Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The Minister of Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Very quickly, the project description work is being done and will be concluded in the next couple of months. We have, as well, put out an expression of interest to the industry about building, running a fibre optic line. There has been substantial interest in that. We’ve met with the Aboriginal governments up and down the valley. A specific interest has been evidenced by the Inuvialuit, Gwich’in and the Sahtu. We are working with them on the joint venture approach. At the same time, we do have an ancillary effort with P3 Canada that is inching along. Our main focus is on the joint venture approach with the Aboriginal governments. There has been significant interest expressed by industry, by countries, Germany, Sweden. We have the Defence department.

There is consultation happening now. We were in Wrigley and Simpson this week. They are going to be going up the valley to talk to all the communities, bringing forward and laying out the models of what’s going to happen winter and summer as the project is put in place. We are going to have a breakfast up here mid-week next week for those folks around Cabinet and staff to just have the models there so they can see what’s being presented to the people up and down the valley. The consultation will continue all the way up to Tuk about the work that’s being done.

As we might know, I think the Mackenzie Highway, at this point, ends at Wrigley. Right now we’re building the proposed Inuvik-Tuk highway. I just want to understand, perhaps for the benefit of this side of the House, too, in terms of how the fibre optic line will be proposed to be laid in the ground when, in fact, half of the Mackenzie Valley Highway is not complete.

The project description for the Mackenzie Valley Highway has been worked on and is complete. We intend to work within the right-of-way of the proposed road. Where there is a cleared right-of-way, we’ll use that. But we’re going to follow that approved route. It’s a trench that’s four inches wide and about six inches deep and very modest in terms of its effect on the environment. It’s trenched, then the cable is laid, and it’s filled in behind. We’re going to use directional drilling. We’re going to go under every creek and river so that we leave the water systems alone. We look at this as being about as environmentally benign a project as there could possibly be.

I just wanted to understand. I know the Minister did mention that this is a partnership project, in terms of ensuring that industry is on board and supporting this very vital project that will really enhance the infrastructure in terms of telecommunications in the NWT. What is the nature of the relationship with industry?

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Nadli.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My final question is, just recently we had the deregulations of the CRTC, kind of letting it loose in terms of how telecommunications companies perhaps might move up here in the Northwest Territories. And there have been recent issues, in terms of the media and times of profiling how consumers are being affected by just some of the practices that have been in place for some time. How is this government going to ensure that consumers are protected from being taken advantage of, in terms of the telecommunications technology that is being established up here in the Northwest Territories?

Let me speak specifically to the fibre optic line. The intent of the joint venture is to have a major piece of telecommunications technology and infrastructure owned and operated by Northerners, Aboriginal government and the territorial government. One of our collective goals is to, while we have a decent return on investment, we want to make it modest enough that we can keep the cost of the service into the communities as reasonable and as modest as possible to make it as affordable as possible to build the customer base. That’s going to be our goal.

The final mile piece in the communities, how that new technology will be put to use in communities, that’s where the economic opportunity lies for the private sector, as well, NorthwesTel, Ice Wireless. There are a whole host of options out there in terms of who will own and operate the systems and services within the various communities where you’ll have the cell phone service and the high-speed Internet, the cable, and all the other economic opportunities.

The government in all the communities will be a customer of whoever has that opportunity. It will give us cutting-edge technology that will allow us to use our telehealth properly. It will allow the children’s schools to have access to high-speed Internet and do all the kind of work nowadays that students can do in the rest of the world. We’re going to be very careful to make sure that this is owned and operated in the North and that we make it affordable for all Northerners and we build a substantial information-based technology and industry in Inuvik tied to remote sensing. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.