Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'd just like to know what efforts have been taken in Fort Simpson to advise the population that the ferry services will resume in Fort Simpson. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The leaders of the community will be contacted, and also there will be a press release informing the general public, and also industry and communities, as I said, that this service will resume. We have our fingers crossed. We are hoping that ferry service will resume sometime later this evening. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions today are for the Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Michael McLeod. I have talked extensively about the Kam Lake access road, and what it means to the city of Yellowknife, in this Assembly for the past two years. It has been an issue with the city of Yellowknife since I can remember being elected to Yellowknife City Council, as far back as 1997. Money seems to be one way that this road might be able to get built. I would like to ask the Minister, today, why the Kam Lake access road was excluded from the National Highway Strategy that he announced back on October 14th? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Kam Lake bypass road, or the access to the west side of the airport, is something that is fairly important to us. It is also an issue of importance to the city. We have been working on this whole initiative for some time now. I think we have made significant development in that area. We have developed a design for that road. We have also been able to narrow the cost of that road. We anticipate that road is going to be somewhere in the $4.5 million mark. We are working towards putting in our needs assessment. Right now, we have committed to paying for a portion of that road that goes and leads to the access where we would get on to the airport side, or the airport reserve lands. We have not included it in our national submissions. This is a municipal road, still. It is not a road of national importance, or of strategic importance, for the Government of Canada, so it doesn't really qualify for that criteria. Having said that, it is still an important road. We recognize the importance, in terms of safety and other issues, around this road, and we continue to move forward and work on the development of this project.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the Minister's response. I think that the government should be beating every bush that is out there with the federal government, to try to get some money to get the road built so that we don't have...Hopefully, we can leverage some of the funds that we have with federal dollars to get the road built. That is why I think it should have been part of the National Highway Strategy. I think it is an important piece of roadwork here in the capital city that should have got the attention that it deserves. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister if the department

has considered putting the Kam Lake access road into the Corridors for Canada, II proposal that they are currently working on? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Kam Lake access road doesn't qualify for Corridors for Canada II for the same reasons it doesn't fall as a national road. A bypass road in the municipality doesn't qualify for national importance. We've looked at it. It doesn't meet the criteria. It really doesn't make any sense to try to include it. It wouldn't get acceptance anyway. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I have to disagree with the Minister. I think this road is a very important piece of road infrastructure in a capital city. I have outlined, a number of times, for the Minister, and for the government, the public safety aspect of it. I would like to see the road built, Mr. Speaker. I know the Minister has said today that it is going to cost a little bit less than what was first anticipated. When can the citizens of Yellowknife, and the city of Yellowknife, hope to get this road built? When does the Minister see it happening and becoming a reality? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this road will get built when it is decided who is going to pay for it, and when all the aspects of this bypass road are in place. There are issues over land. There are issues over who would be managing this road. There are a number of things that are still outstanding. We need to work these out. We have committed to working with the city. We recognize it is an important road, but we don't have all the answers, at this point. We are including it in our business plans and our long-term needs. That will come forward in the next while. However, right now, all we are looking at is the development and construction of a portion that would lead to access for our use on airport lands. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, those issues have been outstanding for the last couple of years. I know the designs have been partially done. The department is doing some work on it, but what we really need to see is this road get built, and we have to sort those things out, and the sooner, the better. There has been some talk of, perhaps, putting in a winter road which wouldn't cost as much money and would initially get the access into Kam Lake industrial park during the winter months. I am wondering if the Minister and his department have explored that angle on at least for a portion of the year to get a roadway built into Kam Lake industrial park. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we have explored and looked at the concept of a winter road. I have not seen any firm pricing on it. It is an interesting concept. It is something that is probably a little more feasible, and viable, to do at this point. Having said that, there is also a lot of new dollars that are flowing to the communities, including the City of Yellowknife, that they can use for municipal roads. A lot of it is flowing as a result of the federal New Deal. We are hoping that some of these things can be targeted, or focused, on the development of a bypass road. We continue to make every effort to see how we can accommodate this request and have this road built. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. It is about the beverage container recovery program. I did have to step out for a minute to speak to some constituents; I hope that I am not repeating a question that has already been asked. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister why the program...Just give us a logistics of why the program is all or nothing. It is either in all the communities, or no communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for expediency and efficiency, we are putting the surcharge, on the bottles, on the distributors that bring their products into the Northwest Territories, so as soon as they hit the territory, there is going to be a charge on every one of those beverage containers that are covered. That is why it is a program of general application. Thank you.

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