Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think that is a discussion that maybe the Member can have with our regional office and give those ideas forward to the regional superintendent regarding how we can improve that. With types of infrastructure around cellular and stuff, that is something that is driven by industry, but maybe there is an opportunity when in front of committee as the Minister of Infrastructure, maybe some of these federal funds might be a possibility to help address some of those types of things. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Going forward, the one thing I am going to be able to commit to is that we are engaged with the federal government, as I said in my Minister's statement today, on the low carbon economy leadership fund. This is a fund that we believe can be used to help top up the Arctic Energy Alliance, and we believe it could actually even be in the million-dollar range to help support these programs moving forward. We will continue to update Members as we get more criteria and results from the federal government on where that is going.

The scope of this project would require design options to mitigate the issue of low water levels at the boat launch, the parking area will need to be expanded and defined to accommodate more vehicles, and a new location for a boat launch will be needed to be identified. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll have to get that level of detail on how we're going to be allocating that type of work and get back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The Department of Infrastructure has identified the marine service centre for the community of Tuktoyaktuk that builds upon existing harbour infrastructure, as I have said, and the community. In its list of priorities, marine infrastructure could be funded under the Oceans Protection Plan, which I have mentioned. At this time, we continue to engage with the federal officials on funding opportunities and the criteria under this plan, as these details have not all been worked out yet.

As we know, there is growing interest in the Northwest Passage; it is anticipated to increase traffic. We will...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This project is going to be ongoing to 20192020. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I've said, we have our 20-year plan and we re-evaluate our plan every year, and we will have discussions with the community moving forward on what we could possibly do at this location. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Infrastructure has reviewed the report in detail. The information that is in that report builds on past studies conducted by the department to investigate the potential of a deep sea port in Tuktoyaktuk, and that work is ongoing. The Tuktoyaktuk Harbour has long been a supply base for the Beaufort Sea, as many of us know. The future of opportunities is very promising going forward now with the MTS up and running. The study has supported marine planning undertaken by the Department of Health and formed a list of potential marine infrastructure projects...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am not going to commit to anything like that. We are working with the city very diligently and closely on this, moving forward. When we sit down with them after the October 1st date and continue to work on this going forward, we do not even know where this will be located, what type of facility would be needed, or if one is even going to be needed. Those discussions are ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Right now we're just looking at putting this pavilion in there and upgrading what we can and then we will keep re-evaluating moving forward, as we have a 20-year plan on how we're going to move forward on these assets. Thank you, Mr. Chair.