Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to raise an issue with the Minister of ITI. It has come to my attention that there was a letter of complaint written about the Blackstone Territorial Park. Tourists found it in a sad state of repairs. The washrooms weren’t working, showers weren’t working, trailer dump station wasn’t working. When tourists travel in our region, we have to have good park facilities. They do mention that the staff there was very friendly and courteous and tried to be helpful whenever they could, but it seemed that, over time, Blackstone is apparently being neglected for maintenance. I’m sure that the department is aware of it, and that’s my first question.
Is the department aware of the sad state of repair as reported by tourists at the Blackstone Territorial Park? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware of that complaint. We do get a lot of compliments on Blackstone as well, so I wanted to put that out there.
Just last week we approved the meager capital budget for ITI. It did include some money for Blackstone Park, replacement of the kitchen shelter facility at Blackstone as well as a contractor residence at Blackstone. It’s a beautiful park. We do need to find additional capital dollars every year and fight for those capital dollars to go into our parks and campgrounds around the NWT. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am glad it will have upgraded facilities, but the complaint talks about repairs to the current, existing facilities.
What will be done to fix these deficiencies that were noted at the Blackstone Territorial Park? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, before the parks close up each and every year, there is an inventory taken of necessary repairs that are required not just at Blackstone but at other territorial parks around the territory. We do our best with maintenance staff and contractors to ensure what can be fixed, with the budget that we have, is fixed and repaired before next park season begins. Thank you.
I’m glad that there is inventory taken of facilities. Is there a plan to fix these deficiencies as they are noted, particularly the Blackstone? Is there a plan to fix the noted deficiencies? I’m not too sure if it came out in the inventory as well. In fact, I wouldn’t mind seeing a copy of that year-end report as well. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to work with the Member and get him the year-end status report from Blackstone. To the letter that the Member cited, we have responded, as well, to those folks who stayed at Blackstone. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Mr. Speaker, just one more follow-up. I didn’t hear the Minister respond to what specifically they will be doing at the Blackstone Territorial Park to fix those deficiencies. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, for that detail, I’ll get that from the department and the region. We’ll get that to the Member as well. I will let the Member know exactly what we plan to do there before next park season. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
