Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I’m well aware of the department’s mandate to do prompt payment. I believe most of the payments, not always because there are always circumstances around every challenging one that comes forward but we’re supposed to pay within 20 days of receipt of an invoice and that’s what we will continue to do as a department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I regularly talk to my counterparts in the Yukon and Nunavut on a broad range of issues. With this one in particular, I am sure we are going to have more conversations, particularly with Nunavut, as they are a little bit more remote and face more challenges than the Yukon and very similar to us. We will continue to press the federal government, I imagine, all on the same page moving forward, in particular, possibly as soon as the next FTP meeting around transportation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As all Members know, safety of our passengers and our pilots is the number one concern of the Government of Northwest Territories when it comes to air travel. This oneapproachfitsall for the regulatory change does not work well for the government of the Northwest Territories and particularly the airline industry on this approach. We are going to work very closely with our federal counterparts on ways to address the unique needs of our operators and our airports in the Northwest Territories, and we will hopefully do this through appropriate amendments to the federal...

Yes, we did. We had some contract work this year with a number of our vessels, and we went out and did that. We also did some maintenance work at the shipyard on the Canadian coast guard vessels that were stationed out of Hay River, and got them under way for their sailing season. We also did some work on some third party vessels in the Hay River shipyard.

As I have said, I think we can agree to disagree. REDI is about a public information initiative to bring a whole government approach to all the things that relate to resource development. It is not about promoting resource development. It is about informing the general public of what concerns they can have, and have one-on-one conversations with geologists, land inspectors, water inspectors, regulators, regulatory bodies, and that is what the initiative is, to help inform the public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The short answer is, no. The government is going to be carrying out our Petroleum and Resource Act on oil and gas operations in the very near future. This is going to give residents of the Northwest Territories an opportunity to discuss what level of transparency they want to see in hydraulic fracturing. We will bring that forward at the time. There will probably be a number of questions around hydraulic fracturing, I believe, when we go out with this, as it was a big subject on the last Assembly. They are going to know what kind of fluids are used, or additives, and these sort of things, and...

Mr. Speaker, I could speak to this directly as I was a manufacturer before I got elected. It’s not always about money. It’s about the process, about getting information out there of what’s directly available to the government of Northwest Territories in particular, about the round of procurement issues. There are these types of challenges. I personally do not think it’s about putting money towards a strategy or off-setting a cost. There’s already a 30 per cent allotment to manufacturers for their product to be in the Northwest Territories and we built here. These are conversations that we are...

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories is nearing the successful completion of its first season delivering Marine Transportation Services to communities on the Mackenzie River and Arctic coast. The delivery of essential goods by tug and barge to our communities on Great Slave Lake, the Mackenzie River, and the Arctic coast sustains the vital services that our communities rely upon. Since early July when the first tug and barge tow of the season departed Hay River, GNWT Marine Transportation Services has successfully delivered all of the critical petroleum products and deck...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The manufacturing strategy, the department has recently sat down and met with all of the manufacturers in the North Slave and the South Slave and had a discussion on how we’re going to move forward. I believe we are in the process of allocating some money towards some sit-down conversations that we’re going to have with the manufacturing group and the Northwest Territories can come up with a plan forward on the strategy. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, I am not aware of the legislation Ontario is proposing to move forward, but if the Member wants to share that with me, I’m glad to have a look at it. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.