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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I just got a couple of questions for the Minister of public works and surplus, the Honourable David Krutko.

---Laughter

I know the Minister is probably well aware that the Nuni Corporation got into a negotiated contract with Public Works last year to take over airport services along with highway maintenance. I just want to ask the Minister if they're giving away vehicles on the one hand and on the other hand they're taking away equipment, because the Public Works department did go into Fort Resolution after the contract was signed, sealed and delivered and removed a snow blower and a loader from the airport that they could have used to improve their capacity building in the community and there was no mention in the negotiated contract that they would have to do that or they would even do that. So would the Minister commit to maybe renegotiating or returning the equipment to the community at a negotiated rate or at a cost or something like that? Can the Minister do that? Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when equipment is basically put up for public tender or put out for disposal, it's mostly in the case when the vehicle or whatnot has come to the end of its usefulness and basically a department will dispose of that vehicle, which they'll bring it to the Department of Public Works and we basically go out and either put it out for tender or do a public auction process. So again, we don't unilaterally just go into a community and pick a vehicle out. It had to be the department making the decision that they wanted to dispose of this vehicle by way of using our public disposal policy, which basically then Public Works will come in and then dispose of the policy either through, like I mentioned, a public tendering process or put it out for bids through a bid process. So again, I'm not clear on exactly where the Member is coming from. I believe the equipment may have been Department of Transportation or MACA's, but I do not believe that Public Works has anything to do with those. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The equipment was airport's, I guess, and whatever airports fell under at that time. But wouldn't it be prudent or smart of this government, instead of going into other remote communities, spending more money than the equipment is worth to get the equipment out of there, to just leave it in the community and negotiate with the community, the contractor, whoever's taking over the contract, to say we'll give it to you for a dollar. Or if we're going to spend $10,000 to get a truck out of Colville Lake that's worth $500, why doesn't the government just get rid of that whole headache of public tendering and however they dispose of equipment and just allow the community the option, the first right of refusal even, to say whether they want that equipment? Is that a possibility? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I believe the policy does have that type of flexibility in which basically if the community notifies the department that they would like that equipment to remain in their community and have it disposed of through the process that we have spelled out, that could be done simply by communication or letter between local, municipal government and the government department or the Department of Public Works to dispose of it locally instead of having to take that equipment out of the community. Thank you.

Okay. Can the Minister, because I know the equipment was still useful, I don't know if it

reached the end of its useful life, but basically when Nuni took over the contract, the government just went in, took the equipment out of there, and they said it wasn't included in the contract. I think it should be the other way around. The government maybe should inform the community of whether they want to purchase the equipment or not and not the community, because they don't know whether it's the end of its useful life or not. So I think the onus is pretty much on the government to say we're going to take it if you don't want it. I think they would have wanted it to stay there, because it's still good equipment as far as I know. So can the Minister go back to Nuni and say if you guys still want that equipment you can come and get it in Hay River where it sits right now in the surplus yard doing nothing when it should be clearing our airports? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the Member's sake, I'll give him a copy of the policy and ensure him that basically the department will show him exactly how the policy works. But more importantly, how we have to ensure that the policy has been followed the way it's been drafted and how it can benefit communities. So in the case of the Member, I will give him a copy of the policy and sit down with the department to ensure that it's being followed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, once again I hear Members asking questions about resource revenue sharing and devolution as something that our government continually delivers a message to Ottawa that we want. We've asked about legal obligations. Apparently there are none. We've asked about moral obligations. Apparently there are none. We have no authority. It's the golden rule. They have the gold and the gas and the diamonds and everything else, and so they rule. So let's not delude ourselves. What reason do we possibly have to go to Ottawa to convince them that they should do right by northerners in terms of resource revenue sharing and devolution? Tell me the reasons that we could possibly offer. Can we shame them? I mean, we've tried everything. We've tried being nice, we beg, we plead. We...

---Interjection

As Mr. Yakeleya says, we beat on our chest. We've tried everything. Is there anything else at our disposal to convince them that we need this done? Thank you.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. That question wasn't addressed to anybody. I'll put it to the Premier, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Well, I'll tell you, there are 224 million reasons why we have to continue to do this. We have to do it. We may not have a legal right. We may have to shame them. We are Canadians. We should have the equal rights to Canadians anywhere. We are a resource rich area. All those good arguments that we've been making. Mr. Speaker, we're in negotiations right now, and we are negotiating. The federal government has agreed; they've appointed a negotiator. He is negotiating hard to protect federal interests, which is the 224 million reasons. Mr. Speaker, negotiations are going on and between that negotiating table and our continual lobbying other leaders to support us and trying to shame the federal government, Mr. Speaker, I'm afraid those are the main avenues we have right now and hopefully our negotiations are going to be successful and we can look forward to an agreement-in-principle soon. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. The time for question period has expired; however I will allow the Member a supplementary question. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Speaker, I think the Premier makes the point that we've tried just about everything. I think we should try something new. I don't think there's anything more important to the people of the Northwest Territories right now than resource revenue sharing and devolution. Maybe we should buy a bus for the Premier and put a big slogan and his picture on the side and send him on a cross-country tour to talk to ordinary Canadians to explain to them what is happening here. We are being ripped off of what we deserve. In the closing days of this government for the next six months, I can't think of anything more important to do. We need to appeal to someone. Maybe we should take on a nation-wide campaign. What does the Premier think of that?

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Maybe I can even get a spare van from Public Works to travel with.

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But, Mr. Speaker, if I can fit it into my schedule anywhere, I have never turned down an opportunity to speak to a group, right from the...(inaudible)...alliance to chambers of commerce to school groups to aboriginal groups to some of the groups like the Empire Club and the Canadian Club and the politicians and everything. I will continue to do that, and I'll take every opportunity to do that. I think there are 19 of us here. We should all be out there. I shouldn't be the only one out there. I think we should all be saying it and I hope that your constituents, particularly the aboriginal leaders, will also be doing that. One of the Members said we may need a big bus, but maybe that's what we need.

---Laughter

But we need everybody to be saying the same thing because we're getting shafted every day here.

---Interjection

---Applause

We are.

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Mr. Speaker, whatever we can all do we need to do our part as elected MLAs. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final, short supplementary, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, desperate times call for desperate measures. Would this Premier support a moratorium on development in the North until we get a resource revenue sharing deal? Thank you.