Bill Braden

Madam Chair, the one presenter to committee, Ms. Cathy Harper of Yellowknife was in favour of the amendments but had a concern with the final consultations by the Department of Justice being done during the Christmas season. It was pointed out by Ms. Harper, and rightly so, that this is not the best time of the year to be closing our consultations on government legislation. However, it was recognized by committee members that the department was working towards some tight deadlines and this is not regular practise.

Following the clause-by-clause review, a motion was carried that Bill 2 was...

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister, whose responsibility is it to maintain adequate fuel supplies at the Yellowknife Airport especially at such a critical time? It is break-up season not just for the resupply to Yellowknife but all across the Northwest Territories. Fuel supplies are essential at this time of year. Whose responsibility is it to maintain this fuel supply? Just what happened to cause this potentially disastrous situation, Mr. Speaker?

Mr. Speaker, has the department notified all of the air carriers? What contingency plans are in place to ensure uninterrupted air service should we hit that unfortunate circumstance by early next week, Mr. Speaker?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. I stand here today to applaud the signing of the agreement-in-principle on devolution and resource revenue sharing that was announced by the Premier yesterday.

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The years of effort, the strain and expense that was involved in this are certainly evident, Mr. Speaker, that these deals are not easily achieved. In the past decades of the political, social and economic evolution and struggle in the Northwest Territories, regrettably there are many more examples of failure than the success in negotiating joint action and commitment. So it is a mark of real leadership...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This was an interesting process for me. I am always learning around here and this one gave me some insights into the legal community and the significance of conflict and how it’s managed and assessed. I speak in favour of the amendment. But to this aspect that was brought to our attention, that is the providers of this service to the public of the NWT, we must also be mindful of this very significant principle of providing legal services. While we are cognizant of potential conflicts that will occur or have occurred or are occurring and will, that we can, with good...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I speak in favour of the bill. Given the very light load we had from the public, I think this is a demonstration that the bill was well shopped by the department with interested parties. The drafting was quite successful, so this is a very easy one and a straightforward one for us to endorse.

My question, Madam Chair, is whether this amendment, like many others that we deal with, requires any degree of new or rewritten regulation to enable it to be implemented and what would an anticipated implementation date be for this amendment, Madam Chair?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the information by the Minister. He gives us a certain extraordinary confidence that the ferry will be in the water by Monday. That is four days from now. A lot can happen in that time. I am going to return to the question that I originally asked. Has the department advised the air carriers of this problem? Are there contingency plans in place? I am not ready to accept that the ferry will resume service on Monday, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions this afternoon are for the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Menicoche. It regards information that I recently heard that there are fuel shortages at the Yellowknife Airport, Mr. Speaker.

A few weeks ago, the airport in Fort Simpson encountered a similar situation due to what was understood to be an error by the fuel supplier. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister advise the Assembly of this problem or confirm that this problem does indeed exist at the Yellowknife Airport? Does it pose any threat to reliable air transportation for the region, Mr. Speaker?

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. If we all listen very carefully we will be able to hear a very irritating, a very frustrating and a very expensive noise in the background. It's a noise that's been going on for the past 40 years, Mr. Speaker, and it's high time we did something about it. That noise, Mr. Speaker, is the clawing, scratching sound of our cost of living and the cost of business going up because we don’t have a bridge across the mighty Mackenzie River.

Mr. Speaker, is a start to this project, as the Premier has suggested, is it contingent on the P3 approval that we are anticipating from Ottawa? Yes or no?