Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened to the budget address with a lot of interest. The pipeline hearings are starting in Inuvik and even Mr. Harper said that we should be beneficiaries of our resources. I happen to agree with him. I think we should hold his feet to the fire over this one. I like the tone that this government is finally starting to take and be a little more aggressive in going after what is rightfully ours. There are many things in the address that I agree with. The $270 million that is going out of the Territories every year, how much of that are we getting? I don’t...

Yes, Mr. Speaker, that's aside from the driver's licence issuance, but the issue of having the driver's licence renewals flagged if there's any outstanding traffic violations to the client is something we're still working on. We still have some detail to work out with Justice, but we are still sticking to our targets of having something maybe by this summer. We don't have any firm dates. We don't know when we'll be able to deal with the issue that we're working on right now, and that's the issue of being able to keep the information confidential and how to flag the information and transfer...

Mr. Speaker, we had committed, during the last session, that we would have a new driver's licence designed and out in the fiscal year 2006. We still stand by that. We, right now, are reviewing some of the samples that we're putting together, and we have a contractor or a consultant on stream that is working with us to do that, and we have the equipment that will allow us to start producing these drivers' licences once we finalize some of the detail on it. Thank you.

I like the tone that this government has taken. I think they should be more aggressive. I think we have to go after these people and get what is rightfully ours, because he did say that we should be our own beneficiaries.

He also asked if we should invest millions in transportation infrastructure. I say yes we should invest in a highway down the Mackenzie Valley. We should go right up to Tuk. We have to…

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We have to connect the whole NWT by road. Hopefully that will drive some of the prices down. I would be more than happy to back the Minister up in Cabinet on anything that they...

Mr. Speaker, the signs were put in place so that the motorists and the traffic along the highways, if they came upon an emergency, and if they had access to a satellite phone or some of the mobile phones entrusted had a number readily available, or once they come into the first community in the case of Highway No. 3, whether it is Fort Rae or Fort Providence, they would know the number and it would be available to them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the comments. We always get a good report from the Member on some of her trips along our highway system. However, on this issue of the ferry information not being available during the holidays is not something I was aware of. Our department considers traffic information and maintenance crews an essential service, so I will have to commit to getting back to the Member to see why that information wasn’t available for those days that she mentioned. Thank you.

People in the communities always look forward to a visit from Mr. Tuccaro. My personal favourite is a jigging performance.

Billy Day is a well-respected Inuvialuit elder from Inuvik. He was part of the Committee for Original People’s Entitlement, which was established to protect our culture, political rights, and our lands. They negotiated the Inuvialuit Final Agreement and from that came the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. He participated in a meeting in California, which resulted in the founding of the World Council of Whalers. Billy still continues to live a traditional lifestyle...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member has indicated that it is a safety concern for his community. We would certainly commit to talking to the leadership and the residents of Behchoko. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the responsibility for communications in the Northwest Territories falls under a separate department. That is Public Works. However, we have, as the Department of Transportation and Municipal and Community Affairs, had some discussions with some communication companies to talk about a number of things; first of all, the possibility of looking at cell phones or cell service in the Northwest Territories, to talk about what other jurisdictions are doing to bring cell phone services to some of the remote areas. We have also talked about temporary cell phone...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the issue of buffalo on our highways, Highway No. 3 and especially on Highway No. 7, has been something that we have been trying to deal with for some time now. We have been talking to ENR on a number of occasions to see what we can do to enhance the issue of having buffalo on the road, especially at night, to take all the precautions, to drive slower, to use your headlights in the evenings, and those things. As to whether or not we could incorporate a signal where when we are passing vehicles, that is something we would have to take a look at. That is...