Thank you, Ms. Lee. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. The honourable Member for Yellowknife South, Mr. Bell.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Recognition of visitors in the gallery. Acknowledgements. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the diamond mines continue work in the North here, north of Yellowknife, the winter road continues to be of question. Some years it's good; some years it's bad. Mr. Speaker, before this Assembly, I brought up the issue of could we work towards a permanent year-round winter road to our mine. This would help them with their logistics every year as they get organized bringing in their fuel straight up there. They don't have to worry about the winter road going out, and as we saw two years ago, they spent $100 million in logistic money trying to get fuel up to the North. So there's a conglomerate whine to establish a year-round road. So the two options are to go straight from Yellowknife north or the Bathurst port. I'd like to ask the Minister of Transportation is he willing to work with his winter road conglomerate to ensure that this road gets permanently established in the Northwest Territories rather than we sit by and watch the Nunavut government get it established in the Bathurst port going south? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm not quite sure if I heard the Member correctly, but I think he said we spent $100 million and I'd like to correct that. The government has not expended any money in air lifting freight over to the mining companies at all, but there is a joint venture with all the mines that have done an alternative transportation study and we are working with them to define what kind of role the government would have in that road, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister was correct; when I said they, I meant the diamonds mines spent $100 million hiring the air transportation companies. So the Minister is right. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to know what the Minister is willing to do to step forward, because they're presenting a plan, they tried to come to committee, but because committee was short on time this year and of course they're vamping up for this next winter road season and trying to get organized, what is he willing to do today, because I think we need a conglomerate or organizations to come together to advocate to the Minister of Transportation, the federal Minister of Transportation, to

make this a reality. What is he willing to do today to make that commitment? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much there, Mr. Speaker. Our department continues to work with the joint venture study and our most recent meeting we had was in July. We met with the joint venture to look at their study. Their option is the seasonal over-land route, which is realigning the road off the lakes and streams so they can add more days for transporting their freight up to the mines. That's the short-term solution that's being offered and we are working closely with them, Mr. Speaker. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, would the Minister be able to commit today to make this a priority policy to work on so we can move forward, knowing that this can be established in the short term, as opposed to just sitting here waiting to find out which way we're going with the wind? Because I'll tell you, Nunavut wants the Bathurst Port; Nunavut wants the year-round road to go from north to south to the mines. So if we sit down and do not do anything, we're going to miss this opportunity. Is he willing to move forward and make this a commitment on a policy to move on this initiative? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Indeed, we have, as a government, been advocating that getting a long-term road into the Slave Geological Province is a priority and we are working with the federal officials to that end. As well, there's many different options available out there and we're exploring them all, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins. Oral questions. The honourable Member from Monfwi, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker...(English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, maybe I have a solution for Mr. Hawkins's request...

---Laughter

...an all-weather road via Tlicho communities. Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Transportation said in February that the department, last year, completed a Tlicho corridors options study that looked at an all-weather road and the all-weather road corridor option in the Tlicho region. The department also completed economic analysis of the benefits and costs of both realigning the Tlicho winter road through an over-land route and upgrading the seasonal route to all-weather road standards. These studies were slated to be completed later this year, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell me what the status is of these studies and discussions with the federal government? Mahsi.

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

Mr. Speaker...(English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, the roads to the Tlicho area are very important and we have been working very hard with the Tlicho Government to that respect. We have set up a Tlicho Road Studies Committee and we have been meeting early in the summer and we do have another meeting planned for the last week in August. Mahsi.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with this proposed winter road realignment and all-weather road in our jurisdiction, it would be much cheaper and also a shorter distance to travel to the mine site from the south. As you can see in this diagram, it clearly shows, from the department, that that's the best avenue to go, the Tlicho connecting the communities onto the mine site. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to ask the Minister, can the Minister tell me if the Department of Transportation will be asking for money towards this initiative in the next business plan, for the Tlicho road connecting through our communities' all-weather road? Has it been determined whether it will be an all-weather road or upgrade of the seasonal route? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Tlicho road studies and the $460,000 contribution from the federal government, and that's exactly what we're doing. It's a study to assess the routes to the Tlicho communities. I think the important message here, Mr. Speaker, is that Tlicho communities will be getting seasonal roads in the long term, Mr. Speaker, and with or without the mines running through them, without the mine road running through there, and it will be a priority of our government, improving the access to all Tlicho communities and we will begin talking about it in the business planning process how to plan for it. The first thing to do is to get the engineering studies done to see exactly what the full conditions are and how much the road will cost to build. Thank you.

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

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I do appreciate the commitment that's being made by the Minister to work with us, the Tlicho Government and also the communities. I guess the next question sort of leads to that where can the Minister tell me if he's worked with the Tlicho Chief Executive Council, because they are the authority in our region on this project, and how he is keeping them informed of the new development? There's a new development that's happening in Nunavut. What's our status? Are we moving forward expeditiously? Mahsi.