David Ramsay

The briefing to the standing committee was a confidential briefing because we haven’t got the formal approvals from the federal government. There is a reason the briefing was confidential. We’re hoping to get the approvals in quick order so that we can make some decisions so that Members can ask some questions. Right now, the questions the Member is asking are hypothetical.

We’re complying with regulations that are in place and currently there would be no airports that didn’t meet them. We’re almost finished the SMS. There would be no airports that didn’t meet the requirements.

The Cardinal would, if the Merv Hardie ends up at Tsiigehtchic, be used in a spare capacity. As things progress in other places around the territory, the Cardinal could be put into service – across the Bear River, for example – at some point in time. So we wouldn’t be in a real rush to dispose of that ferry.

I believe it was the same Member who was critical of the $12 million spent to date trying to plan the highway, employing local knowledge, getting that work done on the geotechnical side to ensure that best practices are followed, that we know where the granular sources are so that we can build the best road that we possibly can in that environment.

Thank you and I apologize to the Member in not giving her a time in response to her previous question, but when the approvals come in and we get the nod from the federal government, things will move quickly. We’re hopeful that even by perhaps Friday we could be in front of standing committee. If we are going to make something happen in the Beaufort-Delta, things are going to have to progress quickly in order to make that happen. So it could be as early as this week, in response to the Member’s previous question.

On the Mackenzie Valley winter road, and again that’s capital, but I’ll touch on...

Madam Chair, this is a situation that we would be more than happy to look into. I’m under the understanding that that may not be the case, but if the Member has a specific case where in each province during transit of purchasing a vehicle they had to get a new in transit from each province they pass through, again, that is something… We will look into it. It shouldn’t happen. If it is happening, we’ll try to make sure that it doesn’t happen to anybody else. Thank you.

As I mentioned to MLA Nadli earlier, we continue to analyze this decision. We have to make sure that we know what the full implications are of that decision, and of course, the Government of the Yukon has appealed. We are following this along as it happens, and we need to pay very close attention to decisions that are made in the Yukon and how they may impact us here in the NWT.

That’s an ongoing opportunity for us. Every year we have to go through emergency planning exercises around the Northwest Territories. That is ongoing.

Yes, we have the same commitment as last year on Highway No. 7. The money will be used for priority areas.

Thank you. The Department of Transportation is not going to construct the road. I’m a politician and not Bob the Builder. Thank you.