Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First off I’d like to thank Mr. Dolynny for bringing this motion forward. I appreciate the initiative and certainly the enthusiasm from our new Member for Range Lake. He’s already starting to have a defining impact on the 17th Assembly. This is a clear example of his efforts. At the same time I’d like to recognize Mr. Yakeleya for supporting this, because it takes grassroots territorial support to bring an initiative like this forward.

Undoubtedly, anti-bullying, or I should say bullying efforts and countering them go from one tip of the territory to the next. It’s not...

Will is quite a big word. What does “will” in this particular case mean? Is it his direction from a Minister’s point of view of instructing the department to reinstate that type of programming or is it just a matter of a case of “if they feel like it?”

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s quite a pleasure to recognize the Grade 5 N.J. class who walked all the way here from their school. Very impressive to them getting some active living. Although recognized already, I would like to recognize Aurora Nind. She is also a resident of Yellowknife Centre. If she could stand. And Kelsey Robson. Thank you both. Thank you to your class on your great effort. You guys look fabulous today as well.

Is this an initiative that could be implemented in the upcoming business plans this fiscal year of the 2012-2013 that we’ll be reviewing in May?

I appreciate the very clear and succinct answer from the Minister over there. Of course, in that particular case, just for clarity for the public following the issue, if the posted limit is 90 kilometres an hour and the snow causes you to drive slower due to safety, would it not seem reasonable to be driving to the conditions of the road at that time? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7, oral questions, on the agenda today. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, and I appreciate the answer from the Minister. Interestingly enough, through my research and, of course, some of the response for the Minister, it highlights minus 10 or warmer is basically the time, I’ll say the opportunity to use road salt, because if you use it when it’s colder than minus 10 it doesn’t work. So would the Minister of Transportation be willing to re-evaluate the Department of Transportation’s usage of road salt in the Northwest Territories because of the possible negative effects that are happening? I shouldn’t say possible, these are known negative effects that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about road salt and certainly I tried to highlight some of the impacts of road salt usage in the Northwest Territories. I want to thank the Minister of Transportation. He has provided me with some raw data on what is used annually here since 2006-07 on road salt.

As I said in my Member’s statement today, in the last six years, it has increased over 200 percent. What type of monitoring of the impacts of road salt usage is happening by his department to ensure that we are not creating problems with the environment such as the rivers...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all know that road salt is damaging to our vehicles but it’s also providing much harm to our natural world. Research in Canada and the United States shows that road salt is affecting drinking water sources and aquatic life. Levels of contamination to water and sediment near Pickering, Ontario, exceed provincial water quality standards as much as 250 percent due to the amount of salt applied to the roads in winter.

Road salt is increasingly being used here in the North along Ingraham Trail. From the details provided by the Minister of DOT, it shows in the last six...

I guess if that is the way he wants to answer the question, but the obvious question is yet again his earlier answer was yes, you drive to the conditions of the road. Does the Minister of Transportation note that there is a concern about the buffalo licking salt off the highways on our roads? Does that not pose a problem with the Department of Transportation or, at the very least, a concern? Thank you.