Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said, we are in the planning stage right now, figuring this out. The department is the lead. Hopefully, we will be able to break ground in the spring.

As I said, I think we have some property identified moving forward and working with the Town of Hay River. I suspect construction will probably take at least a year for a facility that size.

As of this morning, I am not even sure if this is exactly where the highway accident has taken place, but this has been an issue for the Member in the last two or three sittings that we have talked about this section of highway. I can reassure the Member and all residents of the Northwest Territories that the Highway Improvement Safety Plan that the Department of Infrastructure has is guided by the Transportation Association of Canada, and we build all of our highways in the Northwest Territories to this standard. We do routine patrols, like I have said. We get input from residents in the...

As I have said, we work very closely with the Fishermen's Federation on this. Moving forward, it is agreed by both parties that the Government of the Northwest Territories would own the facility. They figure this is the best direction for the development of the industry and we will continue to work with the Fishing Federation on moving this initiative forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My understanding in talking with the federal government on this report coming forward is that there is some sensitive information there that we might not be able to share publicly, but I believe, whatever we can share publicly, we will be able to do that.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is following through on its mandate to strengthen connections with public sector partners in order to invest in strategic transportation infrastructure.

Improving and extending our highways system helps connect communities, reduces the cost of living, improves the resiliency of our transportation system to climate change, and increases access to natural resources. I am proud to say we have carried out improvements to almost every highway in the Northwest Territories over the past two years. These improvements have been possible thanks to...

I don't think we have the full details on the catch, but from everything I have heard to date, it sounds like it is very similar to last year's quota. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as we move forward working with the fishing federation, primarily right now we will be doing exactly what Freshwater did, was to be able to do the primary sourcing of fish, cutting up round, and filleting. As far as doing secondary processing, that is going to be entirely up to what Freshwater wants to do moving forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The manufacturing strategy that we tabled gives us an opportunity, I think, to reimagine how we approach supporting manufacturing in the Northwest Territories. It is an opportunity for us to possibly rethink how we re-categorize manufacturers and look at new policy ideas that could help bring more businesses to the manufacturers in the NWT and local manufacturers as well, but also use it to build a stronger relationship with the manufacturing community. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When we consider new crosswalks anywhere in the communities, or in particular on the highway system, there are a number of factors that are involved. We have to figure in the projected traffic flows, the type of traffic, the volume of traffic, the width of the highway, the speed limit, all these sorts of things, but we also sit down with the community and talk to the RCMP about these types of things. I can commit to having the department have a conversation with the Town of Hay River and the RCMP for consideration.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, there is a difference between the two lightings at the two crossings in Hay River. The one that we just put up at the Hay River Hospital has the latest technology that has been introduced right across the country. Moving forward, the department has a program that we are going to install the latest version within this fiscal year at this crossing at the Red Rooster. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.