Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I know it was a comment, but I have to respond to it. As being the Minister of Transportation, I am now going to be the Minister in charge of infrastructure. Our infrastructure deficit in this territory is more than we could ever tackle. I've said many times, even at the federal FTP tables, the money that they had allocated for transportation nationally across this country, if they all gave it all just to the Northwest Territories, would never, ever even meet the needs of the Government of the Northwest Territories and the citizens of our territory. These are ongoing...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is correct. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to introduce Bill 7: An Act to Amend the Revolving Funds Act. The proposed bill would amend the Revolving Funds Act to establish a new revolving fund for the Yellowknife Airport with an authorized limit of $36 million. The purpose of this fund would be to support the ongoing capital and operations and maintenance expenditures of the Airport.

With the establishment of a revolving fund, all revenues generated by the Yellowknife Airport would be retained by the airport, eliminating our reliance on Government of the Northwest Territories subsidies to improve this...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, none of that revenue goes back to any of the airports. It all goes back into general revenue, and ends up there through the business planning process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Member for asking that, because I misspoke when I said it was $300,000 increase to medical travel. It's a $300,000 incremental cost, the total expenditures of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When we looked at the business plan, we looked at all the economic opportunities that come along with this. As I have said, for every $1 million, 3.5 jobs will be created. The offset would create 14 jobs, but if you look at the business plan, there are cargo opportunities that would become available, with consultation with a number of these stakeholders, the 30-something groups that we have met with. That is one area of a particular increase of business opportunities, moving forward. There has probably been a number of people, I believe, already who have talked about...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, I want to point out the mandate of 18th Legislative Assembly was the three highway corridors, and that's what we focused on. The Federal Engagement Strategy was very strategic. We wanted to keep, as we've said in the House, our number advanced to a minimum and it was very strategic when we went down there. We focused on those key areas moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. When we rolled this out, this was one of the things -- this is an early step on how we are going to take Yellowknife Airport, if it becomes an authority or something else down the road, then we will look at changing legislation to do that. I believe this is the right step moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So we don't want to phase in these fees; first of all, it would create uncertainty for air carriers and travellers if we did a phased-in approach. The phased-in approach would mean that a significant operating subsidy would have to be maintained from the taxpayer, so that's another reason we wouldn't want to do it, and a phased-in approach implement would result in a delay in the ability to make necessary capital improvements. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Moving forward, the revolving fund will have a page in the main estimates. Thank you, Mr. Chair.