Mr. Speaker, my other question is: with the issues with NTCL will this affect the cost of fuel in Nunakput?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's really kind of hard at this point to kind of determine how that will affect it. There's a few things that are impacting the cost of fuel at this stage. I mean, diesel is a little bit lower because of the fluctuating global markets, but there's also an interruption in the supply because of the Fort McMurray fires. So it's a little bit too soon to determine what the fuel price changes we'll need to come into to what will affect the cost. If there is a cost differential we know that none of those changes will take place until after the summer season is finished. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nunakput.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, Minister, for that response. Mr. Speaker, my final questions are: what are the next steps for the GNWT? Quyanainni, Mr. Speaker.

On May 25thof this year, the department has issued a new tender for a multi-year fuel supply and delivery contracts to serve the eight marine accessible communities as I stated before. The contract, once approved, will begin in 2017 and it will be a multi-year contract similar to NTCL. Also I want to raise that even though Public Works and Services doesn't transport too much of the dry goods, such as groceries, into the communities we still are concerned about that, so we will be ensuring that the supplier will be taking dry cargo as well to make sure. On a side note, we've also recently entered into a contract with E. Gruben's Transport Limited to store diesel fuel in their bulk tanks in Tuktoyaktuk and that will support the re-supply activities and establish a strategic fuel reserve in that region.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm asking my questions of the Minister of Finance because the policy of favouring road infrastructure over social infrastructure is a matter of financial and political philosophy. Permit applications have been filed for a possible construction of an all-season road to Whati. Given the size of this project, I can only hope the detailed cost benefit analysis has been created to quantify benefits and returns. Has a cost benefit analysis been completed and if so, will the Minister table this document for all Members and the public to evaluate? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we're doing the preliminary work on the roads that are in our mandate and for us to link them to the possible reductions exercise we're going through I think is unfair. Nowhere in this budget are we debating the investment in the Whati road right now. We are doing the preliminary work and we are looking to try to leverage federal funding for these particular projects. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, my question is whether there is a cost benefit analysis available on the proposed road to Whati and, if so, if it could be tabled here?

I will have discussion with my counterpart at DOT. They normally do project description reports for these particular types of projects before we even get to an application stage for the funding, and if that is part of the work then it would be in that project description report. But I'm sure if you ask the residents of Whati they would be quite pleased to see a road into Whati which will have twofold benefits. People will be able to work on that road which will require some of our social spending to come down, and there may also be another spinoff effect where there might be some work done to develop a mine up there which would be put more people to work. I think I've said on a number of occasions that the best social program is a good paying job.

Thank you to the Minister for that. I didn't say that the roads were without benefits of their own, but rather what I'm looking for is this business case and so i don't feel like I have that yet. When the Finance Minister considers how funds should be allocated for roads rather than housing, how does Finance determine the greater advantage of one over the other?

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister of Finance would like us to buy into the need for a $150 million operating surplus to spend on infrastructure. Housing is not listed in that list in yesterday's budget but roads are. So what I'm looking for is some justification, some quantification of the benefits of this road, and I'm wondering at what point in this process that that will be produced. Thank you.

As we move forward to finalizing some of the applications for some of the work that goes there, and again, I will check with the department, we'll see what analysis has been done. As the Member said there was some mention, I believe, of housing. I have to say we make it sound like we're not spending any money on housing and then if you look at the budget document that we're about to debate in the coming weeks, we have $146 million invested in housing across the Northwest Territories. I think that's fairly significant and I would put the investment that we make in our housing per capita compare that to anybody else in the country. So we try and have balanced investments across the Northwest Territories. Sixty-three per cent of our budget goes to social programs. Again, the best social program is a good paying job.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I correct myself here earlier on my Member's statement here. My question today is directed to the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's common knowledge that we know the high and significant contributions, the economic contributions, the mining industry brings to the growth of the region, the territorial government as well, and the workforce, and to explore and add to the contributing factor of that industry is the reason why I would like to ask the Minister's support in funding a regional conference in one of the Sahtu's communities and discuss with the land claim stakeholders who are going to have a vital part in the approval and support of the conference and the development of that potential. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we know, the Sahtu has been explored historically for oil and gas but it also was one of the earlier regions where mining first occurred and now we see the need to diversify into mining from oil and gas in the Sahtu. We know there's some significant interest in mining and there's also significant potential, and we are looking at developing regional mining strategies in every region in the Northwest Territories, so certainly we'd be prepared to consider a mining conference in the region. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm glad to hear the support is going in that direction to have this conference here to have good heartfelt dialogue with all the speakers and all the stakeholders related to this initiative. Because of the remoteness and the high travel mobilization costs here for leaders to get together not only amongst themselves but with initiatives such as this conference, we'd like to take advantage of this summer's boating season. It takes a few hours to go from one community to the next, so it's an enjoyable trip and a reasonable transportation mode, probably the only one at this time of the year, Mr. Speaker. We'd like to hold a conference here, all said and done, sometime, in an ideal location, here this summer. Would the Minister support the timing of the conference and resources needed to sponsor this initiative this summer?

We would have to look at that. Seeing as this is June already and we would have to take that into consideration and looking into what the Member is proposing.

After listening and reviewing the numbers here yesterday, I think it could be said confidently that there are resources available to hold such an event. I think Kevin would agree there, he's smiling, so I've got his vote. Nevertheless, we'd like to submit a proposal here in the very near future, so would the Minister commit to providing the necessary resources?

One of my rules is don't agree to something you don't know what the value is, so we'll wait for the proposal.