The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude her statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have to say they surely have us where they want us. They know we can't make our own gas. Conveniently, every gas station, no matter what name brand except for the Co-op, keeps the price high so there is not even really competition in gas pricing. As the news said, we can continue to suck it up, but I think we should all try to reduce the use of gas so that we could try to make an attempt to reduce demand, but that is not going to happen fast enough. The real action has to come from the government. We need to demand the federal government and all the provincial governments to do something to even the playing field for the hapless consumers. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Members' statements. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, again today, I want to commend the group for signing the AIP.

Mr. Speaker, they showed real leadership. This is something that has been a long time in the works. We have to start somewhere and we have a foundation in place. Now we have to build something on top of that. Some may feel that this AIP was rushed into. Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that this process has been going on for over 30 years. I know we operate on NWT time up here, but 30 years is not rushing into anything.

---Laughter

We might not have all the groups on board right now, Mr. Speaker, but I am sure the door is being left open for them to sign when they feel like they are ready to contribute to the future of the NWT.

The amount of money we lose, Mr. Speaker, still causes me a great deal of concern. Many projects could be partially funded by a lot of this money, including a road to the gravel source in Tuk. My colleague from Tuk makes a legitimate case for a road, but still nothing. Perhaps if Tuk was in the southern NWT, they might get something.

This issue, Mr. Speaker, continues to anger and upset me. I want what is good for the people of Inuvik Twin Lakes. I want what is good for the Inuvialuit because I am an Inuvialuit. I also want what is best for the Northwest Territories because I live here and I do plan on being here until they plant me. Mr. Speaker, it upsets me because I do not like having something that is rightfully ours taken from us. People get taken to court for taking something that is not rightfully theirs. I think it is a position we have to take sometimes.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I again commend the leadership for starting the foundation with the signing of the AIP. I urge the remaining leadership to join the cause and add their voice to the voice of the NWT because it will give it so much more strength. We have to tell Ottawa, Mr. Speaker, that enough is enough. We won't stand by anymore while they continue to pick our pockets. Thank you.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Members' statements. Returns to oral questions. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is an honour today to recognize Ms. Carmen Tees. She is a constituent of mine. She suffers from MS. She is here today because of this important issue that I have been raising in my Member's statement. She will further hear my questions. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Great Slave, Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize a constituent, Mr. Jim Peterson, a former president of the NWT Tourism Association and a sports hunting and fishing outfitter, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to recognize students from Range Lake North School: Robert Digness, Austin Tanner, Allison

Web, Trent Broom, Dakota Hamilton, Jensen Hu, and with them the teacher, Jason Perrino. I would also like to recognize Mr. Peterson.

---Applause

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. If we missed anyone in the gallery today, welcome to the House. I hope you're enjoying the proceedings. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, following up on my Member's statement, I'd like to just ask the Minister of Finance what is his explanation for the gas prices in Yellowknife stations going from $1.19 to $1.25 when he knows that we have no bridge and unless they flew the gas in, which I don't think they did, it's the same stock. So if he could try his best to answer to start with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I guess I want to be clear that in responding to this question I'm not defending big oil and the way they set their prices. However, from the work from the Department of Finance, nothing has changed in the way we deal with the fuel price in the Northwest Territories or from the fuel tax that we have on fuel in the Northwest Territories. So the prices that are changed are as a result of what we were told when we raised this issue with industry, is rack price adjustments that happen throughout Canada. For example, when this issue was raised in my constituency of Inuvik, I made some calls to find out what was happening, so I'm going on that response that I got because the changes aren't as a result of what we're doing. It's a result of the rack price changes and how fuel is stored and then sold as it leaves that storage facility into trucks and service stations. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we can establish there have not been new tax increases from the GNWT. The Minister is saying rack price adjustment but what we see is, and we can tell, that the gas they were selling last week is the gas they would have gotten at least before the ice bridge went out and chances are it's been there for months. We can't think of any increased costs, so I think another word for rack gas pricing adjustment is gouging. So I'd like to ask the Minister, if someone is selling the same...This product doesn't change; they didn't bake it fresh that day; it's the same stock and the price goes up. So would the Minister agree that this may be gouging? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess many in the Northwest Territories may term it or state that it's a form of gouging, but the practice has been throughout industry that -- and I'll use an example -- again, my community when the prices started going up, we know, for example, in communities that don't have highway systems or barge, for example, Inuvik gets its fuel supply by barges and we know that that barge delivery happens in early summer and it's put into storage facilities within Inuvik under one of the larger companies. It isn't until that gas leaves that storage facility, is put into a truck for delivery that the price is set. So the rack price on the market-of-the-day is what it's spotted at and charged at that rate. So that's, when I talk about rack price, the way it happens. In the large companies, the large suppliers, as the fuel leaves its facility into the delivery truck, the price is set at that time. Thank you.