Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement regarding the concern of the residents of Wrigley and the impending closure of the Ndulee ferry. As I indicated, my constituents are very concerned. Last year at this time when the ferry closed early, residents were faced with extreme additional costs. This time the residents are asking for an extension to the end of this month, October 31st, only because they have low-income people, pensioners, people on social assistance that want to get out during that time to stock up on groceries for the two to two and a half months the crossing will be closed.
I would like to ask if the Minister of Transportation would give this year’s consideration and what is the plan for the Ndulee ferry at this point?
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve listened very carefully to the Member’s statement, like I always do. I have to point out a couple of things that the Member raised.
First of all, he mentioned that there are new laws restricting the landing of airplanes on the highway. That’s not a new law. That’s something that’s existed for quite some time now.
I’m not sure what gives the Member any indication that we’re pulling out the ferry. There has been no notice that we’ll be pulling out the ferry. The ferry will operate conditions permitting.
I did receive the memo from the Minister that I wrote last week. They did use the date of October 25th, that’s Monday, as a potential date. Residents are concerned because they did get the same message from the Department of Transportation regional office in Fort Simpson. I just want to advise again that the residents have advised me that conditions are good and they don’t see the need for closing October 25th. I would once again, on their behalf, ask the Minister to do everything in his power to see that we can run the ferry until October 31st.
I’m glad the letter referenced the letter that we sent him, because I thought he didn’t get it. In the letter we indicated that the probability would be that the 25th was the date that weather would force us to close by. Weather conditions are what are going to dictate the operation of the ferry.
The ferry historically has run from anytime, or closed anytime from the 19th of October right to November 1st and we’re going to make every effort to keep running. Of course, the weather will dictate how long we can run. Ice conditions, of course, are going to be what’s going to factor in this and decide for us when we have to shut down.
I know that some members of the community of Wrigley and in the area are getting a little excited because there is some work going on at the slipways. That’s all preparation work for when the ferry is due to get pulled out. I wouldn’t translate that as indication that we’re pulling out the ferry anytime right soon.
What type of plan is in place if shutdown is imminent, and how much warning can the community get? I know that sometimes they give 48-hour notice when they shut down in 24 hours. I’d like to ask the department to try to guard against that and try to give the community as much notice as possible. October 31st, if we can get it to that date it will be an extreme benefit to the residents of the community.
Of course, the longer we can run it, the more benefit it will be to the travelling public that utilizes that ferry. We expect that we’re going to have a warm spell here in the next couple of days and that will probably help us with the weather conditions. We still think the 25th is going to be a date that we will probably be challenged with the weather and ice. We will follow normal protocol for notifying the community and the general public. Normally we advertise that there will be periodic closure well in advance, then we start giving the 48- and 24-hour notices that we will be pulling the ferry out. So everybody is aware, we’ll make sure that the Member responsible for this riding is notified along with the community leaders.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
