Mr. Speaker, my question today will be to the Minister of Transportation, and it refers back to my Member’s statement regarding the airport issue and parking.

It may sound like a silly issue to raise, but this has been a problem over a long time. The fact is that we’re losing probably hundreds of thousands of dollars out there because no one’s charging for any parking whatsoever. That’s the fact. On the one hand, we have budget cuts because we can’t seem to raise enough money. We have to find ways. Yet on the other hand, we’re wasting or foregoing potential revenue that could be going somewhere...

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 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...

Well, Mr. Speaker, that was the best answer I’ve heard all day from this Minister on this project. I’m really glad to hear that maybe he’s coming around to wanting to actually discuss this.

So, Mr. Speaker, the fact is that I want to make absolutely clear, even to the Member on this side of the House for Mackenzie Delta, that I’m not against the project in any way; it’s the process, Mr. Speaker.

I still have concerns that the process is not fair, because I would be surprised that anyone applying through this RFP process was made aware that “By the way, one of your competitors actually wrote all...

Mr. Speaker, we seem to continue to dance around the fact that when you write a letter and you say, “We regret to inform you, you didn’t get it,” that leaves us one option: the other group. Unless you’re cancelling the whole project, maybe….

Or maybe that’s the issue: the Minister has decided to sole-source it to an Abbotsford, B.C., company. Maybe that’s the problem. I’ve been asking the wrong question.

Are you sole-sourcing this project to the Abbotsford, B.C., company, without giving the Northern company — the one that’s done these types of jobs for years — a chance to do the job where they...

Mr. Speaker, the Minister keeps pretending that a contract isn’t being awarded — or isn’t in the process of being awarded — to this Abbotsford company. The fact is, it’s in the process of being done.

Let’s put semantics away and say, “Look, just because the t’s haven’t been crossed and the i’s haven’t been dotted, the fact is, it is going to this,” because it’s not going to the Northern firm, which could do this project.

Could the Minister explain to this House, or assure this House — and, certainly, demonstrate to this House — how this Abbotsford, B.C., company didn’t play a special role to...