I appreciate the elaboration from the Minister. Mr. Speaker, we indicated as well, as one of our mandate items, that we will develop and implement an effective communications plan to make residents aware of the mechanisms available to appeal government decisions. In there, we referenced that we will implement an effective communications plan. Can the Minister describe for us what that communications plan is, what it consists of, and when will that plan be coming forward?

Yes, of course, we do take seriously all of the items that are in the mandate. Perhaps I could undertake to supply the Member opposite with some more detail. I know that this is an important aspect of the mandate and we are working on it, but as to dates and progress, perhaps if I could undertake to give the Member opposite more information directly.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and, yes, most certainly, in the interests of open government, I would appreciate that the Minister provide additional information when he can.

To that, Mr. Speaker, my last point. Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't raise the aspect of the ombudsman and the legislation that we are anticipating coming forward from the Minister's shop on this matter. So again another question is: where are we at with the draft legislation with regard to the ombudsman? It's expected that we would see something within the first two years of this Assembly, but are we waiting for the 24th month to present that or are we going to see something sooner? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members will recall we met in the summer in the caucus retreat, at which time we discussed this very issue of the ombudsman. There were several options that were discussed, and I can advise that we will be coming forward with a legislative proposal by the end of the summer.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Transportation. In follow-up to my Member's statement earlier, I'd like to ask the Minister: can the Minister explain why the chartered community of Tsiigehtchic was asked to hire a contractor to deal with the overflow that has been dealt with under the highway maintenance contract in the past? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Transportation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd have to get the exact particulars from the Member of which incident he's talking about and the location. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Maybe the Minister wasn't paying attention earlier during my Member's statement, but I was referring to Georgetown near Tsiigehtchic. Mr. Speaker, for many years this has been an issue. Will the Minister please answer that question again?

I guess I can go into a little story about this situation. There was a place built there in 2000, where the Member is referring to, just off the access of the Dempster Highway. This was built in an area where a lot of drainage was a problem. The Department of Housing got involved; the Department of Transportation got involved. We moved the particular residents out of this area at the two departments' expense and relocated them. Another individual has now since moved into that location, knowing that all the particular problems were there. Along the course of that timeline, a couple of culverts were put in at the departments' expense to help alleviate the problem, which was off the access of the right-of-way, which is not even on our right-of-way, but we went ahead and did that to help with the drainage situation.

As far as the overflow going, it doesn't impede the safety of the highway or the travelling public to be able to travel up and down the highway. I believe at some point that it did, and we went in there and spent almost $5,000 on a contractor to clear the slush and snow out of the area to make sure this highway was of a safe usage. We will continue to monitor the situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. That is quite a story.

---Laughter

Actually, just to add to the Minister's story, people have been living there for as far as I can remember, which is early 1980s, even into the 1970s, Mr. Speaker. With climate change, like everything else, things change. Will the Minister agree to get a contractor to divert the water at kilometre 142, as he is doing between Tsiigehtchic and Inuvik?

I will have a look at the situation. We will get back to the Member, but if it is not impeding the safe usage of the highway, we will not be looking at doing anything.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the overflow may not be running directly on to the highway at the moment, but it is running along the highway, which is flooding out all of the belongings of the people who are staying at this location. A lot of their stuff that they have there is under water at the moment. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister: what steps has the department taken to permanently deal with the overflow issues in these problem spots? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Department of Transportation, we continue to monitor all our embankments on the highway system and make sure we have safe travelling public, proper drainage on the highway system, and we will continue to do that. I can update the Member after session if he wants to have a bigger discussion around this issue.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, since raising the issue of the Mineral Incentive Program, I have been flooded with correspondence from the public in support of increasing this program. I am going to ask the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment today if he will commit to increasing the Mineral Investment Program to $1 million, support our industry, and grow our exploration sector. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we have had this conversation in Committee of the Whole, I said we had a great opportunity at Mineral Roundup to get input from all stakeholders in the industry. We put our budget forward. This is what we have in there. I made a commitment that, in the life of this Assembly, we will look at what we can do towards increasing that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you to the Minister. His predecessor said the same thing. Furthermore, the mandate says, "makes a commitment to implement the Mining Incentive Program." Could the Minister clarify what that commitment means? How are we going to implement the Mining Incentive Program? Is it currently not implemented? What does that exactly mean?

I think there is a play on words here. The Mining Incentive Program is already in place. It is well received. It was actually oversubscribed in the past year. As I said, I commit to looking, in the life of this Assembly, to find a way to put more money into this program in coming years.

I would argue that the line of the mandate for implementing the mineral would be expanding it. A million dollars to this program would increase the return on investment to somewhere around the level of $8 million. Does the Minister agree that an additional $5 or $6 million injected directly into our economy through boosting this important subsidy would be a benefit to our economy and to our mining industry?