Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the past few days I’ve been speaking on the travel with medical travel and I’ve paid particular interest to the case of a lady from Inuvik who had experienced some difficulty while being transported in a taxi. My intent, Mr. Speaker, is not to blame anybody. It’s to see if we can find the problem and find solutions. That’s why I’ve been questioning Mr. Miltenberger. Providing on-the-ground transportation should be an essential service. It should not be a business and a lot of people give him business then they will tend to cut a few corners so...

Mr. Speaker, each airport facility operates under federal legislation and is required to have an emergency plan. There are only four communities, I believe, that have backup generators and that’s Yellowknife, Hay River, Inuvik, and Norman Wells. In the case of the smaller communities, the flare pots are the acceptable process and fall within the legislation that we are required to follow and that’s what we use in the case of an emergency. We don’t have a plan to put in emergency generators in any of these communities. In fact, the communities that had the emergency generators, in the case of...

Mr. Speaker, in the case of the communities where they don’t have emergency backup generators for their airports, we expect the communities to use the flare pots that are available. In the event that there is a power outage or an emergency, that is the process that’s in place and that is acceptable for the federal legislation in the airports act. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wasn’t aware the Member had a hybrid vehicle that he could plug in.

Mr. Speaker, we have taken the opportunity to review a number of initiatives across the government to see how we could incorporate better use of our facilities, our vehicles, and ways we can save on energy. This is one of them. This is something we thought might be of use. We’ve looked at it. We’ve looked at what’s happening in other jurisdictions. We’re not satisfied it’s going to work all that well, so we are moving away from it. So it’s not going to happen April 1st. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a list here of people that are taking the governance course through MACA. I recognize a number of them from various communities across the North. There is a large delegation from Deline: Albertine Ayha, Greg Bahya, Jane Modeste-Goulet, Michael Neyelle, Christine Takazo, Charlotte Tetso, and Raymond Tutcho. From Wrigley, Gaylene Oskenekisses.

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Also from Fort McPherson, Leslie Blake.

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From Fort Resolution, Rabbit, Wilfred Simon.

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And someone that is close to Mr. Yakeleya’s heart, originally from Fort Providence...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Spring has always been an important time in the North with our long and dark winters. Northerners, more than most people, are ready to celebrate the arrival of spring.

Historically, springtime festivities in the North have been an important social occasion when families, friends and neighbours join together, renew their ties and celebrate the return of the warm spring sun and the weather. That tradition continues today with spring carnivals being held in communities across the Northwest Territories. An important part of that tradition is the Kamba Carnival hosted by...

Mr. Minister, I wish to table the following documents entitled Corridors for Canada II: Building on our Success, and Connecting Canada: Coast to Coast to Coast. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thanks to the Minister for that. When I speak of on-the-ground transportation I’m usually referring to all of them because they all, as far as I’m concerned, are linked. So there’s 147 new positions going into the government and there’s 98 of them in Yellowknife alone. Would we not be able to allocate two of those 98 positions whose only function will be to pick up medical patients? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we are following the regulatory requirements under the Airports Act, the federal airports legislation. There is no requirement for this government to put in backup generators into the communities. We really don’t have the resources to put in backup generators in the communities, in the airports, and we don’t really have the resources to provide the maintenance and repairs this would all entail. So we don’t have the investment that’s required to do so. We have a plan that’s acceptable to the federal government and that’s the means that we are moving forward on this and providing...

Mr. Speaker, federal legislation doesn’t require us to have backup generators in each community. Navigation Canada moved away from providing backup generators some time ago. The acceptable process is to use flare pots, and the flare pots are available in each of the communities that the Member has referenced and that is the acceptable process. Thank you.