closer to Fort Providence, the buffalo signs are very clear. It tells you to beware of buffalo. But later on, and I don't know if it's because of the emergency situation that Transportation had to put up a whole bunch of signs to make people aware of buffalo or not, but they were non-descriptive, beige, big buffalo-shaped signs that didn't say anything on them. If you are from Yellowknife or if you lived here for a long time, you would make that conclusion that that's to warn you of the buffalo, but I thought for those not familiar with the area, it would be much more helpful if every sign that gets put up indicates that this is an area where buffalo are commonly found and it's not just this big buffalo-shaped thing. When I saw fog, I began to think they were buffalo themselves and not just signs. That's just a point of recommendation for the department to consider. Perhaps the Minister would like to comment on that and then I would like to ask some questions on the Yellowknife airport authority.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Handley.