Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The short answer is no. I told the Members that I would look into expanding this program, putting more money into it to the life of this Assembly, not in this budget.

Traditionally, NTCL publish their sailing schedule close to the operating season, in May, if I remember correctly, of each year. The government is committed to providing a firm sailing schedule prior to that date. I know the people in the Department of Public Works and Services who are taking on this work are working very hard and diligently to put this together so we can come up with a schedule that will satisfy the communities and staff so they can start their planning session. We are hoping to have something out to them by April.

I think there is a play on words here. The Mining Incentive Program is already in place. It is well received. It was actually oversubscribed in the past year. As I said, I commit to looking, in the life of this Assembly, to find a way to put more money into this program in coming years.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has made a commitment in its mandate to capture opportunities for investment in transportation infrastructure by working to secure funding to improve access into the Slave Geological Province. Today I would like to provide an update on the department’s progress on this project.

Improving road access into the Slave Geological Province has been a long-term objective of the Governments of Canada and the Northwest Territories. This long-term vision includes connecting to an all-weather road and deep-water Arctic port in western Nunavut...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Department of Transportation, we continue to monitor all our embankments on the highway system and make sure we have safe travelling public, proper drainage on the highway system, and we will continue to do that. I can update the Member after session if he wants to have a bigger discussion around this issue.

I don't know how many creative ways I can say it to answer this question, but I believe this job has to stay in Yellowknife and I'm committed to keeping it here.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I said earlier in the House today to the Member from Hay River North that this position is based in Yellowknife because it clearly recognizes the importance of being here looking after the broader Northwest Territories, with all the initiatives that are in place in all the different regions in the NWT, and it just totally makes sense to have that job located here in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have made my position quite clear on this. I want to talk about fishing a little bit because he's talking about fishing. I had just happened to have the opportunity to go to the fish plant last week when I was home. One thing I can say, yes, fishing is a big part of Hay River industry, but the Member from the Beau-Del there, from Mr. Blake, has approached us about doing commercial fishing in Northwest Territories. This is going to have greater implications than just in Hay River, plus we also have money set aside, $1.4 million invested in the Hay River plant as we move forward, if we can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I've answered this question a number of times already, this is a pan-territorial position that represents all citizens of the Northwest Territories. We have reallocated the position in Hay River that was presently there, away from agriculture, to look after the fishing and agriculture industry to help facilitate that in the South Slave. The position that the Member opposite is referring to is based out of Yellowknife, and it needs to be here to look after the whole Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When we looked at this, the big part of the improvement fees and landing fees for the Yellowknife Airport is to help turn around the operating costs of running the airport. We presently subsidize the airport by $4 million annually, which comes out of general revenue that could help support other initiatives in this House that we believe that we need to move forward; but the big thing with introducing this revolving fund to the Yellowknife Airport, it's also the largest airport in the Northwest Territories. It has 58,000 flights a year that land and come and go from this airport. There are a...