Wally Schumann

Depending on if there was an economic opportunity strategy or the fishing strategy, there would have been various departments, and they would have been senior officials.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I will commit to doing that and having a look at that and informing the House on that moving forward.

The joint venture is directly responsible for the contractors that are employed under them that are running up and down the highway. As far as our Department of Transportation, when a vehicle is registered in the Northwest Territories and it goes through its annual inspections and stuff, that is a whole different issue. This issue of the incidents that have taken place over the last few weeks on the road system between Yellowknife and the diamond mines is the joint venture's. We are working closely with them. We have a great relationship with them. As I have said, they are talking to the...

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Infrastructure is committed to working in partnership with Canada to make strategic investments in highway infrastructure. Today, I am pleased to provide an update on our efforts to secure funding for various highway projects across the territory.

In 2015, the Government of the Northwest Territories received federal approval for its first bundle of highway capacity improvement projects submitted under the New Building Canada Plan. The bundle was cost-shared with the federal government, who provided $72 million, or 75 per cent, while the Government of the Northwest...

As we move forward, yes, there is some money there for implementation. For some of the new positions, I believe, that are created in the new region of the Sahtu, we will be looking out to fulfilling that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The proposed Department of Infrastructure, moving forward for 2017-18, is focusing on a number of things; change of management would be one of them, developing new business and processes and practices moving forward, and also establishing a new corporate presence, as it's going to be a whole different identity for the department. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As we move forward, I believe this is something, like I said in the House yesterday, it is something we are keeping a close eye on across the country. If this bill passes in the House, we will definitely get back to committee on what is going on and keep everyone informed on where this process is going.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can get back to the Member with the exact details on it, but I can tell him right off the top between medical travel and business and relocation tickets that were out of Yellowknife, it comes to 3.7 per cent of total travel out of Yellowknife. It is roughly over 10,000 flights. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--- through our public engagement sessions that we have talked about quite a bit this week in the House. To date, we have held public engagement sessions in Norman Wells, Fort Smith, Yellowknife, and Fort Simpson. Next week, we are going to be in my home community of Hay River and we are going to be doing a workshop with the community of Behchoko moving forward. We will be collecting this information and we will be using this to develop our energy strategy moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we were moving forward with this and learning more about the whole process, the airlines have argued that there is a financial burden put upon them by collecting this fee. It has been negotiated across the country to remit the airline improvement fee to them and give them a commission on this moving forward. We are well aware of the situation. It is a balancing act, just like anything, if we are going to impose this on the airlines, that they are reimbursed something that is sustainable for them as well moving forward. I wouldn't say it is a hidden fee. It is part of...