David Ramsay

Yes, I would like to, at the earliest opportunity, get a chance to meet with community leaders in regard to the Willow River access road in Aklavik, and going forward we do have to find a way to get some further funding into Willow River access road program. The community can avail itself of accessing the Community Access Road Program that they have in the past. So that opportunity is still available to the community. We’re also hoping with the new Building Canada Plan that communities across the Northwest Territories will have opportunities for additional funding programs to look at programs...

Mr. Speaker, fundamental to all this is a diversified economy here in the Northwest Territories. It’s great news that the federal government has approved Gahcho Kue, and that will be very beneficial for the territory and the North Slave region.

There are opportunities elsewhere in this territory. The government has done a lot of work in advancing the Economic Opportunities Strategy where we’re going to talk about how we’re going to diversify the economy with agriculture, forestry, fishing and also tourism. This is an opportunity that’s before us, it’s something we can plan for, it’s something...

Thank you. We’ve had a long history of working with industry in the area. We will continue to work with industry so that we can get the requisite investment by industry to enable us to enhance the winter road. Through the Department of Transportation, we’ve done a lot of work on mapping. I know the Member and I drove the winter road last year. There’s a map that’s been developed. We’re improving the road itself, putting in a number of bridges and crossings there.

We will continue to try to improve the safety of that road, not just for industry but for the travelling public, and we continue to...

Mr. Chair, yes. We have a priority to maintain the main highway system here in the NWT. I’m aware of the Member’s request for the department to maintain that access that was previously there prior to the construction and opening of the Deh Cho Bridge last November. We have a letter that is going to be coming to the Member, suggesting that the community look at opportunities through the funding that they have, the Community Opportunities Fund that’s funded on an annual basis by the GNWT, and I had a chance to discuss that letter earlier with the Member.

I will go back to the department and see...

Yes, thank you. We are aware of the situation in Trout Lake when it comes to the use of the snow blower. We believe there probably are more effective ways to deal with it and it all comes down to the amount of snow load in a community, but I don’t know if there’s more of a technical response. Mr. Chairman, perhaps I could go to the deputy minister for that.

Let me be as clear as I can be – and I’ve mentioned it before – without the use of hydraulic fracking, there will be no development in the Sahtu, there will be no jobs or opportunities. That is why it’s critically important that we get this right. I know other Members have mentioned this; we can’t afford to get it wrong. We have to do everything we can, and certainly from the inception of the development, the activity that’s taken place in the Sahtu, this government has taken that opportunity very seriously. We’ve met a number of times. I know through the Department of Industry, Tourism and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A couple of things. First of all, we do firmly believe in the economic future of the Sahtu region, central Mackenzie Valley and the importance of not only having a winter road down the Mackenzie Valley but also advancing, at every turn, an all-weather road down the Mackenzie Valley. You need to look at the Corridors for Canada III proposal to see that we’re serious about investing in a big way into the Sahtu. We’re looking at the Bear River Bridge, the Oscar Creek Bridge, Bosworth Creek Bridge, and I’ve mentioned it before, but my goal is to envision to have a winter...

The design continually changes in a way to address and mitigate climate change. As I mentioned, the runway repair back 10 years ago, the materials that were used, I mean, we’re learning something with every repair we do here in the Northwest Territories on what works best. Again, it’s all in an effort to mitigate the impact. Thank you.

No, the Department of Transportation takes very seriously the safety of our roads and the Member may be… When we were there, maybe it was the Corridors for Canada III proposal where we do have money for all highways in the Northwest Territories on a go-forward basis. We are anticipating we will be getting some success with that proposal and we’ll have the ability to address concerns from around the territory, including Highway No. 8. Thank you.

The issues with the runways have been ongoing for a number of years. Again, we are trying our best to mitigate those issues with our runways, and they are O and M. We treat them as O and M. In the case of Hay River, the repairs to the Hay River runway, I think we were in the magnitude of $2 million, maybe just slightly over $2 million. As I mentioned earlier, the complete fix for the dip in the Inuvik runway at the end of the day is going to be about $2.5 million. Thank you.