Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Transportation some questions on the Buckle Up water prevention campaign. What types of initiatives has his department done to allow or to notify the communities of this campaign? Have there been radio ads or newspaper ads? How do the communities, other than what I am saying this afternoon in the House, possibly know that there is a challenge out there for all of the communities to take up this challenge and win some good prizes? What has the department done to communicate this to the communities in Dene, and French and English?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I really appreciate the Member’s support for the Drive Alive program and other initiatives by the Department of Transportation. We had an excellent safety record in the past 15 months. We look to continue that.
The department views safety as the number one priority. To the Member’s questions, the public awareness campaign distributes safety information through the Internet, through newspapers, radio, television, printed material, audiovisual resources and community activities across the Northwest Territories and will continue to do those types of initiatives so that the public is aware of the campaigns that we have. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, in the Buckle Up program, I mentioned in my Member’s statement that it’s usually for the people who are mostly south of the lake, but I also mentioned that up in the Mackenzie Delta they had Dempster Highway No. 8. Hopefully in the future we will have Inuvik-Tuk highway. They would be part of the campaign on the road there. In the Water Safety Program and the Buckle Up program, in the communities that apply for this program. We need this for the community council, hamlet council, town council or the fire department. They also go up to $1,000 for promotion dollars. When will the Minister be able to tell us when is the closing date and when will the big grand prize winner be known to the people?
Mr. Speaker, DOT coordinates the awareness campaign related to drowning prevention, helmet use and child occupant restraints to support injury prevention. That is our component of the Healthy Choices framework, so we continue to work with communities on establishing those resources. If there are community organizations that want to take part in this and help us spread the message of safety first, we would be more than happy to discuss their participation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Drive Alive program has been a very successful program. It certainly shows in the records. Has this program had any type of appetite from the other provincial jurisdictions that look at the North in terms of leadership and safety on the road, trails and water? Have other governments looked at the North on the Drive Alive program to say this is one good program and we should also be using it on a national level?
Mr. Speaker, on a national level, as the Minister of Transportation I have yet to attend an FPT on road safety or get together with my counterparts from across the country on that, but certainly, when you have zero fatalities on your roads and waterways in 15 months, other jurisdictions will pay attention to that and the public awareness campaigns the GNWT have had have been first rate.
Certainly it is a message we are proud of. It is a story that we are proud of and we continue to get that message out there. We need to ensure that it is summer and people are using lifejackets. If you look in the past 21 out of 23 drowning fatalities here, 21 of them were not wearing a lifejacket. Again, that is a message that has to get out there. When you are in a boat or on the waterways, wear a lifejacket this summer. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In the future, thinking forward and creating some territorial potential on this national campaign, has his department ever looked at a day that they could all celebrate Buckle Up, water prevention day? They do that. They have national days to recognize. Would his department look at something like that? Would a campaign like this be kicked off in the Territories?
Mr. Speaker, that is something that we could look at doing. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
