Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A lot of a person's success depends on their individual application to making sure that they're ready to take on a job. So we're making sure that the training is available. It takes people to step up to the plate and take advantage of that training in order for them to be able to take on some of the jobs that are coming up. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

May I remind the Minister that we only have a 50 percent graduation rate, as we discussed last week. So will the Minister update me with the progress of our training on this oil and gas industry with respect to how many graduates out there are taking advantage of this program, that are enrolled in this, and how many students will get specific training for both management and technical expertise? Can he answer that question? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. From 2001 to 2006, approximately 1,900 people have participated in training related to oil and gas and pipeline activities...

...and those range from after construction jobs, in terms of the pipeline operators training course, right through to jobs working with seismic companies. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I cited earlier, my concern about this lacking agreement. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to hear what the Minister of Education is doing to ensure that northerners are strategically placed in management positions to ensure northerners have a role in the development of this Mackenzie gas project? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, the ASEP program is offering about $13 million, almost half of which has been spent on training to this point; $13 million will be spent by the end of 2008. ECE puts $1.1 million a year into oil and gas training all across the Northwest Territories. That's through the college, through ASEP contributions and through regional training initiatives that are done in partnership with aboriginal governments and businesses. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Thebacha, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources. In the previous session I was raising the concern about the high-risk storage of about 40 or 50 million litres of fuel in barges tethered and moored along, I think, the Hay River and shores of Great Slave Lake. The Minister indicated he would have his people take a look at that before the rise of this House. I'd just like to ask the Minister if he's able to give an update on the circumstances and the review that took place, if it has taken place? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yes, we did follow up on the suggestion made by the Member and we had committed that we would have some of our officials, along with the Transport Canada officials, go and do an inspection. They did do an inspection on February 23rd and looked at all the system, the storage facilities and emergency systems and sent us a report and we will be reporting back to the Members on that visit. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to thank the Minister for that. Recognizing that this is a federal jurisdiction, we have an obligation to protect the best interests and the water systems, as well. Could the Minister indicate, just a quick summary, if he's had a chance to look at the findings, to indicate the status: Have they been able to offload the fuel; have they been able to make it through the winter without any spills; and those types of things? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We did have an opportunity, our officials had an opportunity to go in and look at the facilities, look at the spill response procedures, look at the equipment, look at the level of training, talk to the contractors, and, Mr. Speaker, we did have a visit from representatives from the company and they met with the Premier and some of the staff of ENR and had a good discussion around it. We are quite confident that the barges are going to be all emptied before the winter road to the mines are closed and we expect them to be all emptied before break-up for sure. We did have one incident. The Member asked if there was any spill occurrences, and there was one on Sunday at the NTCL yard near here. It was a small amount and it has been cleaned up. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister indicate, since he's had these discussions with NTCL executive, whether they would, hopefully, make other arrangements on land for temporary storage should this situation where they require storage occur again, and not create the circumstance where there's a high-risk situation putting the waterways of the Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie Basin at risk? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The discussion was basically around the short-term arrangements for the barging. Mr. Speaker, we are compiling the report of our inspection along with the federal officials. There are a couple of areas that we'd like to see some improvements and we'd like to meet with the company at that time to discuss some of these suggestions that we want to bring forward and we will be talking to them about alternate arrangements for the long-term if this is going to be a practice that continues. Thank you.