Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, none of that explains why the gas price went up by six cents in Yellowknife when we have no permanent bridge. There is no new supply coming in; it's the same old stuff. I mean that explanation may work for southern communities, but we are cut off from the rest of the world because we have no bridge. They're using the same stuff and the price went up and the only variable was that the prices were...

Do you have a question, Ms. Lee?

...it went up because it went up down south. So could I ask the Minister to make a commitment to review the prices of gas at the gas stations in Yellowknife over the last three weeks and provide us with the information from the industry as to why they raised those prices? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First and foremost, we have to make it clear that within the Department of Finance we have no control over what the industry does in this area. The only place our government has an impact is in POL, or petroleum products division within Public Works and Services where we supply to communities where there is no private sector. Here in the North, the rest of the communities, the only impact we have is on the fuel tax side. That hasn't changed, but I will request the department go back and look at the changes and then we'll have to send an inquiry into some of the bulk dealers throughout the Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My request is very narrow and it's not anything to do with the POL; I'm asking

the Minister of Finance, as a public interest question -- and he can refer it to the Minister responsible for consumer protection, if they have any -- but I'd like to know if the Minister would report back to the Members as soon as possible within this month. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we will go back and look at some of the price changes and request information and then forward that on to Members. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, my questions this morning are for Mr. Bell, the Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, and it concerns the suggestion floated a few days ago by Tristone Capital that the Mackenzie Valley pipeline won't cut it on commercial terms unless the federal government jumps in with a suggested $2 billion worth of support. Mr. Speaker, my first question is does the GNWT agree with the suggestion that the federal government must put taxpayers' money into the Mackenzie gas project to make it viable? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Obviously, the new costing came out and although we were expecting an increase in the price of this project, we were surprised by the magnitude of the increase: $16 billion. I think the suspected or the whisper number on the street had been, sort of, in the 10 to 12 range. So this is much higher than we had anticipated. We've been lobbying for some time; we do believe that there is a logical role for governments in assisting this project. We've never been advocating that there be subsidies paid to the producers; we don't think that makes sense or is the role of government, but we do believe that there are some areas governments can help. The Tristone report points those out. Whether it's infrastructure investments that could bring down the price of this project, we know it would be cheaper to construct in the South because of our infrastructure disadvantage. So marine infrastructure, road infrastructure, airports; there are some things that can be done. Assistance to the APG is another area that we would like to see happen in the form of loan guarantees, Mr. Speaker, potentially some shipping commitment help. So there are a number of areas we see a logical role for governments. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, considering the significance of this project to the Northwest Territories, is the Minister, is the government going to be more specific and be more aggressive about the kind of support we would like to see the federal government taking? Of course, there are lots of different options, all of them that make sense in certain areas, but which are the ones that make most sense for us for the long-term future of the Northwest Territories? Is the government going to be taking that case to the federal government and promote our interests in this project, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, I guess I'm a bit disappointed to hear that the GNWT has not got a more firm or more aggressive position on this at this point. The DIAND Minister, Jim Prentice, clearly has the mandate to make this happen. In light of the, as I indicated in my statement, absence so far of any substantive legacy project from the already massive development that is underway in the NWT, will the Minister seriously consider the advantages that legacy projects such as hydro, roads and communication projects will have and press that case for federal government investment, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.

Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons we like this project is because of the legacy it can create and, first and foremost, 50 or 100 year industry for people up and down the valley in terms of oil and gas exploration. There are logical infrastructure contributions we think can be made by the federal government. We've been advocating that for some time. Now what we do need to see from Imperial and the producers is some detailed breakdown on that costing. There's no sense for us advocating for roads that will have little or no impact on the project. We need to see this detail. They have indicated that it would be filed before the end of May. I

think that is happening now as we speak, or very shortly. That's when we can get down to the brass tacks in terms of discussions with the federal government and Imperial. There have been some high level discussions around support for the project, but without that detailed information it is very difficult for us to talk about what kinds of infrastructure will contribute the most. Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, you know, again, I want to appeal to the Minister and ask for his commitment to focus not on what's good for the pipeline project, Exxon Mobil and the other investors; what is good for the Northwest Territories? Will this government finally and aggressively focus on what we need, not what works to the advantage of the pipeline proponents, Mr. Speaker?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Bell.