Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I spoke today on the condition of the Dempster Highway, and I have a few questions for the Minister of Transportation. With all this traffic that's going to be going on the highway when the pipeline goes through, is there a master plan to upgrade the highway, widen it, just so it's a lot safer for the trucks and the people who are travelling on it? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we recognize the need for more work to be done on Highway No. 8. Highway No. 8 is roughly 262 kilometres long, and the majority of it is requiring reconstruction to handle the traffic volumes, but also because of the age of the highway. We've had a very tough summer. We've had a lot of moisture and a lot of rain. It's created havoc on a lot of our roads, not only on Highway No. 8. Highway No. 1 and Highway No. 7 are also experiencing the same conditions. We have done the preliminary engineering on the Highway No. 8 system. We have looked at the cost. We estimate it to be around $60 million. We've committed, through our capital planning, to spend an average of $5 million a year. We've also included it in our needs.

Having said that, Mr. Speaker, we haven't been able to find all the money as yet. We have been able to earmark roughly $30 million through our strategic infrastructure funding. We are still short a significant amount, roughly half of what it's going to take to complete the project. We are looking at packaging it up as part of our submissions to the federal government to meet some of our short-term needs on the highway infrastructure system. We are also including it as part of the longer-term vision from our department that will go forward to the federal government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, right now our focus is to do a lot of the work that is required along the highway: the drainage, the road widening, the realignment. Those things are all required on this road. We also have to replace most of the culverts that are along the Highway No. 8 system. This year, I think we replaced 60 culverts and reconstructed roughly 93 kilometres of that whole road system. We have not included a chipsealing program for that highway as yet. Maybe that's something we will look at as part of the legacy program, or some of the socioeconomic impacts of the Mackenzie gas project. It is not in our budget currently, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Mr. Minister. If the chipsealing is going to be a problem, we will settle for dust control. This was a terrible summer on the highway. All the way, there was absolutely no dust control, maybe 12 kilometres. So will the Minister commit to having his department do dust control on the whole 262 kilometres next summer? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Minister of Transportation, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we did increase our budget. I will certainly commit to keeping it at the level where we have invested. We have a budget authority of roughly $70,000 a year. We've now raised that up to roughly $250,000, and we will continue to stay at that level. As we apply dust control over the next couple of years, I think we will see improvements in those areas. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have more questions for the Honourable David Krutko, Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation. Mr. Speaker, as a preamble to this set of questions, I want to say that on our pre-budget consultation, and what we've heard for years in the North, is that we have a critical shortage of adequate, affordable housing. It is a mandate of this government to address that need. I have no problem with investing money; however, I have a huge problem with wasting money. That's the crux of the questions that I am asking today. For the Minister's information, there are between 55 and 60 people in headquarters. I think that that's a lot of people, given the transfer of the responsibility for the $30 million recently. So let me ask the Minister again, has there been any reduction in staff as a result of devolving the function for the social housing to ECE? Has there been any reduction in headquarters? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Housing Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no, there hasn't been.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the changing mandate of the Housing Corporation that the Minister has referred to, does he anticipate that the new mandate will require the same level of staffing at headquarters? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, under the new mandate change, we are looking at using the same people that we presently have in house. We may expand in the area of land management because we don't have any expertise in that area. So we may be seeing a slight increase there.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Also, in my first set of questions, I referred to the contracting out of certain functions from the Housing Corporation. I have a few notifications for tenders that have gone out from the Housing Corporation here. One is for the development of a financial skills program, a two-day homeowner education course, and the other one is for a home purchase, a one-day education course. The people responding to these tenders should submit to the program development specialist in house. I am thinking if you are contracting out for one and two-day programs for people to learn how to purchase a home and manage their financial skills, what does the program development specialist do? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we do, at times, have to depend on the expertise of other people outside of the corporation. Yes, we do have people who are responsible for different portfolios, but we are undertaking a new initiative with regard to identifying the liaison positions in communities. Before we

allow those people to go in the field, we offer training to those individuals through our regional offices, or have someone come in and do that. I believe that's the position the Member is talking about. We are trying to expand in that area in the liaison positions in communities where we don't have program officers. On the Member's earlier point, she was close when she said 55 positions. We have 54 positions in headquarters and 49 positions in the district offices. So you were pretty close. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Time for oral questions has expired; however, I will allow the Member her final supplementary. Mrs. Groenewegen.