Wally Schumann

I can talk to my department to see about how we can address his concerns, but in the meantime we'll have to have a look internally what we're going to do with this.

This is something that the department is still working on with all Aboriginal governments and partners, including Parks Canada and people in the general public, so what the park and who controls what in the end is still not a final decision. That’s something that we will continue to work on, and we can engage the Member on that too.

The Territorial Parks Act is actually under the banner of ITI, but we will be looking at bringing that forward with him and it's something in the mandate of this 18th Assembly.

All highways in the Northwest Territories are of great concern to the Department of Transportation and we take maintaining and looking after them very seriously. If the Member, or any resident of the Northwest Territories, has a concern with our highway system, they can always get hold of the department or myself personally.

To maintain each section of this highway is largely dependent on the weather and conditions of the infrastructure. There are a number of things that contribute to that, but both sections' cost is very comparable in maintenance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I too would like to recognize some of the people on the On-the-Land Collaboration Fund. Sarah True, regional environment assessment coordinator for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Sarah was the administrative lead for the first round of applicants, coordinating all the partners and the massive number of applicants received. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can assure the Member I will look into the matter, and as I stated earlier in the House today until we make a decision on the Member's concerns, they can phone the 1-800 number or get a hold of myself. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

That is something we would have to confirm. As I said, it falls under the department of ITI, but we can look into it and get back to the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and the Member is correct. Interim land withdrawal is expiring in the coming days, but we have applied to renew that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Department of Transportation has divided the highway system in the NWT into four sections. We have the South Slave, the Fort Simpson section, the North Slave region, and the Inuvik Region. The boundaries for each regional operation are based on a range of factors such as operational efficiencies, workload, capacity, cost and service, and traffic levels, weather, and geography.