Kevin A. Menicoche

Mr. Chairman, I certainly look forward to that commitment of providing a long-term plan and, if the Minister doesn’t mind, he can also add chipsealing in the long-term plan from the B.C. border to Fort Liard. That is something that I am looking forward to. They were actually quite excited last year when the B.C. government chipsealed all the way up to the border. The first thing they did was come to see me as their MLA and saying, when are we doing ours? When are we getting our chipseal? Having reconstruction done has been slowing things down. I had hoped to see something in the 2011 plan, but...

Mr. Chairman, just in terms of longer term plans, what work has yet to be done to do another 70 kilometres maybe not this year but next fiscal year, next summer? I know that we are able to do this section, because we did manage to replace all the culverts in that section. I know that part of the maintenance program is to continue replacing culverts. Working towards 2011 summer budget, Mr. Chairman, how much work do we have in order to do another 70 kilometres of chipsealing? Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I think that is the key thing in this initiative should it move forward. Of course, there have been incidents in the past that have led to cost of repairs to those runways, but I do know that the department has, not only in those communities but in other communities, been teaching operators about safety, care and attention around lighting equipment on runways. Just once again, of course, I want to let the Minister know that it is still a priority of mine and hopefully we can work towards that goal in the future. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. As we deliberate the Department of Transportation that’s before us, I’m really pleased that we’re able to work together as a House, committee and the Cabinet, in moving some of the big ticket items forward, most particularly, the Trout Lake expansion of the airport, the relocation of the airport. That’s a huge ticket item. It was the subject of much debate earlier on in our term, but we were able to work together and see the need of it for safety and the travelling public and the community. I’d really like to say that I’m sure that working hard together we can...

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I just want to follow up from the biomass initiative and some geothermal initiatives from my riding. Of course, I’ve written to the Minister’s office in trying to move those forward, particularly the Jean Marie initiative. But I think the Minister’s...(inaudible)...may have slowed down there a bit, but it’s something that I think our government should, of course, continue to support. We’re looking for, I think, because of the technology that’s there and the capital program, I think some of the ideas out there, of course, are looking for pilot dollars. I noticed...

Will this program be expanded after March 31st to other communities? I know that the language symposium will give us lots of direction and lots of good ideas as we’ll have the experts from throughout Canada, but I’d like to know if our Interpreter/Translator Program will be expanded to invite other members of the public to join it. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement with regard to the Interpreter/Translator Program. I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment what is the existing programming that we do have available for residents out there currently. Thank you.

Thank you very much there, Mr. Chair. I move that we report progress.

I think the key thing is that we just have to keep working with the communities and the different business groups. They are looking for these technologies and it is all about... I think we have to get to the stage of actually picking a project and actually piloting it. I know that some of the costs of some of the technologies can be overwhelming, but there are some projects that can be done on a smaller scale, probably with, I don’t know, mini units, Mr. Chairman.

In terms of biomass or in terms of geothermal or some of the other technologies out there, I think it can be done on a smaller scale...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will this Interpreter/Translator Program get to the level where the people attending it can be certified trainers in the regions and communities? Even I’m looking towards having something with Aurora College as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.