Michael Miltenberger

Just a comment first about the 215s. They have had a long and honourable history in protecting the interests of the people of the Northwest Territories. If they were a horse, we would be talking about…

---Interjection

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ll go through the list and I apologize if I missed anything. To the issue of are the 802s up to the task, we’ve battle tested these planes now, not only us but other jurisdictions, but we’ve seen them firsthand in the Northwest Territories. It’s our third season, and they’ve handled everything that Mother Nature and forest fires could throw at them. They are nimble. They can operate in turn and maneuver very, very well. They are powerful. They have the distinct added advantage that they can go to shallow lakes that the 215s currently can’t. Whereas a 215 may have to...

Thank you, Madam Chair. As the Member indicates, I think this is our third year to have seen the 802s operate under full forest fire operating conditions, under extreme forest fire operating conditions, especially last summer. They have performed admirably. The 802s would equal the impact of the four 215s that we do currently have. The four 215s, which I point out are probably 60 years old, roughly, burn fuel that is going to become obsolete in the not-too-distant future. There’s three years left on the current contract. We have at least two instances and one near incident where we actually...

Yes, Madam Chair.

Mr. Speaker, supporting a diversified economy that provides all communities and regions with opportunities and choices is one of the main purposes of forest management agreements.

The first two agreements were signed this year with Timberworks in Fort Resolution and Digaa Enterprises in Fort Providence, jointly owned Aboriginal development corporations in each community.

Timberworks is owned by the Deninu K’ue First Nation and the Fort Resolution Metis Council, and Digaa Enterprises is owned by the Deh Gah Gotie First Nation and the Fort Providence Metis Council

These are the first of several...

Thank you. I guess there are a couple things. There is the portrayal of a deep and abiding suspicion of the motives of Conair. They’re in a business and one of their functions is that they’re the supplier of an aircraft, and the only supplier. They’ve told us in writing that in fact there are no caveats, that we can expect full support, and if we want more of their services, they’d be happy to have those discussions, but it’s not contingent upon us getting the planes, that they won’t sell us the planes unless they’re given all these other considerations. They pretty clearly and categorically...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There is going to be the forest management programs in Fort Smith. The tender to operate and maintain will be let. In all probability, it will be one of the large operators in Yellowknife. We will build in the requirements for storage during fire season. As with the 215s, they are stationed as on an as anticipated need basis, some in Yellowknife, some in Smith, Hay River, Inuvik, Norman Wells, depending on where the project need is or if there are some active fires there, and that is always changing. The Members will remember over the years flying out of Yellowknife...

I was going to suggest being put out to pasture. They are over 60 years old. Being over 60, I can tell you, keeping up with the guys in their twenties is very, very tough, if not downright impossible, to be completely frank, in the confines of this Assembly, just amongst ourselves.

Are there other uses for the 215s? There could be. The Member and I have talked a bit about this and I have heard this from the owner of Buffalo Airways, his vision of a fleet of pollution-fighting aircraft that could respond to spills and be there if they are needed. In fact, there were discussions with ENR at one...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Like every other arm of government, we are very aware of the fiscal constraints that we operate under. When we looked and we did years of work mainly with Meyers Norris Penny, looking at all the planes and it came down to also having the hat of the Finance Minister on, and as I was looking at this, what can we come forward in good conscience to tell the Legislature to make the case of what is the best way forward. The discussion was very quickly that the 802s could meet our needs at a fraction of the cost of getting four 215s or four 415s, three times, four times more...

Thank you, Madam Chair. The option of selling the planes – as you know, they are not worth an enormous amount of money – is definitely one that we’re seriously looking at. On the assumption that if the budget is approved for these planes, the orders would be put in and that we anticipate that we’d have all 802s ready to go for the fire season of 2017. Until that point, we would be continuing to maintain and keep the 215s. We would start on the fire season and then, once we have the new fleet on line, we would look at what kind of disposal is in our best interest as a government.

The issue of...