Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Speaker, I will check with my officials to ensure that with the incidences that do happen after hours and on the weekends, and sometimes in the wee early hours of the morning, there is a contact number for the travelling public to get hold of us if they have concerns on the highways, on our ferries, within our infrastructure. I will make sure this is directed to our officials and get back to the Member as soon as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department certainly is very concerned at this time of the season, as I said, in the springtime and the fall time, in terms of our best ways and best solutions. I certainly look forward to Members’ comments and suggestions as to how we can close the window in terms of the mitigation of certain conditions we have. We certainly have those kinds of conditions in my own regions and we have very limited opportunity in terms of our winter road seasons, and these conditions sometimes are very difficult to work with. However, we do have plans in place; we do have systems in...

Mr. Speaker, when the Member and I, along with the mayor and the regional superintendent, sat down in Inuvik…. I have asked the department, when the Member was there, to get this MOU dealt with, to see what we can do and what some of the issues are here.

I still maintain that position; let’s work on the issues. Those issues sometimes take somewhat careful consideration. We are in an MOU. We have to look after the interests of not only the town but the department.

I will give my assurance to the Member here and the Town of Inuvik that the department will do everything within reason to satisfy an...

Mr. Speaker, my understanding is that we had a deal to conclude the MOU between the Town of Inuvik and the department. There were issues we felt we could resolve in a short time and have a deal concluded. That was my understanding, and that’s the basis on which I’m going forward to see this MOU resolved shortly.

The department offers a 1-800 number to all residents of the Northwest Territories, and I’ll be very happy to send a notification right over to the Member’s office for his constituents and all constituents of the Northwest Territories. We have regional operations, and the regional superintendents know there are contact numbers for the driving public. The department continues to look for ways to improve their communication. The web site, I believe, is updated on a daily basis by our staff, and sometimes, even, our staff does come in over the weekends when conditions like this warrant it. We...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. For all the highways in the Northwest Territories, the web site is updated, as the resource people working on them are dedicated to informing the public of the most recent, current, updated conditions of the highways this time of the season. I’d like the Member to know that due to the spring thaw, in the spring season there are unforeseen conditions that hinder the conditions of our roads, and with these unforeseen conditions of the spring season — heavy rainfalls and the conditions of the roads — sometimes our staff positions are not manned 24 hours. However, we do...

Certainly there are some legal issues in terms of the transfer. The town wishes to have the use of the quarry before the transfer of the lands, and we are obligated to proceed this way.

There are also issues around the transfer of the lands with regard to MACA being somewhat involved with the issue with the Town of Inuvik, of course. NAV Canada has some issues. Natural Resources Canada also has some issues around the transfer.

We are proceeding to work with the town in terms of the use of the quarry and also proceeding with the transfer of the land. However, there are some legal issues that we...

Mahsi. Mr. Speaker, as the Member has alluded to in his Member’s statement, we had a meeting in Inuvik to discuss this issue with the mayor and the regional superintendent. One issue we did talk about was the issue of the long-standing MOU negotiations that happened in the previous government with the Town of Inuvik and the Department of Transportation.

My understanding is there were some issues that have been going back and forth. There were some delays, in terms of the change of the town council membership and the department’s commercial development staff.

The department recently received a...

Mr. Speaker, I've informed my officials to keep the community of Wrigley informed in terms of the dates. We're working very hard to ensure that the ferry operation is in the waters by the end of this month, and have it tested, have it inspected, have it checked off okay so that we could help out the community of Wrigley. Certainly we'll do everything in our powers to make sure this happens and put some smiles on some of the children in Wrigley.

Mr. Speaker, our first priority within the department is the safety of our facilities, our streets, our roads.

When we originally looked at the refit for the N’Dulee ferry, when the scope of work was laid out, it was planned that we would do this before any of this type of delay would be happening for this specific ferry.

When we looked at the refit and saw that further work needed to get done within the ferry, that required us to put in extra resources and time, and those other circumstances that happened are out of our control.

Again, we want to make sure that we do a proper job. Safety is...