Statements in Debates
To answer the question, first of all, in the 2018-2019 capital plan we have some money that is in there for a two-year project to replace the secure image management system within the Department of Infrastructure. One of these enhancements that we are going to do is to do a temporary GIC card for residents of the Northwest Territories, update the software, have facial recognition capabilities for security issues, and these sorts of things.
The answer is questionable regarding doing it regionally. Once we have this system in place, and we try to work through it in the next two years with this...
Mr. Speaker, more than 50 years ago Prime Minister John Diefenbaker announced his goal to connect Canada coast to coast to coast.
Today, I am pleased to announce the official opening of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway will be held on November 15, 2017. Canada's first highway to the Arctic Ocean will finally connect the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk to our all-season highway system, while allowing for new economic opportunities, increased tourism, improved accessibility to health care, and a lower cost of living for residents.
The success of this project can only be attributed to the dedicated crews...
Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following four documents entitled: Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 822-18(2): Peel River Ferry Services; Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 855-18(2): Status of Repairs for Highway No. 6; Follow-up letter for Oral Question 859-18(2) Support for Traditional Harvesters; and Follow-up Letter for Oral Question 909-18(2): NWT Geological Survey Strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I don’t believe that’s the case. The strategy that we put forward, as I said, is in consultation with the people that want to do farming in the Northwest Territories. We’re back out doing a survey with them right now to see what we can do to implement to make this thing better going forward. We will continue to do that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When we tabled this strategy, we went out to consultations to develop the strategy across the Northwest Territories of people that are interested in agriculture. That fed into how we developed this strategy going forward. That was their strategy along with ours that we put forward in this House. We are finishing up our Growing Forward 2. They’re the last year of our five-year growing forward plan. We’re going to be moving forward with a new plan with a federal Minister, but right now we’re out doing a survey to see feedback on what we can do in the strategy. How can we make things work better...
This continuation of the winter ferry was a decision of the House of this Assembly. We have made $1.8 million as I’ve said. The road was open for 36 days based on it for $1.8 million with the Dempster possibly closed as much as 40 per cent of the time. It’s not good value for the money. The decision was made to put this winter ferry service into accommodate the Ikhil well. The situation right now is not a concern of ours. There seems to be from the producers’ side of things, there is not an effect of it going forward. We will continue to monitor. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To inform the Members of this House, because this decision was made quite a while ago to accelerate the ice road there and keep the winter ferry going as long as we could until the road was up to capacity was made in 2013, I believe, 2014. They began to do the accelerated construction of the ice road crossing. This was mainly around the energy concerns for the community of Inuvik and the low volumes that possibly shut down the kill well at the time. A propane mixture was going to have to be introduced to get through this dry spell of the well until something else was...
I have never heard that concern. If that Member has that type of information, I’d gladly sit down with him and discuss it.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I want to remind this House this is the first ever agricultural strategy of the Northwest Territories. We tabled that in March. We were working towards this budding industry to bring local production of food to residents of the Northwest Territories. Yes, the issue of lands is one that we’re working on. It’s an interdepartmental working group working on this. It’s myself, ITI, Health and Social Services, ENR, the Department of Lands. We’re assessing this stuff. We’re looking at other jurisdictions and what’s going on. We’re continually talking with the...
As I’ve said, we’ve committed to the opening of the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway on November 14th. Depending on weather, freeze up is at the end of October. We’ve committed to buying some lighter spray equipment this year, which is en route to the communities to accelerate the ice road construction. That will allow us to get on the ice roads sooner. Historically, that ice road should be open within three weeks to light traffic, and probably mid-November for heavy traffic. That’s based on the historical numbers that I have.