David Ramsay

Yes, Mr. Speaker. A Northwest Territories driver’s licence issued at any community in the Northwest Territories is good anywhere in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Again I thank the Member for bringing up the question of on-line services provided by DOT. I’m not sure if I wasn’t clear enough, but the answer was yes, we will look at it and we will provide Members with an update as we move forward with plans to provide on-line services.

I could commit to providing Members with that information. In some of the other communities in the Northwest Territories, the wait times aren’t what we see here, in Yellowknife. Some of the statistics that I have and have provided to the Member, would indicate that they’re not near what they are in Yellowknife. Once we get the information and compile it, we’ll share it with the Members.

We’ve recognized that; the department’s recognized that. As I’ve mentioned earlier, we’re taking steps to address that.

In terms of monitoring, I’m an MLA, I’ve got constituents, as well, and the Member’s got constituents and we hear from our constituents whether or not the level of services is up to par. If it’s taking longer than three months to receive a driver’s licence, we’re going to hear about it.

Certainly, we’re paying attention to the issue and we’re taking steps so that the wait times aren’t what they’ve been in the past and they will improve.

It is there, it has been there in the past with the Deh Cho Connection, the Deh Cho Trail. Certainly, it is part of our highway system here in the Northwest Territories. We have some beautiful parks located on there and some beautiful communities as well. So, certainly, that is part of the Tourism Strategy as we move forward. Thank you.

I thank the Member for bringing up Highway No. 7 again today and I also thank him for earlier this summer the trip we had between Liard and Simpson on Highway No. 7. Certainly, it was a dry year and all indications are that travel on that road by tourists was up. Again, I’ve committed to get the member some figures on the numbers and I will do that.

But certainly, we have to ensure that there’s a long-term plan for Highway No. 7 and I believe that there is. We need to look at some capital dollars going forward for the maintenance and rehabilitation of that road and I’ve mentioned it before in...

The stats that I’ve received from the department would indicate that wait times in Hay River for a driver’s licence and road test would be one to two weeks. Yes.

I committed to the House and to the Member that we will entertain on-line services by the Department of Transportation, and as to a timeline, I will get back to the Member and to the other Members with a timeline on how we’re going to do that.

There is some work that has to be done and we will get to doing that work. I can assure the House that the work will begin and we’ll hopefully have an answer for the Member on an implementation date sooner rather than later. I’d just be guessing here today and I don’t want to do that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We will look at this. It’s an issue and I appreciate the Member bringing it up here in the House today. It’s certainly an issue that the department takes seriously and if there’s a way that we can provide services better to the public, that’s something that we’re interested in doing. If it’s on-line, that is something that we will look at.

Certainly, the department’s heard the concerns and we are going to address those concerns. Especially when it’s a time sensitive thing and it deals with employment, I mean, that’s why we need to ensure that the wait times aren’t what they’ve been.

We are, again, certainly taking the steps to ensure that we are going to improve the wait times when it comes to receiving a driver’s licence and getting the driver examination here in Yellowknife.