Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With regard to my Member’s statement, I know I’ve had this discussion with the Minister and he has heard it from the people in the Mackenzie Delta. It was an issue at the Gwich’in Assembly. I’d like to ask the Minister if there is a possibility of ensuring that we have a realistic starting time for ferry operations in the Inuvik region, say 8:00. Right now it runs from 9:30 until 12:30 in the evening. Is there a possibility of moving that clock back to start at 8:00 in the morning and concluding ferry operations, say, at 11:30?
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Of course it is possible. We could have that discussion.
Again, it’s too late for this ferry season to implement such an idea, but I’d like to ask the Minister if it’s possible for us to see the ferry operations for 2010-2011 taken into consideration so that we do bring our times in line with other ferry operations in the Northwest Territories similar to the ferry operation on the Liard River system, to coordinate it so that people know this is the time our ferries operate in the Northwest Territories. When we post it, people will know that they can have a reasonable time to travel and make their connections, and not put a barrier to the travelling public.
We have our ferry program to ease the barriers that are caused by our waterways and other obstacles that challenge us. Of course, there are certain times of year that address this. We have worked with other communities. We recently worked with the community of Wrigley on the Ndulee ferry to change time schedules. It was important for the community to have the ferry operating during daylight hours and it was also a safety issue for our workers, and we came to an agreement on that ferry program. We can certainly talk to the MLA and community members if there is a desire to see the ferry schedule changed.
We are working on trying to change our ferry investment for next year so that the ferry will continue to operate longer into the season, and try to get the ice road up and running while we have a channel allowing our ferry to run. That’s something we’re still working towards.
I believe that we also have to coordinate our efforts with the airport operations and the air carriers. I think that was the problem we ran into in Inuvik. The airlines did move their schedules back, especially First Air and Canadian North. A lot of people fly out on them and a lot of people depend on that connection. Because they changed their schedule halfway through the summer season, it had an effect on the ferry travelling public.
I’d like to ask the Minister if he could somehow work with his department, work with the air carriers and the different communities to ensure we are giving them enough time to get to their connections out of the important regional airports, whether it’s in the North or the South. I’d like to ask the Minister to also take that into consideration when he makes his decision.
There are a couple things, of course, that really challenge us. One is the weather. We don’t have control over that. The other issue, of course, is the carriers are allowed to decide what schedules they want. We can relay the concern that the Member is raising, but outside of that, there’s really little we can do to change flight schedules and things of that nature. However, if there are any concerns, we can certainly pass those on to the carriers.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One thing the Minister does have control over is the time schedule of the ferry operations. I’d like him to seriously consider moving the ferry operations to 8:00 a.m. so that people will have the opportunity to do their work during the day, travel to Inuvik, make their appointment, get back home or even make their appointments to fly into southern Canada. You do have the power, you do have the means; all I ask is that you start the ferry operations in the Inuvik region at 8:00 a.m. starting next season.
We will incorporate the Daylight Savings Time schedule for the ferries. We have already started working on other ferry services to change the hours so that they can take advantage of the daylight that we have, and that, of course, is becoming shorter every day. We also have to take into consideration that there are safety issues. We have to be mindful of ice buildup and we have to be able to have clear visibility at all times. Those things we’ll take into consideration, we’ll talk to the community leaders in the Member’s area and also have an opportunity to connect with the Member himself. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
