I’d like to ask questions to the Minister of Transportation in terms of transportation issues in the Sahtu. I would ask the Minister if he’s had any type of discussions with the request for additional runway lengths in Fort Good Hope and Deline. I know this is a pressing issue for the two communities and the airline that’s located in the Sahtu in terms of the benefits of having additional runways. We appreciate the additional length of paving to 900 feet, but I think they’re asking for an extra 500 to 1,000 feet. Can the Minister confirm in the House and for the people in the Sahtu in terms of this type of inquiry being imposed to his department from these two communities and the airline?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can assure the Member that we did have discussions. In fact, he was there. We certainly did engage in some discussion with the communities about runway length. This has been an ongoing issue for some time and we have not had any further discussion prior to the ones we had where the Member was in attendance. We have received some correspondence since then. We have made some commitments to do some further investigation and we were not able to engage for several months. Since then we have received information in written form and we will be responding to them.
Certainly through the memberships and we certainly appreciate the time and records that the department has gone out of its way to assist the two communities. We want to ask, in this type of discussion here, when the department, in terms of responding to the additional requests of the two runways, specifically Fort Good Hope and Deline, in terms of additional runway requirement lengths that they’re asking for. Because we’ve already talked about some partnerships and we are looking forward to this department to respond in a positive way that will see a benefit in terms of stimulating the economy in the Sahtu region.
Apparently a response to that letter to us is being drafted as we speak. We will be reinstating a number of issues that we had discussed. There has, however, not been any further discussions, as we had agreed to have our technical people sit down and explore what the options are out there. We still have the same concerns about extending the runway further than the 3,900 feet. It will cost a lot more. We haven’t explored to see how much that is, but it’s in the millions of dollars. There are other issues that come as a result of that, and we wanted to have an opportunity for our people to work together with the Sahtu communities to talk about that and see if there are any opportunities for partnerships or arrangements. We wanted to find out that there is very limited opportunity to find additional resources and have that discussion also. We haven’t had opportunity, since this new year has started, to sit down with the people from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The time for question period has expired. I will allow the Member a short supplementary question. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That was the essence of us having some further discussions. I look forward to a commitment from this Minister to direct his department to start making arrangements with the people in the Sahtu in terms of partnership business proposals, ideas in terms of how can we seek additional dollars to extend these two runways in the region. Because once you do that, you will see enhanced service in terms of aircraft and...
Do you have a final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya?
Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit to all these good reasons why we should have a meeting ASAP?
Mr. Speaker, I’d like to point out that in order for us to have meetings, we need both parties to engage. We had agreement already. We waited seven months. Our technical people were not able to coordinate their schedules. It’s difficult. We have to make decisions. We have to plan our budgets. We have to be able to sit down and look at the realistic challenges and see how we can overcome, before we can start planning anything. If there’s still desire from the communities we had talked to, I would be happy to meet with them.
