David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The granular royalties are part of the Inuvialuit Land Claim. It’s their right to charge granular royalties on that material. Today we continue to try to work with the Inuvialuit on a royalty regime for the Tuk-Inuvik highway and we are trying to negotiate the best deal for both parties. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Inuvialuit have significant skin, as the Member calls it, in this game. The road program goes entirely over ISR lands in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. They have significant impact on this. They have a future need and requirement for granular materials. They have every right to charge royalties to people using granular materials from ISR lands. We, again, continue to negotiate with the Inuvialuit. We will get the best price. We’ll get a fair price. Like I said, hopefully the Member will be swayed by that price to support the project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Member would know the answer to that question. He was at the briefing two weeks ago. Again, we are trying to negotiate with the Inuvialuit. We hope to get a discounted rate on the royalties that would enable the Member to be swayed to support the project. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It’s a good thing it’s not truth or dare, Mr. Speaker. We have our Premier discussing it with the Inuvialuit. We haven’t got a negotiated settlement on the royalties. When we do have, we fully intend to make all of the information public. The Member was privy to the discussion at committee two weeks ago. As soon as we get a completed deal – we don’t negotiate in public, we don’t do that – we’ll share it with the Members, we’ll share it with the public, and everybody will know exactly what it is we are getting ourselves into. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of people in the gallery today that I would like to recognize. I will begin with some staff members that we have from DOT’s road licensing and safety division. We have Steve Loutitt, Megan Welch and Michael Conway. I’d also like to recognize Kelley Merilees-Keppel. I’m not sure if she was up there earlier or is behind me.

Also, I mentioned in my Minister’s statement the Students Against Drunk Driving. I’d like to recognize all the good work those students do. We have a number of them in attendance today and I’d like to recognize them. Shania Clark...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled Minister of Transportation’s Report to the Legislative Assembly for 2012 on the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act 1990. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had that very discussion with our staff and, yes, we have given that some consideration.

That cost is an individual’s cost on a per month basis. It’s $125. I committed to getting all the costs associated with establishing the program here in the Northwest Territories to MLA Bouchard, and I will share that with other Members of the House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is a proven program across the country. Any time you can keep somebody from getting behind the wheel that has been drinking, it’s a step in the right direction. As I mentioned in my Minister’s statement, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon have the highest incidence of drunk driving across the country, so it’s a step in the right direction. It’s not going to keep every drunk driver off the road but it will improve our statistics.

Mr. Speaker, the program will be piloted at first in Yellowknife and in Hay River. We will start things in those two centres and move the program forward from there. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.