Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the budget that has been considered in this House, there is no money that would be specifically allocated for that purpose. It is entirely up to the Tlicho Community Services Agency to determine if that is one of their priorities. If it is, then it is their responsibility to take the money out of their regular programming and put it into transportation. They have the right and the responsibility to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again, I would like to stress that, with the new information on the decline of caribou herd that we have heard last week and related increase of wolves and grizzlies in the isolated communities in my region, I would like to ask the Minister again if he will be willing to revamp or look into some sort of amendment to supplement the current funding available to the Tlicho Community Services Agency to ensure something as simple as transportation services are available to isolated communities such as Gameti, Wekweeti, and Whati, and the basic need for our safety of our children is met? Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Mahsi, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If there is a concern for safety for the children in those communities, then it is incumbent on the DEAs and the Tlicho Community Services Agency to deal with that issue. Either they need to work with parents to make sure that somebody is walking with the children to school to make sure that they are safe, or they need to find some way to provide that transportation. But, Mr. Speaker, all of the money that we have within the department for schooling goes to schools. We don't keep any money available for other special projects. So right now, all of the money is being distributed. The money that has been approved in the budget for the next year is allocated to the DECs. There is no pot of money that I can draw on in order to provide extraordinary services. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member's statement today, I spoke of the need for the community of Tuktoyaktuk to secure access for the gravel located at source 177. Without a steady year-round source of gravel, Tuktoyaktuk will have a problem meeting their infrastructure needs. We understand that the Department of Transportation has plans for a road to gravel source 177, so that physical access to part of the problem is being addressed. Mr. Speaker, what needs to be addressed is the right of the community to use the granular source that belongs to the ILA, Inuvialuit Land Administration. Can the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs tell this Assembly what his department can do to assist the hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk in securing the necessary funds to access gravel source 177? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, the gravel revolving stockpile fund was wound down in 1999. Investment for gravel requirements have been built into the municipal community government budgets. In the case of Tuktoyaktuk, there are no specific projects that we can point to at this point. I don't have any listed that require gravel. We don't have any plans to bring any stockpile into that community either from the Department of Transportation or from MACA. Having said that, there is a need across the Territories for assistance to look at

the issue of gravel. We are working with other departments to put together a gravel study. We hope to have that completed. We are working with the Public Works department. The Housing Corporation and Municipal and Community Affairs and DOT are working together to try to come to deal with some of the issues that are coming forward from some of the communities. That study will be ready this spring. In terms of actual projects for gravel required in Tuktoyaktuk, there is none identified in our capital plan. We have a gravel fund of $250,000 that we provide to communities if there are additional requirements needed over and above what is built into the community government plan, and there was no request from that community for this fund. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am still disappointed that there is no money identified for Tuktoyaktuk for gravel all this winter. As you well know, Mr. Speaker, Tuktoyaktuk is well known for the erosion problems that they are having. In terms of stockpiling, I think that is important that the department identify that Tuktoyaktuk should be of necessary needs to address right away. I would like to ask the Minister again, under the $250,000, how much of that...I know he said there is no money identified with Tuktoyaktuk, but can some of that money go towards Tuktoyaktuk? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, no. The money in the $250,000 is application based. That money has already been committed. We have six communities that have applied for this money. They have been approved. That money has already been committed for this year. Tuktoyaktuk did not put in an application for this community revolving fund of $250,000. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I will voice my disappointment, but again, this winter is the only time that Tuktoyaktuk can access gravel haul from source 177. If the Minister is able to find money like he did for other projects like in previous years for the Executive, or able to find money from elsewhere, if there is any money that can be found to access the gravel haul, will he consider Tuktoyaktuk as one of the priorities for gravel haul? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Minister McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in order for us to, as a government, consider a gravel stockpile and to bring in equipment or to contract that out, we need to have specific projects. I recognize the Member's need to work towards building a road system to the source of gravel. It is a problem for the community of Tuktoyaktuk. We recognize that. There has been a large request for a large contribution from the community that we have considered. We are not able to accommodate it. We have continued to realize that there is a need for a reliable source. However, in order to have a stockpile program, we have to have the projects that either Public Works brings forward or the Housing Corporation brings forward, or MACA, for that matter. They bring these things forward. We will take that into consideration and look at doing a winter haul. At this point, there are no projects in the community that we have identified for this fiscal year. We are not looking at doing a gravel haul. We continue to work with the federal government in our requests for additional money to build a road to the source 177. We have to, once again, meet with the federal government to discuss our plans to bring forward a list of our needs in that area. We hope to do that this spring. Hopefully, we will have some firmer answers for the Member in the near future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister McLeod. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Brendan Bell, the Minister of ITI.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The dispute between one of the mines and one of the cutting and polishing operations has been ongoing for some time now. I do know that, in Antwerp, the two parties met to try to work through these issues and resolve them. I don't have a full briefing in terms of exactly what was determined at that meeting. I do know from one of the sides that part of the ask raised some concerns about being able to, or the desire of the factory, to take some of the rough that wasn't economic to polish in the Northwest Territories and move it offshore. Obviously, our policy as a government is that this is a problem for us, so we want to better understand what they are asking, Mr. Speaker. But I haven't sat down with the two parties yet. I will

endeavour to do so as soon as we are out of the House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think I am going to have to ask the Minister to be more forthcoming on exactly what his approach is and where this government stands on this issue. This government is not exactly a bystander on this file. This government has invested a lot of money and the well being of this cutting and polishing plant has many implications for us. I do understand. I don't even want to call this a dispute. I see that there is a disagreement. I know this is a disagreement between two commercial companies. I want to respect their place in sorting that out, but I am still not clear. I do believe there is a role for the Minister to play. Has the Minister given a thought to this file? What is his approach going to be for the next little while to resolve this issue? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Minister Bell.