Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to ask the Minister of Transportation about the policy about ferry closures at this time of year. It’s very stressful for all the residents that are on the ferry system. I had a couple of calls from residents of Fort Simpson that indicate there was a bit of confusion this year.
I would like to ask the Minister, what policy does the Department of Transportation have for notifying the general public about ferry closures? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. What we use is the average of the last 10 years as a time when we indicate when the ferry will close. The average in the last 10 years on the one ferry, the Liard ferry, was November 3rd, so we advised the public that it would be closed anywhere within 72 hours because we thought that was taking us to November 3rd. However, we try to keep the ferry open as long as possible, as long as it is safe to continue to run, so there may be extensions added to that if the ferry is still running safely across the river. Thank you.
The particular case I’m talking about is Fort Simpson. Apparently, the depth sounder wasn’t working properly, so the staff said, oh look, we have to close tonight. I think that was on Sunday, but the depth sound meter wasn’t working properly. Then the department advised the public and then they opened up the next day for 12 hours on Monday, then Tuesday they said they’re doing daylight hours. It is really confusing for the residents of Fort Simpson and the businesses, so they were quite confused.
Once again I would like to ask the Minister what specifically happened in the case of Fort Simpson ferry closure this year.
That vital piece of equipment that the Member refers to was not working properly at the time. We had that piece of equipment repaired and it started to work. We recognized that the depth was still sufficient to run the ferry, so we extended the ferry operations.
As I indicated, we feel that we try to run the ferry as long as possible so that is why there was a little confusion to try to keep the ferry open, although we indicated earlier that we thought it would be closing sooner. Thank you.
Especially this time of year, of course, I pride the ferry captains and all staff that do everything they can to extend the ferry day by day. But in this case it was the failure of a piece of equipment that confused everybody. Everybody thought definitely that the ferry was being shut down.
Perhaps the Minister can issue a public statement to the residents of Fort Simpson apologizing for the confusion this year, and even with that little simple statement. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I have no problem whatsoever to advise the people in Fort Simpson and apologize for having some failure on the equipment and explain why there was some confusion of the ferry being anticipated to close then extended again. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’m glad that the Minister concurred to that.
Does the Minister feel that there is need to review the policy, or is it just a case where it was a malfunctioning piece of equipment that created the confusion? Thank you.
One of the things we will do for this vital time of the year, I will ensure that the equipment is checked earlier, before it’s needed and to ensure that it’s working. That is one of the things that we will incorporate with that ferry or any ferry that needs a depth sounder to continue to cross the river. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Time for oral questions has expired. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to turn back to item 8 on the orders of the day.
---Unanimous consent denied
