Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the process we have used in trying to strengthen our mental health and addictions programs across the Territories is one we have worked in partnership with NGOs, ourselves, and health and social services authorities. I am not sure if this contract, the impact it would have on us. Of course, every link in the system will help strengthen our own position. So I would have to ask the department if there is going to be any spin-off to this. Of course, this program we work under is available to every resident of the Northwest Territories. As I stated, we are working to strengthen that.

One of the other things we are doing, for example, Mr. Speaker, as I stated yesterday again, is in March of this past year of 2007, there was a territorial advisory group that had a meeting and we are hoping to see their work by mid-summer to see where we are going with this whole area and strengthening how we deliver the program in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Supplementary, Mr. Braden.

Mr. Speaker, we know that within our own Employee Assistance Program, the growth in the number of calls for support has increased substantially between 2005 and 2006 and 2006 and 2007, something like a 42 percent increase. This signals that we have got a substantial need here. I wanted to ask the Minister if he has any indication from the people in his department about this, but a concern is that, now that we have lost these resident professionals from the Northstar contract, there is going to be a much greater demand on other parts of our mental health care system because we will not have this direct support available on the ground here. It is going to be from a southern contractor. Has the Minister heard any concerns of that nature from his department? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the department has not raised this issue with me in this area. We will continue to work on the program we have established in partnership with the NGOs and health and social services authority. This specific area hasn't been brought to my attention. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Roland. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, Highway No. 8 is always a difficult highway to drive sometimes. There is a lot of dust and a lot of potholes. I would like to ask the Minister of Transportation how the Department of Transportation determines the amount of dust control they are going to apply onto a road in a year if there is a 152-kilometre stretch from Inuvik to Fort McPherson that needs it? How do they determine that? I would like to know if it is cost or safety. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As with any highway where there are many challenges to ensure the highways are as safe as possible for the travelling public, and the Dempster Highway that the Member is referring to is one of the ones that we are focussing a lot of our capital and energy on. We are basically reconstructing that highway. Also, another one of the big challenges is the amount of dust control that we can apply to those roads. One of our biggest barriers, Mr. Speaker, is the cost of application; whereas, down south, the southern sections of our roads, we can get away with $1,500 per kilometre. On the Dempster, it is costing us $5,000 per kilometre. It really impacts the amount of O and M we can apply to those roads. That is one of the deciding factors, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. It just surprises me that we hear so much talk about cost and you do one stretch that is $5,000 per kilometre. What happens if an accident happens on another stretch on another kilometre where it wasn't dust controlled? Are those people worth more than $5,000? I would think so. We have been fortunate that we have not had as many accidents as we could have had on that highway. The Inuvik to Fort McPherson section of it is very bad. I would like to ask the Minister to be the Transportation Minister. He has to know all the highways. I would like to ask him if he has been on the Dempster Highway. If not, would he commit to taking a ride on the Dempster Highway, once the snow goes, with myself as the driver? Thank you.

---Laughter

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In fact, I did commit to the Member that I would certainly be glad to take a ride with him on the Dempster at the posted speed limit, of course.

---Laughter

I am certainly interested in the highway that we are spending lots of resources on. I do want to see for myself, Mr. Speaker. So I will be happy to commit to that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that commitment. I look forward to the ride. I would like to ask the Minister, before I asked him, how does the department determine how much highway to dust control? Now I would like to ask the Minister, who decides how much of that highway we can apply dust control to? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am not quite sure what the Member is getting at, if he is looking for a name or...but, typically, it is done by regional offices that makes a determination based on the condition of the road and engineering studies that we conduct periodically. That is how the highways are assessed for need for work, etcetera. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Oral questions. The honourable Member for Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, offer the same invitation to the Minister responsible for the Department of Transportation to consider travelling on Highway No. 3 to visit these cabins. I would like to ask the Minister, Mr. Speaker, as a follow-up from my previous question in a different format. As Mr. Menicoche outlined, there was a disagreement on the private contractor. Is the Minister willing to sit down and talk about the potential contractor again, because that contractor he was referring to was before August, 2005, with a new Tlicho agreement? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In other regions, this is not too much of an issue because people do understand the application of their access roads and they do make arrangements with Transportation, but namely our contractors to have their access roads ploughed. So that is something that has happened in this region. I know that contractors in this region have been complaining to us for using highways equipment. Highways does maintain this stretch of road. Often, the contractors complain that we are taking away work from them. That is why we are not using our equipment to provide for the services of helping people with their access roads. With respect to the first part of his question, I would be happy to commit, as well, to driving with the Member down Highway No. 3. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Supplementary, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I am glad the Minister is taking up the offer. I am looking forward to that. Mr. Speaker, my next leading question is, when we identify a contractor in a community prior to 2005, there might have been a case at that time, but today, if you approach a community and say would you like us to clear your roads, they would be more than happy to take on the opportunity. Is the Minister willing to invest from his department to identify a contractor, whether it be DOT or in the community, to clear the access roads to the traditional cabins? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Menicoche.