Robert Hawkins

Mr. Speaker, today I want to talk about a subject I’ve raised before in this House, and it’s my concern about Yellowknife Airport parking.

I’ve highlighted the concern that Transportation continues to invest a lot of money in the installation and the repair of the airport parking-ticket machine, and yet the problems continue not to be solved. I wonder how much money will continue to be spent out there on a product, a technology, that just can’t serve people. Mr. Speaker, it’s a waste of money.

In my view, things have gone far off the rails and way out of hand. Anybody who has recently travelled...

Mr. Speaker, I won’t be long, but I do want to emphasize a particular point. A lot of homes were broken up and challenged by this policy of the government. But the fact that they actually decided to make payment as compensation to recognize the mistake demonstrates the courage we need to have to take the next step to do the right thing, which is to formalize that through an apology. With that note, I hope our Premier will deliver that message. That one little step further may mean not just a little but a lot to a lot of people who have suffered through this.

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Transportation knows, runways are an extremely vital piece of infrastructure to any area, region or territory.

I'd like to know what the Minister is doing to pursue funding for this potential project. And if I may underscore, I think we just received a promissory note of $245.8 million. I'd like to hear what he’s doing to make sure the Yellowknife Airport runway extension is being considered in that potential pot of money.

Mr. Speaker, it’s no surprise to this Assembly and certainly not to the Transportation Minister that I’ve been in support of the extension of the Yellowknife runway. I feel it will open up a new tourism corridor, whether it’s for tourism or even business through flights over the top as they bring flights from Asia to North America.

I believe that expanding the runway in Yellowknife to accept larger planes will help not just Yellowknife. I think it will bring an economic boom throughout the Northwest Territories.

Mr. Speaker, as I understand it, there’s new information coming out that the...

I again reaffirm my belief that this will open up international tourism as well as international business.

One thing the Minister neglected to mention was: when can I expect this study to be open for public consumption? When does the Minister expect that this study will be made available for everyone to take a good look at?

I’d like to know if the Minister of Transportation has been working with the Minister of ITI — the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Investment — to discuss and further find out more information as to the economic boom that would be provided to the Northwest Territories.

Is the study looking at those types of considerations? Is his department working with ITI to make sure this relevant information is being brought forward to make the business case to expand the Yellowknife Airport?

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to clearly state for the residents of Fort Smith that it was not my intention to portray all residents of the community of Fort Smith in a negative light. As we all know very well, it is usually the actions of a few individuals and not the community that causes this type of issue to rise to the surface. Those are the people to blame for this problem. Those who have chosen to make the lives of others miserable need to be brought to task.

Since I have made the concerns of my constituents public, I have been approached by even more people with similar...

Mr. Speaker, I have three documents that I would like to table.

The first document is a letter from Municipal and Community Affairs to Gallant Construction. It’s referring to the water treatment proposal stuff I talked about today.

The second document I would like to table is a letter from Gallant to Hon. Michael McLeod. It’s again in reference to the water treatment proposal stuff I talked about today.

Document 30-16(2), Letters Regarding RFP for Community Water Treatment Plants, tabled.

The third item I would like to table is a list of consulting contracts outside the G.N.W.T. It is too lengthy...

Mr. Speaker, I have a letter from Municipal and Community Affairs that says to the Northern firm, the one group from the North that applied on this RFP to do this proposal. They were told that they didn't get it. That only leads to the assumption — or I should say, the obvious position — that the southern firm must have been awarded the project, because we only had two groups applying for it. The Northern one didn't get it; the southern did. What was their involvement?

Mr. Speaker, my constituent raised a concern about an infusion of federal cash, as I’ve highlighted already, and it sounds like some work is being done. I certainly look forward to it being successful.

The other issue that they raised — which I think is a very good one — is how is this going to play out on the tolls? Are we expecting an adjustment in the potential tolls being under $7 at this point, with the cost of the bridge? Does it have an effect on the tolls if we do get the $50 million applied to the greater cost of the bridge? What is going to be the adjustment on the tolls, and what are...