Norman Yakeleya

In the Department of Transportation, one of their objectives is safety on our highways. Certainly that applies more so with the winter roads in our communities.

As part of the Safety Program in the Department of Transportation, are there any requests or consideration for additional maintenance on our winter roads? We have about a month and six days left if the weather holds out to have our winter roads still in operation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our winter roads can only last for three months and then they close down. I want to ask the Minister, given his assessment and the questions that we’ve been exchanging today and looking at this on a going-forward basis, can the Minister commit that next year we can have some type of pre-meeting with all the communities, contractors and operators and look at our winter roads and have a thorough discussion? We are still dealing with these issues from the past and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better, especially now that we don’t have additional funding from industry...

For example, from Norman Wells to Fort Good Hope is 147 kilometres. It is taking people four and a half to five hours to drive that section at 20 kilometres an hour. Compare that to other highways in the Northwest Territories, it’s ludicrous. You would not stand for it.

What is the Minister doing to either increase the maintenance or start the Arctic paving program and putting water on our roads so that our vehicles do not rattle apart and are not held by duct tape to get on the Sahtu winter roads?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn’t want to talk too long so I just wrote three lines in my Member’s statement here.

---Laughter

Thank you, gracious colleagues.

This being anti-bullying day, I say to those who are bullying, “Quit it, and have a Snickers bar because it’s not you.”

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My questions have to do with a letter that was sent to the Minister on November 19th. I’m not too sure if the Minister wants to see a copy. It is from the Sahtu Renewable Resources Board, signed by the interim chair of the board, Paul Latour, and Chief Leonard Kenny. It was addressed to the Minister and it talked about the request for the feedback on the issues considering the harvesters for caribou, allocations for the Bluenose-East caribou. In there, they’ve made seven points, addressed seven points of consensus presented to the department, and they want to know the...

I do take that to heart and I do agree with the Minister that they’re very capable people working in various boards and governments and that they can work together. I just wanted to make sure that we have a coordinated approach because we need to know that what’s being tested for in the Mackenzie River and what’s not being tested for is so important. So we need to know for sure that this information comes out in our own language when we explain this to the community. So I’ll take that as a good response from the Minister and I’ll leave it at that and appreciate what he’s telling me this...

Just a short question as to if the Minister can provide me the number of water testing sites, I believe, along the Mackenzie that fall within the jurisdictions of the Sahtu region.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to ask about one position in the Sahtu that deals with the water quality. The application by Imperial Oil and 10-year renewal licence for their operation indicated that they are going to use a lot of water from the Mackenzie River over the 10-year period. The big issue for me is I believe it’s downstream from the Imperial Oil at Fort Good Hope where the quality of water has been questioned. Imperial Oil is using not millions but billions of litres of water that’s going to be used for their operation and they’re going to be pumping a lot of water back into...

Thank you. I’ve noticed how much the people in the Sahtu appreciate the Minister coming in and driving a section of that winter road and seeing firsthand the conditions that people have to drive day in and day out.

Given the limited amount of time that we have on our winter roads, given that Fort Good Hope is going to experience a lot of traffic this weekend because of the hand games, a lot of people are coming in for the hand games and a written e-mail from one of my constituents who is in the department is working that section, so people can call that Transportation person and make comments...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier I had questions to the Minister of Transportation. I’d like to continue my questions. Bassett Petroleum will be doing 120 loads of delivering fuel to the community of Deline. In the assessment by Bassett Petroleum, operators of those vehicles, they’re asking to see if the department is going to put kilometre markers along the road to Deline, even to have a few pullouts on that road to Deline.

Does the Minister think that’s something that can be done this year in regard to these two items?