Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ferry service throughout the Northwest Territories is an essential service to deliver goods and services and also for the public to travel, hopefully as long as they can. Mr. Speaker, the ferry operations in the Mackenzie Delta have been closed on the Mackenzie River last week, but there’s been talk about closing the Peel River Ferry at kilometre 74 this weekend, which, Mr. Speaker, I received some photographs from my constituency assistant and sent it off to the Minister to clearly demonstrate there is no ice on the river, it is wide open. Yet, Mr. Speaker, they’re intending to shut down this ferry because of so-called ice conditions. Mr. Speaker, in most cases there is a process that’s followed in regard to giving 72 hours notice and then they go to 48 hours down to 24 hours so that we can notify the travelling public.
Mr. Speaker, ferry service is an essential service in order to ensure that we are able to move goods and services and the general public for as long as possible, regardless if you’re in the South Slave dealing with the ferry crossing in Fort Providence or the crossing on the Liard. Whatever we can do as a government and as the Department of Transportation to ensure we provide these services for as long as possible makes sense to do so, and basically the ferry operation is not a threat. I believe that we should do whatever we can, realizing the mild conditions we’re seeing this fall, if there’s a possibility of these ferry operations running well over the present season and into possibly the next couple of weeks.
So I’d like, at the appropriate time, Mr. Speaker, to ask the Minister of Transportation exactly what can the department do to assure the residents of the Mackenzie Delta, and especially Fort McPherson, that we will continue the ferry operations on the Peel River and that it does not close this weekend. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
