Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister responsible for Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. David Ramsay.

In the Ministerial statement, certainly he talks about the activities happening all in the Northwest Territories, and certainly, he mentioned some of the things about Ottawa and partnerships. He is correct; it is costly to build infrastructure. I mean, we already had this known to us on the Deh Cho Bridge. We also know this from the Inuvik-Tuk road. We also know that those are great lessons for us to continue moving, but, hopefully, this does not stop us from putting in some major infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. I want to ask the Minister, will he meet with the oil and gas companies and corporations that are working in the Sahtu, and also have an opportunity to meet with his federal counterpart, the Minister of Transportation in Ottawa, to look at if there could be a partnership that could build a road from Norman Wells south.

I’ve taken every opportunity to meet with industry. I’ve also met with the federal Minister of Transportation. Certainly, this is high on our list. We’re not going to do this alone. Any opportunity and every opportunity that comes our way, I think we need to take full advantage of it. We will get somewhere by working together with industry and with the federal government. That’s how I intend to move forward with this. At the earliest opportunity, I will try to get together with the Sahtu Explorers Group and start to outline some ways that we can work together collectively on the advancement of all-weather roads in the Sahtu. Thank you.

I noted also in the Minister’s statement about the airports, how Norman Wells and Tulita have been very busy with the activity of the last year’s winter program. Now we are just getting some indication that Husky will probably ramp up their oil and gas exploration to almost a year-round type of activity. They’re also talking about some roads that they want to build in the Sahtu. Would the Minister, sometime in the next three or four months, start to let the industry know, for example, the Explorer Group that’s formed in

the Sahtu region, to look at the concept of partnership in terms of building transportation such as roads and ramping up some of the infrastructure around the airports?

As early as mid-July, I hope to be in Norman Wells and have the opportunity to meet with Husky while they’re there. Certainly, in August when we are in Calgary meeting with industry, with the EDI committee, that’s when I would hope to have some more opportunity to discuss those types of opportunities with industry while we’re in Calgary, and that would happen in August.

To the Member’s question, yes, any opportunity we get to talk to industry on the advancement of transportation infrastructure in the Sahtu, we will take every opportunity. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.