Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can tell the Members that Cabinet has been very receptive to finding new policing resources. Of course, it also must involve the federal government. It is the federal government that will make decisions about new detachments. They provide the capital funding; we're responsible for O and M and continued operations of those facilities. So, yes, as I sit down with the federal government and the RCMP and we move forward and talk about the business plan and new resources required, I will talk about additional small detachments and, of course, his community of Colville Lake will be involved in that discussion. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, people in the Northwest Territories want to ensure their safety and comfort by this government in terms of our living standards today. There's no difference in Colville Lake. I ask the Minister to look at the various options, that he commit his officials to look at the various options how to create some safety and comfort for the people in Colville Lake by having an RCMP presence or detachment in that community over the next few months of this government to ensure that we do care as a government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, absolutely we care as a government and, yes, I can commit to doing that. We are currently doing that. We're sitting down to talk about increased patrols in all of our smaller communities without detachments. I went through the list yesterday of the number of patrols in 2006. I have agreed to provide more information to the Member about the patrols. We're looking at other options, other ways. Members know Canada Labour Code requirements mean that we need two-member detachments now, even for our smallest detachments. We're talking about options and possibilities that might see one full member and another member who would be a special constable or a part-time parks officer. There are many, many options. We are looking at all of them, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Villeneuve.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just have a couple questions today for the Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation with regards to the pilot projects going on in Fort Smith. I would call it a long delay in assessing what we could do with the excess power that we have at the Taltson today. Mr. Speaker, I just want to ask the Minister, my first question is, with the distribution system that has to be upgraded in order for this interruptible power or for these pilot projects basically to become viable and maybe for the whole town of Fort Smith to become viable and maybe Res and Hay River to follow, why has the Power Corporation, in all their wisdom, only decided to consider using interruptible power today? The Power Corporation has been making money for years and years and years. Why haven't they put some of that money, I know a lot of it goes to subsidy programs, but why hasn't a lot of it gone into upgrading these systems for this very reason and why are we only doing it now? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Power Corporation, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as a government, we have been looking at different initiatives over the years and, again, this is a pilot project. It's to see exactly the feasibility of providing electric heat to public facilities in our communities. In the case of the pilot project, it's going to be laid out in Fort Smith to look at certain facilities there and to see exactly if the technology is there. More importantly, to ensure that we have the capacity by way of the power source itself, by way of the hydro surplus that is presently there, almost eight megawatts from the Taltson hydro system. So again, it is a pilot project and until we figure out what these results are of this pilot project, again, if the results are positive, we will look at the possibility of implementing this program in other communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister why we haven't taken on this pilot project back in 1983 when Pine Point mine shut down and we had 10 extra megawatts of power. I thought that would probably have been a good time to look at this initiative. Thank you.

Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I cannot answer that question because I wasn't around in 1983. Thank you.

---Laughter

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Final supplementary, Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Okay. Okay, let's get off the topic of dates and interruptible power. But I want to ask the Minister, now that we have this pilot project on the way, I'm not sure how much the government is willing to spend on this pilot project. If the Minister could maybe inform this House of what the budget is for this pilot project, because I don't want to spend all this money on these pilot projects to find out, yes, they are viable, but like he says in his note that we got Tamerlane, we got pipe coating plants, we got so much development all of a sudden happening in the South Slave, why are we taking it on now when it might not even be feasible two years from now, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this project, again I have to repeat, is a pilot project. We are looking at the cost analysis to see about the cost recovery, how long it's going to take us to recover our costs and also ensure that the technology that we're using is practical in the context of conserving energy on the one side in regard to greenhouse gases by getting these buildings that are presently being heated by diesel heat, convert those heat systems to electric heat and see what the viability and return, how many years it's going to take us to get the return on our investment and also look at the possibility of expanding this system in other areas. So that's the reason for the pilot project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the super action hero Minister of the day, which is Minister David Krutko. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I made a statement in this House, a very compelling, passionate, grovelling statement, about the state of the van for the Yellowknife Coalition for Community Wellness and how they have set up a new program called Community Services Patrol. Really what they really needed was a van and the one they had was a 1984 van which needed major work and they had to get help from the automotive department from Sir John. When the teacher's away, they couldn't get it fixed and they had to get the private sector to help get it fixed at Canadian Tire. Anyway, this morning I learned that Minister Krutko managed to find a van. So I'd like to give the Minister an opportunity to tell us how he was able to act so fast and what that's all about. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Public Works and Services, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the Department of Public Works and Services is responsible for disposing of government assets, such as vehicles and surplus materials that we have. So I asked the department to see if there were any surplus vehicles out there that are to be disposed of and we were able to identify one. So with that, that was why I was able to accomplish that. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So may I ask the Minister as to what steps the association should follow to work with the Minister to get this on the road? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Krutko.