Thank you. Yes, that is terrific news. This injection will certainly make a difference. It's the kind of thing that I know we were looking forward to; having $3 million less that we have to finance through a toll, I think is good news for the customers. The Minister indicated that it is only the environmental step that needs to be resolved now. Is there a sense now of the timing of that? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Premier.

Mr. Speaker, we expect that the environmental assessment is probably going to take until this fall to complete. I expect that while we could see some preliminary work being done on, for example stockpiling gravel and so on, that could start earlier. I haven't talked to the bridge corporation on their plans. If it looks good, we will see working on this certainly this winter.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to clarify that the only major thing that's holding up the progress right now and delaying the bridge for a while is the environmental assessment. But we are still in the midst of finalizing the financing, for example, for the total project, but I think there are no hurdles on that now that we have the $3 million from the federal government. There are issues around insurance and, of course, still finishing up the final design and reviewing the design. There are things that we're doing right now, but none of them are holding up the progress. The only one that's slowing us down at this point is the environmental assessment, but I'm optimistic we'll see work this fall. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Item 6, oral questions. Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the honourable Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development. As I stated in my Member's statement, the residents of Paulatuk rely on the local community freezer to store their fish and game. Will the Minister find the necessary funds to continue this program? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister of RWED, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member did, in his Member's statement today, provide some very useful background information on the program. In fact, these community freezers have been government assets, but at a point in the recent past we made the decision that this was not the most cost-effective means of storing traditional harvests and we're looking for a way to do something that is more energy efficient. So we have been in the process of closing these freezers down, but I think in all cases, we have made the offer to the community to transfer the asset to the community for a nominal charge, and I'm sure we would do the same here.

I do know that my officials are in discussions with the community of Paulatuk to see if some alternate arrangements can be arrived at to make sure that we still continue to support the traditional harvest, because we do recognize the importance of country foods to the community. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for that information, Mr. Bell. Will you keep me informed with regard to your department's discussions with the community of Paulatuk so I know exactly if funds will be available? Thank you.

Minister of RWED, Mr. Bell.

I will keep the Member apprised of any development on the file with Paulatuk. I believe we are also in discussions with Sachs Harbour, so for any of the Member's communities in relation to this program I will certainly keep the Member apprised. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Minister of RWED, Mr. Bell.

Thank you. We're looking at a number of solutions and I don't want to say that we're going to continue this program. We have been in the process of either closing the freezers down, or turning the assets over to the community. I'm not sure of the exact figures to maintain the freezer for a year. In some communities, the freezers have been well used; in others, not very well used. I think we can't just have a program that we would extend to Paulatuk and exclude all other communities. So if it's $20,000 a year or so for O and M, we would have to look at that for all communities in order to be fair, and it has proven to be a very expensive way to store the traditional harvests. So I think the best offer I can make to the Member is that we'll look for better solutions, work with the community to make sure that there are more energy-efficient solutions, and I'll certainly keep the Member apprised of any developments. Thank you.

Final supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, it's fine to provide assets to the communities, but one more time, Mr. Minister, will you provide the funds necessary to ensure that the community of Paulatuk can continue using their freezer for fish and game? Thank you.

Minister of RWED, Mr. Bell.

Thank you. As I've said we would make the offer to turn the asset over to the community. We can't provide the O and M funding at this point, but we are sitting down with this community and others to look at alternative approaches. I want the Member to know that we certainly are supportive of the traditional harvest, but in discussions in the last few weeks here, we have seen that we have fewer resources than needs and this area is no exception. We want to be as supportive as possible, but we have to do so in a cost-effective manner. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is to the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, and it's with regard to the document that I tabled in the House which was a notice of tender for 22 mobile homes; I believe that closes this Friday. The most interesting part of that notice was a little quote saying that the government's business incentive policy would not apply. So I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation when he made this decision and why he made this decision to exempt the government from their own policy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member is correct. Our tender indicates that the BIP will be waived on this initiative to supply market housing to the non-market communities. It's an initiative that we have put together to attempt to meet the demands that are being voiced by the communities for housing for people who can afford to live in market rent units. Our communities across the North are facing a real challenge to attract professionals. Now that we are seeing our economy allow more people to become employed, we need to have accommodation in the communities where they can lease or rent. We decided to target some communities and look at different methods of trying to put accommodations in these communities in the cheapest way possible. The direction from Cabinet was to determine what it would cost to set up units in these communities where we would have competitive rental rates and would also have a good resale value, and we also needed to be able to recover all our costs and not have any subsidies towards these units. We, therefore, decided that trailers were the best way to go. To remove any potential for increased cost, we also requested that the BIP be waived for this initiative. It is one time only. Thank you.

Supplementary, Ms. Lee.