Jackie Jacobson

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today my Member’s statement was on the Mackenzie Gas Project and my questions today are for the Minister of ITI. Is the Minister of ITI working with Esso and other producers to get this Mackenzie Gas Project restarted to avoid the two-year delay that producers have announced? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, I was, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to ask the Minister if he could, I guess, send a letter to the producers groups and the Joint Review Panel, but producers groups in urging them to see if they could get this project restarted and try to hold back on the two-year delay, because people in the communities and down the valley need employment. The businesses that are suffering up and down the valley need this project to go sooner rather than later. I ask the Minister if he could send a letter. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the MGP slowdown in the offshore activity moving over to Alaska and the Chukchi Sea with Shell and the communities in the Beaufort-Delta and Nunakput communities that I represent, there is a drill chip in the Mckinley Bay 60 miles away from Tuk. People could be working. The two-year delay such as this really puts a damper on everything because the projects that we do have going on in Tuk, the access road is starting to slow down, it is near completion. Mr. Speaker, what will the Minister of ITI be doing with the federal Ministers to get this project restarted to avoid the further...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My Member’s statement today is in regard to the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline Project. Recently the Government of the Northwest Territories Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment filed comments with the National Energy Board on recommendations by the Joint Review Panel. Because the National Energy Board ultimately has the final decision on making further developments to the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline Project, these comments are very important and must be given the highest priority.

Many businesses along the corridor and northern regions have invested with hope that this would...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Today hearing a lot of my colleagues in regard to this project, you know, it being the Bridge Act in the 14th Assembly coming into the time of being signed off in the 15th Assembly and now us having to deal with this issue, I want to really make it clear for the smaller communities, like my colleague Mr. Beaulieu was mentioning, that we have to let the communities know that this project is not going to affect us in the long term and all the projects that we do have on the books will stay as is on a go forward basis. I really think that anybody that’s going to be impacted...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I want to talk about the Mackenzie Gas Project and to be on the record again to say that I support it. The Mackenzie Gas Project has been called the economic lifeline for many of our communities in the NWT.

This project is important for the people of my riding of Nunakput. It will bring jobs, business opportunities, ownership of the pipeline. Just as important, exploration will start up and the gas will have to make its way down to market. The good thing about that is the offshore holds amazing potential. We just needed the industry to come back and get started...

In the community of Ulukhaktok they have two airlines that fly in there: Aklak Air going into Inuvik and First Air that flies here into Yellowknife. Would the Minister let the patient have a choice regarding where they go for their hospitalization or checkups? A constituent told me a similar situation that at the time they had to wait due to cancellation because of lack of passengers. Will the Minister take the initiative to make coordinated alternative arrangements for scheduled medical travel flights had been cancelled?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today my Member’s statement was regarding medical travel from the communities of Ulukhaktok and the surrounding communities that I represent. Will the Minister commit to working with the various departments and agencies and programs to implement changes to provide to the communities an improvement in the administration of medical travel to prevent future patients from having to wait in their communities or transient centres while in pain?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When you live in a small, isolated community such as Ulukhaktok, air travel is the only lifeline all year round. There is no road to the community for assistance. When constituents have to leave for medical travel conditions, they have to wait for the next flight. Most of the time they’re sold out; they get bumped. The government must act to fix this problem.

During my last visit to the community of Ulukhaktok, the community brought up a very serious concern regarding patients who have appointments with specialists in Inuvik. Most of the time the patients cannot make...