The Territorial Parks Act is actually under the banner of ITI, but we will be looking at bringing that forward with him and it's something in the mandate of this 18th Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and the Member is correct. Interim land withdrawal is expiring in the coming days, but we have applied to renew that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

All highways in the Northwest Territories are of great concern to the Department of Transportation and we take maintaining and looking after them very seriously. If the Member, or any resident of the Northwest Territories, has a concern with our highway system, they can always get hold of the department or myself personally.

The Department of Transportation has divided the highway system in the NWT into four sections. We have the South Slave, the Fort Simpson section, the North Slave region, and the Inuvik Region. The boundaries for each regional operation are based on a range of factors such as operational efficiencies, workload, capacity, cost and service, and traffic levels, weather, and geography.

To maintain each section of this highway is largely dependent on the weather and conditions of the infrastructure. There are a number of things that contribute to that, but both sections' cost is very comparable in maintenance.

Highway No. 1 is broken into two sections. The first section is from the Providence Junction at Highway No. 3 to Redknife, which is maintained by the Providence crew. That is managed by the North Slave region. From Redknife to Fort Simpson is the second section of Highway No. 1. That is run and operated through the regional staff in the Fort Simpson office. The maintenance on Highway No. 1 is done in accordance with the NWT Highway Maintenance Manual, which provides guidelines for various summer and winter maintenance. The supervisors in both regions are well-experienced and considerably skilled people at maintaining the road, and in the wintertime, both sections are maintained on a daily basis.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize some of the people on the On the Land Collaboration Fund. Sarah True, Regional Environment Assessment Coordinator for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Sarah was the administrative lead for the first round of applicants, coordinating all the partners and the massive number of applicants received. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Northwest Territories joined Canada-wide efforts to recycle end-of-life electronics with the launch of the new Electronics Recycling Program on February 1. Electronics can contain hazardous chemicals and heavy metals, including lead, cadmium, and mercury. These chemicals and metals can make their way into our environment if we do not properly manage the disposal of our old electronics. This new program is integral to leading environmental stewardship in the Northwest Territories, a priority of this Legislative Assembly. Old electronics will be collected at the bottle depots in our ten largest communities and one-day collection events will be held in other communities within the next year and then every two years thereafter. This program has been in the works for some time. In 2008, members of the public identified electronics recycling as one of the top three priorities for the government’s waste reduction and recycling program.

In September 2013, an electronics recycling program was launched in four Northwest Territories communities. Last year, stakeholders were also consulted for their views on the program. The program is designed to be revenue-neutral, which means it will pay for itself through the collection of environmental fees charged on new electronic and surplus in the Environment Fund. Fees are charged on designated electronics, including televisions, desktops and portable computers, tablets, printers, copiers, facsimile machines, and scanners at the point of purchase. There is no refund on electronics returning for recycling. The program has been designed to ensure a level playing field for all electronics distributors and retailers, including online sales. All distributors and retailers will be subject to on-site compliance reviews. Cost-savings have been found by using the depots, transportation systems, and processing already in place for beverage container recycling. The electronic waste will be shipped to a registered electronics recycling facility in Alberta to ensure environmental health and safety standards. During the next year, we will work with local electronic retailers to identify any issues of compliance and make improvements to the program. Environmental handling fees will also be reviewed following the first year of operation. Expansion of the program to include a more comprehensive list of electronics will be explored during the next two years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The department has a number of asks into the Federal Government through the Building Canada Infrastructure Projects. One of them is the P3 Project Plan through the FPT process for the Whati Highway. We have the Mackenzie Valley Highway, which is through the New Building Canada Plan Fund as well, and we also have the bundle three project through the FPT process with the federal government.