Mr. Speaker, I am told that the responsibility of clearing roads is the responsibility of the federal government, Parks Canada. We use our equipment to clear the roads and we get the funds from the federal government. I am not sure if the roads are continually cleared. I do not know if that is the regular program of Parks Canada.

If I am allowed to go back to returns to oral questions later on this afternoon, I will make the return as soon as I have the information.

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon. Thank you.

I have one more return, Mr. Speaker, to a question asked by Mr. Gargan on December 16, 1991, with regard to Curry Construction contract for Mackenzie Highway reconstruction. In July 1990 the Department of Transportation awarded a contract to Curry Construction Ltd for the Mackenzie Highway reconstruction from kilometre 84 to kilometre 101. The contract value was $3.8 million. The scheduled completion date was October 25, 1990.

Curry did not complete the work according to schedule and by the winter of 1990 only 60 per cent of the work was done. Construction resumed slowly in the spring of 1991. The contractor did not meet his revised schedule and it was clear the work was at risk in 1991. On July 12, 1991, the department declared Curry Construction Ltd in default under the contract and directed the bonding company to complete the contract. The bonding company has recently finished the work.

In addition to the problem of late completion, Curry Construction Ltd was also having financial difficulties and was not paying its bills. The bonding company now has the responsibility for the unpaid bills under the contract labour and material bonds and the performance bonds. The company is in the process of verifying claims and will be preparing a payment schedule. Both the department and the bonding company are aware of the outstanding account with Tu Gho Cha for clearing work carried out by the Hay River Dene Band under a subcontract to Curry in 1990. The department of Transportation is working with the bonding company, Alberta Surety Ltd, to see that creditors who have done work under the contract and who have legitimate claims are paid for their work. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have to a return to an oral question asked by Mrs. Marie-Jewell on December 13, 1991, regarding clearing of access road, Wood Buffalo National Park. The Department of Transportation maintains the highway through Wood Buffalo National Park on behalf of the federal government and is reimbursed for the cost of the work. In previous years access roads to trappers' cabins located in Wood Buffalo National Park have also been ploughed when authorized by Parks Canada. Recently, in an attempt to reduce expenditures, Parks Canada has cut back on the amount of ploughing it has requested.

While Parks Canada has reduced the amount of ploughing that it is prepared to approve, the trapper access roads in the park have been ploughed on at least three occasions this year and are considered to be in reasonable condition. The Department of Transportation will maintain contact with Parks Canada and will seek their approval of additional ploughing when conditions require it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Gargan on December 16, 1991, regarding the hiring of qualified teachers. All teachers hired for the Northwest Territories must be eligible for a Northwest Territories teaching certificate. The minimum required is the successful completion of two years of teacher training delivered in the Northwest Territories through Arctic College.

All advertisements for teaching positions must meet Department of Personnel standards as well as specific divisional board requirements. It is common practice for boards to require training in specific language methodology known as whole language. This requirement is often referred to as a requirement for a holistic teacher. A recent advertisement for a teacher for the Elizabeth Ward School in Fort Providence required "a holistic teacher able to teach in all subject areas." The advertisement also stated that the applicant was expected to be part of the school team and had to be eligible for a Northwest Territories teaching certificate.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have a return to an oral question asked by Mr. Pudlat on December 11, 1991, regarding the Lake Harbour airstrip. On Wednesday, December 11, the Member for Baffin South asked me a question about the improvements to the Lake Harbour airport. In his question, the Member said that the airstrip was short and on uneven ground. He further stated that the airport facility was dangerous.

As the Member knows, the community of Lake Harbour is surrounded by steep mountains and from north to south the 518 metres airstrip, or 1700 feet, slopes down on a 2.23 per cent grade. These conditions do not make the Lake Harbour airstrip a danger to safe air service. Transport Canada, the federal regulatory body, has licensed the airport for day and night visual flight rules operations. If the regulatory authority had doubts about the air safety of the facility, it would have cancelled the licence and closed the airport. For that matter, if I, as the Minister of Transportation, thought the airport was a danger to the people using it, I would not want it to continue in operation.

I understand that the people of Lake Harbour have wanted improvements to their airport for several years. I hope that the Member understands that because Lake Harbour is in mountainous country, the earth work necessary to level the runway and to make it even would be extremely expensive. As the slight slope is not a hazard to air safety, the Department of Transportation has no immediate plans to level it. Thank you.

I wish to use this time to thank my constituents for re-electing me again and wish them a Merry Christmas. I would also like to thank the Members here for electing me again to cabinet. I would also like to thank the Nunavut caucus. It seems that in the last couple of weeks we have been meeting a lot, very late at night. They have been very co-operative.

I would also like to thank the staff of the previous departments I had in the last four years, namely the Department of Renewable Resources and the people that helped me to deal with renewable resource issues, as well as the Aboriginal Rights and Constitutional Development staff and Culture and Communications.

I would also like to thank my personal staff that I had within the last four years, especially Anne Todd, my former secretary; Ernie Comerford, my former executive assistant; and also Heather Myers and Marty Brown. I would also like to extend my thanks to my present personal staff, Vivian Squires and John Stephenson who are helping me.

I am very proud to have come this far to represent my people and I will try my best to fulfill the expectations they have of me and the Legislative Assembly, as a Minister. Qujannamiik.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am proud to announce that this year the language bureau published two books for learning Cree: "The Cree Language Program Teacher" and "Student Manuals." These books are written for adults learning Cree as a second language. The dialect which the books use is Northern Plains Cree, spoken in Northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

These books have been distributed to the centres for teaching and learning, the Fort Smith Band, Dene Nation and many other organizations, including Cree groups in the Prairie Provinces. The books are available free of charge to the public.

(Translation) With these books we can support the Cree language. Mahsi cho.

---Applause