Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Finance, the Honourable Joe Handley. Mr. Speaker, the way the Cabinet chooses projects such as school renovations is unclear. Each Member lobbies hard for his or her riding and community members express their needs to various government officials. Despite this involvement, projects are chosen which do not reflect the input of community members or MLAs. I would like to ask the Minister, who makes the final decisions on capital projects? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Friday my colleague, Mr. McLeod, expressed his frustration with the capital planning process. I share those same frustrations. A gap exists between communities expressing their needs to MLAs and government officials, and the decisions being made by deputy ministers which do not reflect the input of Members and residents of the communities, despite Cabinet's assurances that the input of Members and the communities are taken into consideration. This input is not taken into account when dollars are actually spent on projects.

Mr. Speaker, on Friday the Minister of Finance said that as part of the government's long-term planning, a 20-year capital needs assessment is done. He said that this is a needs assessment, not a plan. He stated that it's not a capital plan that the government is committed to for the next 20 years, it's simply assessing what the long-term needs are. Although he says that it is not a plan, sometimes projects are selected and we are told that they are picked because they are in the 20-year plan. At other times, projects are removed from the books without any consultation, and the reasoning is because it is only in a 20-year assessment, not a plan.

I am sure that we can all sense how confusing, disappointing and frustrating this must be to the communities such as Gameti who are expecting an upgrade of their school. At the recent community meeting on capital planning, no one from MACA could explain why the plan for the school had changed. Neither the MLAs, nor the community, nor government staff were involved in the decision, nor do I know why it was no longer in the books.

Mr. Speaker, the current process of selecting capital projects needs to be clear. The input of the community members and the MLAs must be included in the plans, and also the Minister. Not only the deputy ministers should be involved in the selection of projects. This is what we have been elected to do, and by involving all parties in the decision-making process, the government will be both accountable and responsive to the needs of all Northerners. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm glad the Minister is agreeing to working with the Department of RWED. He's sort of trying to give me some answers and saying some things might not work. We won't know that until we've tried them, so I'm encouraging the Minister and asking him if he would try some other methods and if he can give me a timeline when he would contact the department. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hate to hear lowering the speed limits. The last time I complained about Highway No. 3 in 2002, they lowered the speed limit between here and Rae and it hasn't changed. The Minister keeps saying that the highway is safe, the highway is maintained well, but the speed limits have not returned to their normal limit. So sometimes when you stand up here and you try to do something for your residents and the people in the Northwest Territories, you get a negative impact. I would like to ask the Minister if he can talk to his department and try to do these things before it gets dark in the fall. The signs I'm talking about are big one metre by one-and-a-half buffalo signs on the highway between Providence and Edzo. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to ask the Minister if he can look at different ways to make it safer, not only with the signage but maybe widening the reflective line on the highways so that if an animal crosses you can see that the line is blocked, or even posting reflective posts on the side that will show if an animal is crossing in front of them. Or even, it may be comical, but maybe using paint balls with reflective paint and shooting these bison so they can be noticed in the dark. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is for the Minister of Transportation, the Honourable Joe Handley. In my statement I mentioned numerous accidents on highways in the Northwest Territories. Most of them are happening with collisions between bison and motorists. I would like to ask the Minister if more signage can be posted on Highway No. 3 and the access road to Rae. When you travel to Fort Smith there are rarely any signs there and there are bison on that road, also. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the past few years there have been numerous accidents involving bison along our highways. I think it is time for the Department of Transportation to put more safety measures in place. Bison are moving further north, and signage alerting motorists of wildlife is needed. I think it would be wise for the department to put large signs on Highway No. 3 indicating buffalo between Yellowknife and Edzo and along the Rae access road.

A few weeks ago, one of my constituents hit a buffalo at kilometre 268, which is between Yellowknife and Stagg River. Their vehicle was totaled. I am concerned that unless safety notices are posted alerting motorists of wildlife, there will be more wildlife hurt and motorists injured and more vehicles will be damaged.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will have questions on this statement.

---Applause

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During his statement on the fiscal update, I noticed that a lot of things were touched upon. Not once was there any mention of how the government operated, how they had cost overruns and all that. So is there a reason why they didn't put these in? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister, in his statement, said there was targeted restraint. Can you tell us what the targeted restraints are? Thank you.