Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to continue where my colleague Mr. Villeneuve left off, because the fact is I'm not sure why this ENR Minister continues to talk about the North American herds. Are we talking about Quebec? No. We're talking about the NWT, Mr. Speaker, and working with Nunavut. That's the issue. So, Mr. Speaker, when the Minister says no one will be satisfied, the fact is who is the Minister satisfying on this caribou herd numbers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, we're satisfied with the numbers. We're completely comfortable that we've surveyed the herds that are affected in the Northwest Territories, and we have some really good numbers and that was presented to the Members of this House. There was a lot of feedback provided that Members were not comfortable with those numbers, so we had another survey done which pointed that the herds were, indeed...the numbers had been reduced even more than initially had been surveyed. So, Mr. Speaker, we've done a number of very comprehensive surveys with all these herds. Our numbers are there. Our people have done all the work that's required. I'm not sure what else the Member is asking for. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the fact is the ENR Minister talks about doing a comprehensive survey, but just earlier today he said all the...(inaudible)...weren't satisfied, and he also made a clear point of saying we can't survey all the herds in a reasonable time, in the sense that we have to do them from year to year and, heck, we don't even do some of them some years. So, Mr. Speaker, we're going to kill an industry without knowing what the true numbers are. If this government had an initiative like the hotel tax or any tax, they'd make it a priority. Are the caribou numbers a priority of this government? We need a clear answer. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated before, we're satisfied with the numbers. We have provided them to the co-management boards, who are our partners in this whole issue over the caribou. They're satisfied with it. We've counted all the herds that we feel we need to count at this point. There's still the Beverly herd that we have to get better numbers on and we'll be doing that next year.

Mr. Speaker, all the people in the Northwest Territories except for some members of industry, have accepted our numbers, Mr. Speaker, and we're completely comfortable that we need to stake some drastic action and, of course, Mr. Speaker, that is not going to be satisfactory to everybody. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, when the ENR Minister says he's completely satisfied and we feel that we've counted what needs to be counted, well, Mr. Speaker, we've got outfitter industries that if we close their doors, we're going to be spending millions of dollars to buy them out or clean up this mess. When this Minister is saying that the fact is it costs too much to do a survey, well, we're busy, we're satisfied, that's not good enough. Mr. Speaker, will he make this a priority? Because people's livelihood is at stake right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know where the Member's been, but it's really been a priority over the last several weeks and over the past couple of months. We've had workshops, we've had summits, we've had debates in the public, and we've had Members in this House stand up. So I'm not sure what else he needs to see to be convinced it's a priority, Mr. Speaker. It is a priority. This government has put more resources into this whole issue for this coming year and we will be looking for other resources on top of that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, talk about all this caribou is making me hungry, so I want to ask questions to the Minister of Transportation to get off the issue here. I want to ask the Minister of Transportation not so much about more money, I think about more planning with our people in our region in terms of working and putting safety before our roads in our communities. I want to ask the Minister about what types of plans...Will his department sit down with the communities in the Sahtu region to plan out our winter roads in terms of looking at safety issues that would be and could be preventable? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The safety issues of all our roads are a priority of this government, especially our winter road systems which are so vital to linking our northern communities to the rest of the NWT and Canada. We have had discussions in the past, Mr. Speaker. In fact, this year we did allow for increases in some of the contracting for our winter roads and to allow more maintenance on those roads. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly agree with the Minister in terms of these winter roads that we have from December to March. They're very important to our people in our small communities. They look forward to it. The people in the Sahtu sure appreciate the government's efforts in putting these roads in. I'm asking the Minister in terms of planning stages between, say, April to November. Can the Minister come into our communities, talk about the safety about cutting down some of these roads, cutting down the corners, and look at some of the bridging problems that we have where people's traditional knowledge can be very valuable to the department and to this government? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Certainly consultation with the communities to identify priority areas about grade improvements and road alignments on our winter roads is very important. In fact, straightening out all our winter roads is just a safer way of doing business. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again I would ask the Minister, is there a concrete plan to come to my office, come to the Sahtu region and say we are going to do this and this and this in terms of the planning of the safety in our winter roads in the Sahtu region and to look at efforts made by this department to put some of these resources into helping build safety into our communities as soon as possible? I look forward to the Minister giving me a reply on that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Certainly the Department of Transportation does have a million dollars a year that we use for grade improvements and reducing grades, improving curve radii, which means sight distances as you round corners, Mr. Speaker. We will continue to consult with the communities to see what priorities they're establishing working with us. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.