Mr. Speaker, I can do that. I can check with the Minister of DOT and see if there’s something that could be worked out. If it’s the request of the community and it helps bring the costs down, then it’s something that we should seriously look at. Again I say, at the end of the day, the decision will be one that has to be made by the community and direction has to be given to us by the community. I assume they’re doing it through the Member so it’s something that we would have to seriously have a look at.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

That’s good. Good response.

---Laughter

I’d like the Minister to agree to discuss this with municipal government as soon as possible.

I’m sorry. I’ll have to ask the Member to repeat his question.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Beaulieu, could you repeat your question for the Minister.

Can the Minister agree to discuss this project with the municipal government as soon as possible?

Thanks to the Member for that. I was trying to think of an answer already before the question was asked and I apologize. Yes, I will commit to working with the community, as I will to all small communities across the Northwest Territories in advancing their projects. I always say, having lived in a small community for a

long time, I’m well aware of the challenges they face. Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, I’d like to follow in line with the honourable Member for Tu Nedhe in terms of the dust control. I guess I was thinking about some time as to how do we get to a point where this issue’s become a springtime discussion in our communities. I guess from 20 years ago to today, you didn’t see so many vehicles 20 years ago. Today you see a number of vehicles in our community. I want to ask the Minister of MACA in terms of standards and guidelines, as with the airport standards in our small communities, water treatment plant standards, sewer lagoon standards. Is there a policy within MACA that a role within the communities that need to be upgraded to a certain standard that they need to be looked at in terms of upgrading our roads in our communities?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure if it’s a policy within MACA itself. It may be a municipal policy or it may be something that’s in Transportation. But I think that it’s something that the municipal government would decide how far or how much deterioration their roads need to have before they look at upgrading them. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister is correct in terms of this government here empowering some of our municipal councils in terms of standards and where the priorities are, and sometimes it’s a very difficult position to be put into. However, Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Minister of MACA if he would, with this good staff in our region of the Sahtu, go into the communities and look at the issue of roads, as he’s committed to other Members here, in terms of assessing and working with the department in order to bring the standard up to a road. This is what they need to do in terms of long-term planning in terms of allocating a certain amount of dollars to bring our roads up to standard in the Sahtu.

Mr. Speaker, well, first of all it would be the community’s call as to the condition of their roads. They as a community or as a municipal government would decide what’s best for them. If they’re needing further assistance, which a lot of communities are right now, Mr.

Speaker, then MACA would have no issues about going in and assisting the communities. Again, I go back to the fact that the communities have to make the call to ask for technical assistance. We can’t get in there and tell them this is how things are going to be done.

Mr. Speaker, the Dempster Highway was built by the federal government and they just put the road in. Now, today, through different programs and funding, they’re bringing the Dempster Highway up to a standard that is suitable to the national highway standards. Again, I’m looking at the...Just like the water treatment plants in our communities. We’re bringing them up to a national standard through the guidelines of funding. I know that this wouldn’t be a community call. The Minister, in his discussions with the Cabinet colleagues to determine if the roads are another issue that needs to be looked at with the cooperation of the hamlet in terms of bringing it up to standards that would be suitable in the community.

Mr. Speaker, I’m sure there are guidelines as to the condition of the roads, and I go back to the fact again that the community knows their community better than anyone and I think it would be their call as to whether their roads are in need of repair and funding. Thank you.

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

Mr. Speaker, certainly I agree with the Minister in terms of the priorities the community knows. The issue is the amount of funding in order to bring it up to a certain level. The drainage...You should see our roads in the springtime coming from our airport in Tulita down to the community. It’s just like quicksand; like the Liard Highway in terms of those type of standards. I guess what I’m asking is having some consideration in terms of looking at our roads and seeing if a certain amount of dollars could be allocated to our roads in our community. Look at Colville Lake in terms of they’re finally getting some roads in that community. I guess I’m looking at seeing that the government looks at allocating a certain amount of dollars to our roads and helping out our communities.

Good afternoon. In Colville Lake, I think it was a decision of the community to start putting some roads into the community. I have had an opportunity to meet with the chief and the band manager there and they were telling us about the work that they were doing in Colville Lake and the training that they were giving to their people. So that was a decision they made and they should be applauded for it.

As far as the roads go in the communities, I’ve seen a lot of the communities in the springtime and the condition of the roads, and a part of it is the quality of the materials that are used. Many communities are trying to upgrade that quality of material that they use on the roads and it’s something that we, as Municipal and Community Affairs, can assist them with is upgrading their reports, not so much their standards but just assisting them technically any way we can. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The honourable Minister responsible for the Power Corporation, Premier Roland.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the concerns of employees started coming forward after, in fact, a previous assessment we had where we had a theme day on power generation in the Northwest Territories and the word was going out about the potential of a proposal being received. I am aware that the board itself has been having some discussions with the staff around the need to be patient with this, that there is no decision as of yet, and to try to relieve some of the concern about jobs and the impact of that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I’d like to ask specifically because of the degree of concern amongst the employees in Hay River, what specifically has been told to those employees? Thank you.

I will have to get that messaging from the board itself and then I will provide that to the Member. Thank you.