David Ramsay

Mr. Speaker, on Friday the town of Hay River celebrated the opening of a new, federally certified egg-grading station for the Northwest Territories.

The event marked a new era for egg production in the NWT. The new state-of-the-art facility is the final piece of the puzzle that the NWT needed to get back into the regulated egg marketing industry.

The ability to complete grading will allow us to put NWT eggs in NWT stores, but more importantly, from an economic point of view, sell NWT eggs into the full wholesale, retail and food service sectors in the South.

Mr. Speaker, I have to acknowledge...

This is a question that’s come up numerous times in this House over the past nine years. I’d be more than happy to get the Member and committee the information that the department has gathered over the years. It is our belief that over the course of the bridge and the collection of the tolls, that businesses will not be disadvantaged in the long-term because of paying the tolls.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have that information on our website. We have had numerous discussions with transportation companies here in the Northwest Territories and in the South, in advance of the tolls being charged on the Deh Cho Bridge. For a breakdown of those meetings and discussions, I would be more than happy to get the Member and committee some detailed meeting times and organizations that we’ve met with.

The answer to that is yes. We have had those discussions. I know I was helping the Member with a concern that one of his constituents had. I’d be happy to lead anybody in the right direction with the Department of Transportation to get the answers that people need in the advance of the bridge opening and tolls being collected at that bridge.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for bringing this to our attention this last fall here. Certainly the department recognizes the importance. The regulations would require amendments, and we have them into Justice for formatting and translation. That’s a process that typically takes three to four months, but that work is in progress.

Thank you, Madam Chair. To my right is assistant deputy minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Ms. Kelly Kaylo, and to my left is Deputy Minister Peter Vician.

I thank the Member for the question. Yes, we do and we’ve advanced with the winter schedule for the Enterprise camp already. The other camps I’d have to check on, but I do know that we’ve gone to a winter schedule for maintenance with the Enterprise camp. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The last report that I’ve got from the South Slave and Hay River was that the airport was open today, flights were operating out of the Hay River Airport today, and that’s a real testament to the staff – Kelly O’Connor, the airport manager, and the staff at the Hay River Airport – that have worked long, hard hours dealing with the snow.

On the highway front, we’ve had every piece of equipment in the area. We’ve called in the Buffalo River camp to assist as well. We’ve had off-hour crews called in. So we’ve had every piece of equipment out on the roads, working the best...

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do.

We’ve brought in an extra I believe it was a plough truck from the Buffalo River camp. So far today it looks like the snow has abated. But as needed, I believe if we are hit with another episode of snow and heavy snowfall in the area, we do have equipment in other places in the South Slave and, if need be, that would be called into action. Thank you.