David Ramsay

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?

No, the Minister’s responsible for the safety, transport and care that our patients are receiving when they travel on a medevac flight into the city of Edmonton. The weather was to blame for the flight being diverted to the International Airport, but there’s no excuse for a ground ambulance taking two hours to take that patient from the International Airport into the city of Edmonton to an emergency room.

There was no evidence of any political involvement by our Minister of Health on the closure of that airport, the impending closure of that airport, and that remains to me to be a real shame. I...

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. 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.

Thank you. Obviously, time is of the essence. It looks like there might be a federal election sometime in May. I’d like to ask the Minister what plans are in the works to ramp up the efforts to ensure that that federal funding does become available so that we can get the infrastructure replaced in that trailer park this coming summer. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’d like to speak about the situation taking place at Northland Trailer Park located here in the city of Yellowknife. Northland Trailer Park is home to 1,100 people, including close to 600 children. The issue of the aging water and sewer infrastructure is again front and centre as the trailer park continues to battle frozen lines and freeze-ups.

For the last three weeks some residents have gone with intermittent water service; water a couple of hours a day with no set schedule. The water has been out for some for a full week. This has taken a toll on its residents...