Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to talk about airports, but the real airports that are important to the people in the North and have the ability to medevac people out of our communities so that we can medevac them to Edmonton where, basically, those requirements are essential.
Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation is improving the access to communities by extending airports up to 4,000 feet in Fort Good Hope, Tulita, Fort McPherson and also in other communities that have been identified. Mr. Speaker, the whole reason for that is to mitigate aircraft weight consistency imposed by new federal regulations. Again, these runway extensions are essential to community services and, more importantly, improving access to communities by reducing the cost of living.
Mr. Speaker, in regard to the situation of Aklavik, basically this issue has come to light and the community is requesting when is the community of Aklavik going to have their opportunity to have their airport extended up to the 4,000 feet, which is basically now in federal regulations. I’d like to ask the Minister when is the community of Aklavik’s airport going to be extended to 4,000 feet in the upcoming years. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The 2010 rule on aircraft specifies the landing and take-off approaches that need to be addressed on a number of airports and they apply to a certain type of category. In this case, there are 74 community category aircraft. We had done a study in the last government to review the runway issues across the NWT. We use that as a basis and a guide to improve the runway lengths. A number of communities, Fort Good Hope, Tulita and Fort McPherson and in the case of Aklavik, the runway is 3,000 feet and the aircraft that is being utilized in the community meets the 2010 rule. So there is no issue and our runway study that we did in the last government also indicated that the airport in Aklavik was sufficient and did not need to be extended. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, my understanding of the regulation is that because of the specific types of aircraft that are used in the communities for different reasons, regardless if it is for medevacs or basically moving goods and services, such as DC-3s, Beech aircraft and, more importantly, the ability to reduce the costs of our communities so that they can bring in larger aircraft into those communities. Right now, the majority of the aircraft that does serve the community of Aklavik is basically the 207, which is a Cessna single engine aircraft. Again, the community would like to see an improvement on the aircraft that is being used. More importantly, to ensure that they also aren’t going to be told, sorry, you can’t fly that type of aircraft in there. If anything, all of our airports should be brought up to a certain standard such as 4,000 feet. Again, why are we excluding Aklavik from that proposal, yet we are putting airport extensions up to 4,000 feet in other communities?
Mr. Speaker, the study that we undertook and the results that we used as a guide did not indicate that there was any demand for a larger 20-seat aircraft to go into the community of Aklavik. That is what the 2010 rule would affect. Those would be the larger planes carrying 10 to 19 passengers, such as the Beech 1900D and the Metroliner and others. Mr. Speaker, that is the reason we didn’t look at extending the airport at Aklavik. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, this again has become a political issue for the community of Aklavik. I would like to ask the Minister if he can accommodate myself in going to the community and have a debate on this issue with the community. I think it is critical that the community formulate these partnerships with communities like they are in Fort Good Hope where they are extending the airport for another 500 feet with a joint submission by both the community corporation and the Department of Transportation. Knowing that these things are happening in other communities, why is the government not open to allowing the same practice to be done in other communities and allow those communities to work with the department to basically allow us to have more modern aircraft flying in there? It is North-Wright Air that is having the same problems in the Sahtu with their arguments. That is the airline that is flying into Aklavik. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I must have spent at least two weeks of this summer in Aklavik. The issue was not raised to me about aircraft types and runway lengths. I would be very hesitant to say I would commit to going back into the community when I was there for quite a few days over the summer.
Mr. Speaker, the current type of aircraft that is flying in there for charter or sched services is the Cessna 207. The airport meets the demands for that. There is really no demand identified for the larger type of aircraft. The medevacs are done with King Air. The airport is adequate to meet that demand. I would really at this point be hard pressed to be convinced that we should start looking and putting more money in the capital budget for an extension to the airport. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I would like to formally invite the Minister in. We can do our arm twisting in the community of Aklavik with the community members in a public forum and at that time we can have that discussion.
I have been getting calls from the media on this issue which they are being... This issue did come up at the meeting in Aklavik. I would just like to put that request to the Minister so that way we can basically allow the community to raise the issue with us formally and basically deal with the options going forward. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, the Member has already twisted my arm on several occasions on other issues. We have commitments to meet with the leadership over the next while. I would be glad to put this subject on the table for discussion, whether it means going into Aklavik or someplace in the Delta, or if the leadership is in town here, I would commit to meet with them on the subject and have the discussion whether it is something that is warranted. We would also, of course, have to spell out our fiscal realities and look at what the demand is for that airport. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
