Thank you. Page 10-41, activity summary, community local access roads, grants and contributions. $273,000.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just quickly, there seems to be significant drops between the actuals and the estimates in this regard, that's 2004. Could the Minister let us know what is actually happening with these improvements? Are we just not doing them, not able to expend the money through contract and giving up? Has something changed in our maintenance programs for the community access roads? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. McLeod.

Madam Chair, through the community local access roads, you will see a reduction. That's due to our requirements to reduce the one percent. Over the last while, we've seen a number of requirements to reduce our budget, so this program has been reduced as a result of that.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess, at the end of the day, if we can do the job just as efficiently as we can with more money and we can do it with less money now, our services are still being maintained at a reasonable rate. I suspect he'll say yes. If I ask if services are being maintained at a safe level, I certainly hope and

suspect he'll say yes. What are we doing to manage this to make sure we are ensuring, at the very least, that safe services are continuing to be offered and to make sure we are offering safe access at all times of the year, even though we see a significant drop in the budget? If I may say, it looks like a quarter of the budget. It looks like it would have an impact. I just can't imagine how it wouldn't have an impact on safety and typical maintenance. Can the Minister assure me and explain how we are making sure that these roads are safe?

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister McLeod.

Mr. Chairman, this program is called the Community Local Access Road Program. It is designed as an application-based program for communities to access funds, to build locally owned trails or access roads to areas of interest. It's not designed to build any highway systems and it's not the Community Public Access Road Program. When we have to reduce this program, it means there will be less opportunities for communities, or we can only fund a limited fund. We just continue to reduce the number of applications that we fund every year.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you. Then I will just provide a comment, which is that I am glad to hear that it's not our public access system. I will leave it at that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Committee, we are on page 10-43, road licensing and safety, operations expenditure summary, $3.585 million. Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Chair. I had a question on page 10-41. Can we go back to that, please?

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. My apologies. I was just jumping into the chair. We are on page 10-41, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Chair. Just to further elaborate on what Mr. Hawkins highlighted, the 273 as opposed to 337 last year in cutbacks. We understand that the department had to cut in some areas, but, at the same time, I think we really need to highlight the success of this program. Whati and Wekweeti specifically have truly benefited from this program, where Wekweeti is building a road to a graveyard and Whati has built a road and is still maintaining a road to the falls. So they are expecting this year to apply for $50,000 again. As I stated, there are going to be cutbacks, so it's back to $40,000. I think this is going to create some challenges in the communities to say there are cutbacks in funding. At the same time, I think we need to consider the importance of having this program in the communities, especially in the isolated communities that don't have access roads, Mr. Chair. I would just like to highlight that to Committee of the Whole here, that this is a concern to us, especially in the outlying communities. I am wondering if the department would consider...I am not sure what the answer would be, but $50,000 was there and the community is looking forward to that again this year. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Chairman, yes, we had to, as part of our budget reduction exercise this year, cut $64,000 out of this program. I certainly agree with the Member that it is a popular program. What we've done to try to accommodate the number of applications that have come forward is we have capped the applications to $40,000 and we have quite a few applications in place, and that includes the Wekweeti and Whati applications. It's a requirement and it's something we had to do and we are still able to provide some money over the long term.

Mahsi, Minister McLeod. Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Chair. I would just like to make a note. We will be going through cost-cutting factors down the road, we know for a fact, but I think we need to highlight and take into consideration that if there is going to be a cut in funding, we have to take into consideration that this type of funding was $337,000 originally, which was good pocket change for the communities to fully utilize the funding. If it needs to be cut, then I think we need to look at the whole situation where we shouldn't be touching these areas where communities are really benefiting from this funding. I would just like to highlight that for the department down the road. Mahsi.

Mahsi, Mr. Lafferty. We are on page 10-41, community local access roads, grants and contributions, contributions, $273,000.

Thank you. Page 10-43, activity summary, road licensing and safety, operations expenditure summary, $3.585 million. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If the Minister could elaborate on what other expenses are in this particular case. I seem to recall from last year's budget under the 2005-06, we have $.1079 million. A lot of that is associated with the new equipment, if I have that correct; the new equipment they anticipated to buy for the driver's licence. Can I find out if that was actually purchased at the end of the day? I think three-quarters of a million dollars was being provided for equipment; $250,000 or a quarter of the million dollars in general was being provided to come up with the new design, the new type of licence and the fees associated with that. Was the equipment actually purchased in last year's budget, and if you could elaborate on what the $982,000 is. Thank you.