Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of dust and dust control in communities has been around for some time now, and this government, around 2003, had set up a program that would deal with putting chipseal on the main streets of our communities. That program has since wrapped up in 2007. The whole funding allocation to the communities has changed and over the last while, communities are getting funded on a formula basis. We’ve also increased the dollars available for capital from what was $17 million historically to $28 million now. We’ve also incorporated a Gas Tax Program through the federal government that provides, I think this year it’s going to be $15 million, and we also have the Building Canada Fund.
There is a lot of avenue for communities to spend money on chipseal. With the Building Canada money specifically, we work with the NWT Association of Communities and all the communities of the Northwest Territories to see what their priorities were in terms of bringing projects forward.
The initial request was to have the money flow on a formula basis that was outright rejected by the federal government. Communities then submitted projects and we have received 22 communities’ budgets and only one of those has included a dust suppressant. I think there is a huge shift now that the communities have dollars at their disposal. They can decide through their capital plan to use it on dust.