David Ramsay

The issues with the runways have been ongoing for a number of years. Again, we are trying our best to mitigate those issues with our runways, and they are O and M. We treat them as O and M. In the case of Hay River, the repairs to the Hay River runway, I think we were in the magnitude of $2 million, maybe just slightly over $2 million. As I mentioned earlier, the complete fix for the dip in the Inuvik runway at the end of the day is going to be about $2.5 million. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As Members know, the facility has reached its end of service life and generally is in fair to poor condition. We had an issue last winter with a wind storm and the building suffered some damage as a result of that. So we need to move forward. Our long-term plan is to build a new air terminal building in Inuvik, so part of the process is to get a planning study underway. The money is going to hopefully be coming through the Corridors for Canada III proposal. Again, that’s a proposal, but we’re looking to build a new air terminal building in Inuvik and this is just part...

Two things with the Inuvik Airport, through the Corridors for Canada III proposal we are looking at a new terminal building for Inuvik. That’s a very positive move forward. Also the Member has talked about climate change and the impact it’s had on the runway in Inuvik, and we just recently experienced a dip in the runway and we had to provide an immediate fix. That immediate fix cost about $600,000. It will be a total repair of about $2.5 million when all is said and done on that runway.

We continue to have discussions with the Department of National Defence on extending the runway in Inuvik...

Mr. Chair, I thank the Member for the question. The wood pellet boiler that’s to be installed at the terminal building is budgeted to cost $750,000. It’s estimated to displace 320,000 litres of propane annually, generating an annual savings of $80,000 and a payback period of 9.4 years. Greenhouse gas emissions would be greatly reduced and, in fact, by 477 tonnes on an annual basis. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Member for the question. Certainly there’s a lot of activity taking place in the Sahtu. I think the number for economic spent this coming winter season is somewhere around $90 million, I do believe.

A lot of the goods that end up there do go through the airport, but the Norman Wells Airport is a regional airport. It’s a hub. It is equipped to handle the increased activity. Going forward, we’ve identified some funding through the Corridors for Canada III proposal to the federal government, where we would see an increased opportunity through commercial space...

We didn’t do an expansion there, but for the specific improvements – and all I am aware of is there have been some improvements – I’ll go back to the department and we’ll endeavour to get a list of the improvements to the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It’s not for moisture control; it’s for dust control. It is a dust suppressant. I think Tulita had applied EK35 to the roads in Tulita a few summers back. We were there and it was a marked improvement on the amount of dust in the community. That is what EK35 used for, is a dust suppressant.

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, the Detah road was not deemed a high enough priority through the capital planning process. I’ve given assurances to the Member that we have the Detah access road and we will have the ability to conclude that project through Corridors for Canada III, that proposal that we’re bringing forward to the federal government. We’re very optimistic that that funding proposal will be approved by the federal government. The Detah road would figure very prominently, right at the front of that plan, should that proposal be successful. Thank you.

Just before I get to the issue with Deline and the runway extension there, I wanted to mention, also, that in Norman Wells we’re looking at the runway vulnerability assessment, and that is in response to Mr. Bromley’s questions, as well, on what we’re doing to deal with climate change. So we’re looking at the runway in Norman Wells and assessing that. The Member would know, as he travels through Norman Wells quite often, that we’ve put grooves in that runway, as well, to help with the water, and that has been very successful as well. I wanted to mention that.

Getting to the issue with the...