Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The short answer is yes. With our energy strategy that we are going around the Northwest Territories, we are willing to look at all input so we can make an informed decision on how we move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Like I said, first of all, it would have to be something driven by the community and the region. They would have to all work together to say this is a project that they would all be supportive of and want to bring forward to the Government of the Northwest Territories. That would be the first step. So as long as we have consensus on stuff, we could sit down and look at the proposal. As far as doing a tour of the region, I think we've been asked twice already and due to timing I couldn't make it to the region, but at some point we're going to have to get out there and just talk to the region...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, the Mackenzie Valley Highway, as I said in my Member's statement yesterday, has been suspended by the federal government while they consider new infrastructure programs. So we're waiting to hear on the details on the infrastructure programs, hopefully when the federal budget comes out here in the next month or so, but there's a significant amount of work that is still going on with the highway. Our environmental assessment has started for the Wrigley to Norman Wells' section. Community consultations have been undertaken by the Review Board and the terms of...

ITI has, right off the bat, the tourism diversification marketing program. This is available to provide funding to the operators to do research, identify market needs, and develop products, as well as promote new markets in the tourism industry. We also have upped our staff resources in the North Slave region to address the licensing issues and increasing park maintenance because of more pressure of using these facilities. We also have staffing under way for a new tourist development officer starting in 2017-18.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation has made a commitment in its mandate to restore safe operating conditions in the Port of Hay River by strengthening connections with public and private sectors partners.

The Hay River Harbour remains an essential piece of infrastructure for the NWT marine transportation system. The harbour supports critical services such as those provided by the Canadian Coast Guard and the Department of Defence. As well, industry and communities up and down the river depend on the steady and reliable resupply of essential goods and materials shipped out of Hay...

As I previously said, the department has programs in place to do maintenance and replacement of the ferries. We want to make sure that everything is safe and efficient and operating going forward, of course. In the long term, all ferries could be replaced by permanent bridges, which the Member also alluded to in his statement today. This would require significant investment from this government to do that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The particular ferry, the Louis Cardinal ferry, is a short-trip, fresh water vessel. They tend to operate for many years. Right across the country, anything that is operating in fresh water tends to get 60-plus years of operation out of it. The other side of that vessel, though, is the mechanical side of it and the hull maintenance. Those things have a much shorter maintenance life, but we have a scheduled maintenance plan, when to undertake those required rehabilitations, and we continue to do so.

He asked another question. There were actually two questions in there...

I would have to get more details from the Member on what he is asking.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Like I've said, we've already submitted the proposal to the federal government. It is on hold right now based on what they're going to do with their infrastructure needs. Hopefully the federal government addresses this project and many other projects that we've submitted under infrastructure for this territorial government in the federal budget coming out in the next couple of weeks. We have done pretty much everything we can do to advance this project until we hear back from them.

Like I said, we're working with ENR on preparing plans for management of caribou, we have...

First of all, the Canyon Creek access road that we just announced was initiated by the Sahtu region. This was brought forward a long time ago by the people of Sahtu and the Aboriginal governments. They spend a significant amount of time and energy on this project to advance it. It speaks to the benefits like the Member just stated of jobs and employment opportunities and training. Federal opportunities came along at the right time for this project and allowed this project to move forward, and it has.

If the Member's community of Wrigley and the Deh Cho wanted to have an interest in promoting a...