Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is a P3 working group that was formed following the commitment by the Premier a while back to look at this with Finance in the lead including Public Works and Services, Transportation, MACA, and Justice. They worked at looking at all of the information that we have and they looked at other jurisdictions as well, what the federal government is doing. They have a final report that is being reviewed by the working group. They anticipate that will be ready by the end of March, which we will then be in a position to collectively look at. Thank you.

I guess the Minister is getting really smart because he is anticipating my second question. I would like to know whether or not this is going to be a comprehensive policy. Is it going to cover the negotiations that would happen in entering into a P3 project? Is it going to cover the administration of this particular project and follow it right through the management of the whole project? Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. The intent is to make it as comprehensive as possible. One other jurisdiction’s P3 project policy seems to us to be particularly applicable. That is the one in Alberta. It seems to be very

comprehensive in all regards. We will be coming forward with results of that survey of best practices, but, yes, we tend to have that as comprehensive as possible. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for the answer. Given that there are opinions out there that P3 projects are not the way to go, I would like to know from the Minister whether this working group is considering all aspects of P3 projects when they develop this policy. Are they considering that there are very strong opinions in some quarters that P3 projects are a bad thing and will they be looking at any policy that is developed through that lens? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we are looking at this policy as one that has some applicability that the federal government is getting involved in, in a significant way, and if we are going to have such a policy, what is the best way to set it up so that it is as comprehensive as possible and covers the range of needs and it will be one of the tools that will be available to us as we look at the infrastructure requirements and planning and capital plan of the government. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I guess I must have been sleeping or my hearing is going as I get older, but I would like to ask the Minister if he did say earlier that the draft policy will come before standing committee for review and for our Regular Members to be able to comment on it. Thank you.

Once the working group has concluded the report, we will have an opportunity to look at it. Yes, the intent would be to share it with committee. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, my questions are to the Minister of Transportation in terms of connecting the rest of the people in the Sahtu and in the Beaufort-Delta in terms of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Currently the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway extension remains at the conceptual planning stages. I will ask the Minister if this conceptual planning stage would go into more of an action planning stage in terms of seeing that this government could push forward the Mackenzie Valley Highway extension road to the potential highway from Wrigley.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, an all-weather road from the Mackenzie Valley to the Arctic Coast has been a long-term priority of our government and the people of the Northwest Territories. In the ‘50s, Diefenbaker’s Road to Resources was something that everybody expected to bring this link through. Since then our government has included it in every strategy that they developed either in part in sections of this road or as a whole. However, Mr. Speaker, until we have the resources to pay for it, it still is a strategy. We can’t include it as part of an action plan. So, Mr. Speaker, we continue to look to see how we can get the attention of the federal government to help us finance this road. The Premier has raised it on a number of occasions very recently in Ottawa and very recently with deputy ministers. I have also raised it and will continue to try to move this important priority project forward. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the people in the Sahtu want to get connected with the people of the Northwest Territories and the rest of Canada. They brought this issue up a number of times. I know the Premier has brought this type of discussions with his counterparts, the other Premiers, that have brought them many discussions with the territorial government. I asked this Minister if he would bring together a discussion paper as to how the people of the Northwest Territories can sit down with all of the smart minds in this country, in this Territory, to see how we can build a Mackenzie Valley Highway and get the people in Ottawa to understand that this is an important issue for the people of the Northwest Territories. Ottawa is bound to lose a lot of money by not having this road built in the North.

Mr. Speaker, we brought this initiative forward in many different forms to many different options for the federal government. We tried to attract some attention through the P3 Infrastructure Fund. It has been raised as a potential issue that could be funded through devolution or resource revenue sharing. We have also raised it, as I have said, very recently as a potential economic stimulus project. We have also brought it forward as a partnership opportunity and it has been included in most of our strategies if not all, Mr. Speaker. The responsibility for a road in the Mackenzie Valley is still the responsibility of the federal government. We will continue to put pressure on them and have those discussions to see if they will bring that forward. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister has been quite correct in terms of the different strategies and avenues to get the attention of the federal government. They are the big proponents in

terms of how to fund this Mackenzie Valley Highway here. Is there something else that has to get the attention of the federal government to take notice of the importance of building this Mackenzie Valley Highway? Can the Minister come forward with a discussion paper that would create some interest in Ottawa to build this highway? He tried the same old, same old. We still get the same old results. What is it that we have to do to get the attention of Ottawa to build this Mackenzie Valley Highway? That is what I am asking the Minister here.

Mr. Speaker, that is a question we are asking ourselves. What do we have to do to get the attention? Mr. Speaker, in the meantime we have to try to continue to build the basic case to convince the government. We are doing some very early work in terms of some more baseline studies. We are also doing some environmental scoping in different areas. We have hired some people to do an economic analysis and we should have that report by 2009. All of these things are going to help us with our discussions and our debates with the federal government to convince them that this is an attractive project that needs investment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, I think you really have to hit the federal government between the eyes to get their attention. They are standing to lose $13.3 billion by not having this road built into the Mackenzie Valley. That is what they stand to lose. They are the biggest winners or they are going to be biggest losers, but people of the Northwest Territories need to do something more to get their attention. Again, would the Minister look at different avenues such as aboriginal groups, other companies out there that could build, finance the road? Ask them to look at it again to see if the federal government will pay attention to say this road we need to do it to connect the people in the Northwest Territories with the rest of Canada.

We have been and will continue to hear from the different companies, organizations and aboriginal governments out there that feel there is some merit to what they are bringing forward. We will continue to do the analysis on the road. We will continue to build our business case, Mr. Speaker. At the end of the day, we need to convince the federal government that this is an important investment area and that they should follow up on it. We continue to do that. Most of our discussions have been fairly positive but to no avail. The Premier has been working on this. I know personally that he has raised it with the Prime Minister and a number of other Ministers and will continue to put pressure on them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Speaker, my questions are directed to the Minister of Transportation. Also he has the Housing Corporation portfolio. It is in regards to a constituent of mine who is presently in the hospital in Inuvik in regards to George Niditchi who has a house along the Dempster Highway on the Fort McPherson side of the Arctic Red River. That house was built with the Housing Corporation investment in the log housing initiative program a number of years ago. Since then we have been having problems every winter in regards to overflow and flooding around George’s place, which is becoming pretty apparent that it is costing this government a lot of money to deal with this problem. I would like to ask the Minister exactly, does he have any plans to possibly move that facility or that log unit off that piece of land or is there some attempt made by the department to deal with the overflow problem?

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, the question I guess falls across two areas. I am responsible for Transportation and Housing. Mr. Speaker, it is not my practice to discuss individual situations. I would be pleased to sit down with the Member and continue our discussion on this situation that the person is in. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I will try to give a different slant to the question, but it is a problem that has been occurring every year. It is getting worse. I think a lot of it has to do with global warming, but it also has to do with the upgrades on the Dempster Highway over the last number of years. A lot of culverts were replaced and whatnot. I would like to ask the Minister, has his department looked or done a study to see exactly what can be done to mitigate this problem so that it is not a common occurrence every year or look at the possibility of culverts in the area where this was coming from?