Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On our last sitting, I brought up the issue of airline passengers arriving at the Yellowknife Airport late at night; you know, if a flight is delayed, maybe at 1:00 in the morning or so, and then having to catch their connecting flight to Hay River early the next morning. The issue was that the airport would close for about a 90-minute window, and these people have to find somewhere to stay. Often there are no hotel rooms, and I know people who were lucky enough that a cab driver let them sleep on their couch for those couple hours. I asked the Minister about this before. He told me that, once Bill 7 passes, the revolving fund, which it did, they would start looking into this. Today he made a statement on the Yellowknife Airport Evolution, and I am wondering is a plan to keep the airport open 24 hours in the works so that his constituents do not have to sleep on strangers' couches. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I stated in the House today, as we move forward on July 1st with the revolving fund for the airport, we believe it is going to be an economic driver for the City of Yellowknife and the citizens of the Northwest Territories. I believe that is something that we are going to have to have a look at through the business process. As I have said in the House, we have a number of consultative committees that look at this issue, and I will make sure that this is one of the ones that is on the table for them to have a look at moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Maybe someday, I guess. The Minister also mentioned the Department of Infrastructure is working with carriers on new or expanded routes. I know airfare and air travel into Hay River is a major issue. Can the Minister confirm whether or not the Department of Infrastructure is working on bringing new air carriers into the Yellowknife-Hay River route or perhaps working on a route from Yellowknife to Edmonton that stops in Hay River?
Our job is not to lobby airline industries for which routes they take. Our job is to put the practices and opportunities in place that allow for businesses to develop in the Northwest Territories. I believe we have done that setting up the revolving fund. What came out of that, as soon as we brought this initiative forward, we had a number of air carriers get a hold of the department about possible routes coming particularly to the YZF airport around the revolving fund. I think that is an ongoing basis, and I think there are great opportunities particularly for the YZF airport.
I will speak to Hay River in short, as I know the Mayor of Hay River has raised this as a concern. I know he has reached out to a couple carriers in specific to try to get them to bring opportunities to Hay River and have a look at it. I believe as the economy in the South Slave picks up with a couple of initiatives that we are looking at moving forward down there, there will be an opportunity maybe for an air carrier to have a better look at it, and the economies of scales will work a little bit better for them. I personally have reached out to one carrier myself, too, to ask them to have a look at the situation in Hay River.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
