David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’m going to speak about an issue that continues to hang over the Health Minister and this government. At issue is the status of the City Centre Airport in Edmonton. The runway that had instrumentation which allows for flights to land in bad weather has been closed. To my knowledge there is now only one runway available at that airport. If you’re a medevac patient or a family member of a patient, you had better hope that the weather is good enough to land.

The fact is that the weather does not always cooperate and medevac flights from our Territory carrying our...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to recognize a couple of people. Mr. Byrne Richards, a constituent. It’s nice to see Byrne in the audience. As well I’d like to recognize Ms. Elaine Keenan Bengts.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

1.

Would the Minister provide a breakdown of all payments made by Discovery Air Inc. on its Opportunities Fund loan and the balance owing on the loan as of January 1, 2011?

2.

Would the Minister provide details of any amendments to the Discovery Air Inc. Opportunities Fund loan agreement since the original agreement was entered into?

Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I know that the plan is in progress and it’s being developed. In the meantime, Mr. Speaker, when there is bad weather in Edmonton and flights are diverted to the International Airport, what is the plan of care for patients arriving at the International Airport by medevac? There seems to be no plan if somebody can wait there for two hours for ground transport into the city. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Social Services getting back to my Member’s statement where I talked again about the closure of the Edmonton City Centre Airport.

There’s been one runway closed there, the one that had instrumentation available. Now when bad weather takes place in Edmonton, medevac flights from the Northwest Territories are being diverted to the International Airport. I’m aware of one incident where a medevac patient spent two hours awaiting ground ambulance transport into the emergency room in the city of Edmonton. I’d like to ask...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 5, recognition of visitors in the gallery.

---Unanimous consent granted

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like the Minister to elaborate, then, if she could, on what exactly are the plans for a flight diverted because of bad weather to the International Airport. What is the plan of care for a patient arriving at the International Airport by medevac from the Northwest Territories today? What is that plan, Mr. Speaker? If she wants to go there, what is that plan?

Thank you. The situation at that trailer park is very serious. The frequency of line breaks is happening more often and, again, we’re probably only months away from a catastrophic line failure at that trailer park. I’d like to ask the Minister if he would entertain even talking to his federal counterpart in Ottawa or even going to Ottawa himself with pictures and stories of people who have been without water at that trailer park for three weeks, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister if he’d take that challenge on and try to get this federal funding for the City of Yellowknife and for the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs getting back to my Member’s statement where I talked about Northland Trailer Park located here in Yellowknife, home to 1,100 people. Approximately 600 children live there as well. They’ve had intermittent water service in that trailer park for the last three weeks. Sometimes the water comes on for a couple of hours a day. There’s no set schedule. Some residents of that trailer park have been without water for one week -- a full week without water. We’re talking about elderly people, disabled...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m wondering if the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs has considered any alternative funding that our government might be able to provide to the City of Yellowknife so that the infrastructure can get replaced at that trailer park this coming summer. There’s got to be another approach. Have we thought of everything that we possibly can in order to get that done? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.