Mr. Chairman, earlier we had legal advice from the counsel who stated that there is no legal authority to spend money until it is approved in the House. I would like to know, from the Minister or the deputy minister, under what authority they would have spent this money in the meantime.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I should probably not speak for others, but for the benefit of the new Members, and especially for myself, I would ask for some clarification. I see this is the fourth supplementary appropriation, it is not the first one this year. Could the Minister explain the circumstances under which a supplementary appropriation is brought into the House?

Mr. Chairman, I was just wondering if I could get some information from the Minister. May I get a clarification as to what period this Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 4, is covering?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate that we have the federal Ministers now paying attention to us, but when he is in a meeting with these Ministers, will the Premier tell him that we have this great mineral potential north of our capital, but this place is connected by a country road that has two different speed limits for the small cars and big trucks. We have trucking companies, we have transportation that lays down tonnes of mud to keep the road even and then the trucking companies have to come and wash it all off here. We have the road but it is not ready for this kind of development.

Will the Minister please tell them, if we are going to see the kind of potential that is possible, we need $60 million to build that road.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wonder if I could ask a very specific question that I would like the Minister to tell Minister Martin. The latest figure I have seen in terms of the mineral development potential with the three diamond mines is about $15 billion. I may be wrong on that and I realize that not all that money is going to go to the federal government, and surely we know that hardly any of that comes to the Territorial government directly, but the potential seems huge. Highway No. 3 will cost $60 million to be reconstructed, and when you look at the big scheme of things, that is not such a big amount of money and yet, that is all of the capital budget we have in the interim budget this year that we have just passed.

I guess what I am saying is, $60 million is 100 percent of the capital budget that we are going to approve in the interim and yet, that is so minuscule in comparison to the billions that are to be made in the diamond mines. I wonder if the Minister would go to the Minister responsible for Finance and say, "give us $60 million, because you are going to make $100 billion or something from the diamond mines." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today, also goes to the Minister responsible for Resources Wildlife and Economic Development. Mr. Speaker, I think that when we look at our economic picture and our potential for economic development, it is so frustrating that we do not have control over all leverages that are necessary to build our economy. I refer specifically to the mineral resource potential in the Great Slave area. I would think that in any other jurisdiction, like Alberta, for example, where one is looking at economic potential that we are looking at in diamond mines, with billions of dollars of revenue potential, we should be able to find some money in government, to put towards social and economic infrastructure, such as setting up a training program or building the roads, or even building the bridge in this global warming condition that we are facing, and yet we have a very lopsided economic picture in the North.

We have no money to put this infrastructure in place. The companies are willing to come and invest and extract the resources and the money goes to the federal government. I think this lopsided picture is very clear. My question is, I do know that the Premier has engaged in explaining this situation to the federal government, and I would like to confirm if this is the kind of discussion he had with the Minister, and what his future plans are in making it more clear to them and meeting with them again and about coming up with a focused training program or world project program or some kind of program that links to the economic potential that we have here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to speak on a topic a little different from what has been heard here. I have not had a chance to do this, but I want to recognize and show appreciation for the generosity and community spirit shown by the people of Yellowknife following the house fire which resulted in the loss of a great deal for a young family in town.

Mr. Speaker, we are blessed in the North and in Yellowknife to live among friends and neighbours who do not hesitate to come to the aid of people in need. This is only the latest example of a very strong community spirit shown over and over again in Yellowknife.

Another example I can think of, Mr. Speaker, is the efforts by the Literacy Council, which raised $35,000 yesterday through the Peter Gzowski Invitational Golf Tournament.

Mr. Speaker, for the young family, I know that they have gained a lot of strength from the overwhelming support shown by Yellowknife residents, businesses and service clubs. On behalf of all of the Members here, and all Yellowknifers, I would like to especially thank the Elks and Lions Clubs for coming into action, the business of Northwest Transport, as well as all of the other people who have donated goods and cash so that this family can move on from this tragedy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

-- Applause

A suggestion, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, I just want to state for the record, I think that given the location and history of the building, it was one of the first buildings the government moved into in 1967. However, it is just not a nice thing to look at in downtown Yellowknife.

It is one of very few buildings the government owns. I think that it makes economic sense to renovate it and make use of it in a way that it should be used. I hope the Minister will keep this on his list and continue to try to find the money so we can make that building not only functional, but also a very beautiful building in downtown Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.