Michael McLeod

There is already current legislation in place where a person using a cell phone can be charged. That’s driving without due care and attention. We are looking at what’s happening in other jurisdictions. Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Quebec are the three jurisdictions that have banned cell phones. We have the smart driving program, Drive Alive, I’m sorry, that encourages people to not drive while they are distracted and that program is ongoing. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Member is aware that this government has taken the approach to coordinate our efforts in energy conservation and projects of that nature through one committee. We in the Department of Transportation do not have additional resources to do the exploration or the research and review the options. I certainly can forward the request to the Energy Coordinating Committee to consider this and have them reply to the Member. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, this is a program that is the responsibility of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. They are responsible for maintaining and improving the marine facilities in communities across the Northwest Territories and also including Nunavut. I believe in 2003 there was some money provided through the DFO, a total of $450,000 to provide docks along the Aklavik shoreline to support the local boaters. There has been use of this facility by the carriers that come to the community. We have had discussions with both the DFO and NTCL. They seem to think it is adequate. There are some dollars provided...

We don’t have any airports right now that are reporting it. Now, as the Building Canada funding comes forward, there is a portion earmarked for research. As we indicated to the Member, this is an area that we need to look at along with some of the road assessments that need to be done. We are targeting some of the dollars that are coming forward from that pot of money to be used for the information that the Member is asking about.

Mr. Chairman, this has been a challenge as we deal with the resources that we have to work with and try to move forward on a number of these fronts dealing with all the challenges and responsibility that this department has. We do have some staff that are looking and are talking to the CCMTA and having some of the discussions. They are fairly early in nature. I have not, as a Cabinet Minister, had the opportunity to have discussion with any organization. However, I would like to certainly take the opportunity as soon as I can to engage with my colleagues across Canada. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is not an area that we have really developed in the last while. It isn’t really an area that the Government of Canada has done any work on. It is something that we certainly can take a look at, but, Mr. Speaker, we would need the assistance of the federal government to set a national standard. We certainly can engage in some discussion. Other than that, I would say it would be very challenging for us. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, the Member is correct when he states the Mackenzie Valley winter road is in good condition this year. I guess it’s an indicator of our economic situation, because we don’t have a lot of heavy traffic on the road systems. There’s very little exploration or development happening, so it’s a good year for the winter road. The base has gone in and has been very dependable up until now and we don’t expect it’s going to change. We should see it stay very stable for the next while.

Mr. Chairman, the Bear River Bridge is still something that, along with other bridges, will be considered...

The EK-35 application has been working well in a number of communities. It has to be reapplied on a fairly regular basis. We are in the process of planning to do our third application at the Aklavik Airport. As to Fort McPherson, I don’t see it scheduled for the EK-35 along with the extension. I’d have to see if we could find that information and provide it to the Member, but I don’t have it listed as something that’s scheduled to be part of the extension.

Mr. Chairman, I tried to answer that question earlier today. I will ask the deputy to see if he can provide a more detailed response to the Member.

We certainly can commit to doing that. We also had other discussions with the senior involved, including the possibility of looking at temporary accommodations in a public unit. It sounds, by the Member’s comments, that this was not accepted, so I will commit to having some feedback for the Member as soon as I can get an update from my own staff and provide that to the Member.