Wally Schumann

No, I will not go to a constituency meeting with the Member. We just did a tour with a number of MLAs and deputy ministers of his riding, particularly around manufacturers in the NWT. We have a public process to participate in procurement process in the Northwest Territories. We can allow input to there. People can write letters to me, as I've said, or contact me. As I've said in this House before, I believe the last time I spoke, I did not have one complaint around procurement in the Northwest Territories and, since the last session, I maybe had one or two complaints about procurement in the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don't think much has changed since last session. I will not commit to doing that. I'm willing to sit down, as I said, with the Member and discuss the problems that he's having with one of his constituents. I believe we have a very robust system in place for procurement in the Government of the Northwest Territories. Is it perfect? No, but we are working on that on a daily basis and trying to make things better for all residents in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As the Member said, we have our own highway patrol that goes out there continually, specifically in the wintertime when truck traffic is at its peak. We have our superintendent who patrols each highway section that they are in charge of on a daily basis to make people aware of potential hazardous areas and the condition of the highway and report back to the department on that. As far as us working with the City of Yellowknife and the RCMP on the sorts of things that the Member has alluded to, I am not quite sure how that works. I would have to check with the department if we have collaboration...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member alluded to in his statement there, we have Drive Alive, but Infrastructure has an improvement safety plan that we work on continually for all highways. We also follow the TAC program for our guidelines for all highways in the Northwest Territories, along with all our other public outreach that we have between Twitter and Facebook and those sorts of things. We are always promoting safety. We have our speed signs that we put out and, as we all know, there is a number of bump signs between here and Behchoko. Our staff is working regularly and daily to at...

Road safety is our number one priority, particularly on the ice road. As I've said in this House a number of times, climate change and things have had a number of impacts on the condition of our ice roads and winter roads in the Northwest Territories. It's unfortunate, like I said, that this happened in Aklavik this year due to safety matters, but if we look at the incident that happened at Deline two years ago, we certainly don't want this type of situation happening particularly on the Beau-Del, where there's great resource for fish in the Northwest Territories, and to have an incident like...

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 26, An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act, No. 2, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When this came up on a quick and short notice, the local superintendent out of the Inuvik region would have notified the mayor of Aklavik. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I believe there have been some challenges around accessing parts and stuff, but I believe that, going forward, with all the other work that is happening, I do not believe that will impede the delivery date of when we are going to put the ferries in during the first or second week of June.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Both the development of the Agriculture Strategy and the fishing strategy that we've tabled this year precedes a very big important agenda for the government for our economic development of the Northwest Territories, but, getting strictly to the question about buying local foods in local stores, the challenge with that moving forward is that we have an agricultural strategy, but we have a need to develop a process moving forward, as it is the first agricultural strategy in the Northwest Territories, and the regulatory framework around that, and what needs to be put in...

We may have to bring the Member onboard for the Marine Transportation System. He has guaranteed river levels. We will work diligently to do all the prep work to the site and make sure the boats are up and running safely. We will work with all Members of this House to let them know when we can get them in on a timely matter, subject to the river conditions.