Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, like the Member, we share Mr. Diefenbaker’s vision to see an all-weather road along the Mackenzie Valley.

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However, the final decision is not ours to make. We continue to seek funding to improve the road system, extend the season and put the bridge into the Mackenzie Valley winter road. However, we need the federal government onside to provide the dollars to bring it to the point where it is an all-weather road. It’s something we strive towards. We’ve used every avenue that we have to bring that message to Ottawa. We have included it in our...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the funding that the Member is referring to is the $1.3 million that MACA has brought forward and allocated to the number of different communities based on the level of impact, and this funding was identified as something that was needed through our conference that we hosted in Inuvik in December.

A lot of the community governments came forward and indicated that there was very little and, in some cases, practically no resources out there to assist them to deal with the many demands that were being placed on them as a result of this Mackenzie gas project...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we certainly would be pleased to provide that information. As I indicated before, our dollars flow out to the communities. A number of projects were funded over the years in the Member’s riding. We’d be pleased to share that information. Of course, we’re always looking at any way we can supplement our budget. We’d like to see the youth programming and youth projects increase. So we will be maintaining another ask for any new monies that come forward from the federal government or to this government, and we’d certainly keep our interests forward for all...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, some of the regions have already allocated all of their money. For the program that the Member is referring to, the Youth Contributions Program, we have $125,000 for 33 communities across the Territories. That doesn't go very far. We have looked at different ways to try to make the dollars stretch a little further. We have looked at capping the amounts that we make in terms of contributions. We have looked at limiting the different organizations in the communities. We are trying to find ways to be able to spread that around a little further, but...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Yes, we have been looking at the dust problem for a couple of years now. As I indicated earlier, we have undertaken to hire a contractor to come up with some options for us. We will look at that, and if it requires additional investment from this government, we will bring that forward. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, the Member is correct; the main street chipsealing program was reduced this year as our program had to cut the funding. So we had to reduce some of our activities in the different communities. Fort Good Hope is deferred by one year because of our budget restrictions. We’ve planned to have the community targeted as soon as Tuktoyaktuk and Fort McPherson are done. Having said that, we are also completing a study that we had a contractor do for us to look at the different conditions in the communities to see if there are any other options or solutions...

Madam Speaker, this afternoon, I would like to advise the Assembly that the Department of Transportation’s Graduated Driver’s Licence Program will come into effect as of August 1, 2005. The Graduated Driver’s Licence Program will attach some new conditions to the process of acquiring a driver’s licence for the first time. These conditions will encourage the novice driver to respect the responsibility involved in operating a motor vehicle safely.

When the 14th Legislative Assembly amended the Motor Vehicle Act for the strategy to reduce impaired driving in June of 2003, it also enacted...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the intent of this funding was to assist the communities to prepare and deal with the regulatory review process. As I indicated earlier, it was funding we felt we needed to put into the hands of the communities to assist them to deal with the pipeline construction application. The hearings are going to be starting fairly quick this summer, late summer more than likely. The communities needed the resources to be able to deal with it.

There are 11 communities that have been recognized outside of the Mackenzie gas study area. We did not provide a lot of money...

Madam Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife South, that Bill 9, Municipal Statutes Amendment Act, be read for the second time.

Madam Speaker, this bill amends the Charter Communities Act, the Cities, Towns and Villages Act, and the Hamlets Act. The amendments enable community governments to:

make bylaws authorizing the refinancing of long-term debt without the approval of the Minister or the voters, so long as the principal amount being borrowed does not exceed the principal amount then outstanding under the original debt;

require that notice of loss or damage...

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, we have a $1 million budget in the area of youth programs and three-quarters of that, or $750,000, is budgeted for Youth Corp Programs. There is $125,000 for the youth contributions. There is some money for a youth program advisor. All the money that we have in our budget goes to the communities. We recognize that the needs and requests that are coming forward are a lot more than we can accommodate. I am certainly willing to provide a breakdown of the money that was allocated to the Member's riding, for him to see where the money has been spent...