Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are directed to the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs in regard to the emergency measures plans we have in place in light of the storm that hit the Beaufort-Delta and Sahtu last week. I think it should be a real eye-opener for ourselves and municipalities and the people that we serve that we are going to see some severe challenges.
I’d just like to ask the Minister, has your department, working through the local governments and the different affected departments, Transportation and also Public Works and Services, and more importantly, NorthwesTel in regard to the effect that this storm has had on not only the communities but the whole service provider, considered forming some sort of a working group to do an assessment of that storm, the effects that it has and what can we do as governments and municipal governments and our service providers face these challenges realizing that this storm is probably something that we will see more of going forward? Is the department in communication with those other groups? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, Mr. Robert McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I blame that lapse of concentration on age. We will continue to monitor and work with the local municipal governments to deal with some of the affects of the storm that has been had on their communities. Obviously, now that this is over, they can go over the situation and see where improvements can be made. But I can commit to the Member that we will see what we can do as a department to do our part and work with the communities to ensure that they are well prepared in the future. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I for one feel that it is critically important that we do formulate some sort of a working relationship with all of the parties that were affected by the storm. Like I say, the winds were clocked at 167 kilometres at James Creek. That was where they knocked out the NorthwesTel communication system which totally knocked out communications in the Beaufort Sea/Mackenzie Delta and even the Sahtu. Also, by road closures and everything else, the cost it is going to take to reopen all of these roads are costs that we weren’t really aware of. I would just like to ask if the Minister can formulate some sort of a working group between those different government agencies and possibly look at consideration of adapting these types of situations to our emergency measures plans.
Mr. Speaker, we have had our share of storms in the past. This seems to be a more common occurrence. It is one that I think communities will have to take steps in addressing. I have always been impressed with the resilience of a lot of communities that are able to dig their way out of a storm immediately after it happens. I will commit to the Member that I will have a discussion with senior management and we will see what we can do about forming a group to take stock of the situation that happened and how we can best be prepared for it in the future. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, also in light of the loss of life in the storm that affected a resident who was lost in Colville Lake. I think also a lot of our residents were stuck or trapped in other locations, either going to Inuvik or basically getting in and out of our communities, where it came so fast people just weren’t able to get back home and they were stranded in a lot of different communities. More importantly, even the airline companies couldn’t get in and out of our communities and the same thing because of the road closures. As part of their review, could they consider the whole response in regards to responding to communities, making them aware that these storms are coming, and work to ensure that we are able to respond to these various storms well ahead of time so that the warnings are out there and people are aware that we are going to be hit by a severe storm? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I will commit to the Member that we will look at all the different situations. In a lot of the smaller communities, I think we rely a lot on the elders that are in there, because they seem to know before anybody else that a storm is coming and they warn folks. I can assure the Member that a warning system could be one of the issues that is looked at by this working group. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This storm will also probably put us straight on financial resources of municipalities, government departments and whatnot. I would like to ask the Minister if he could possibly come back with a cost assessment of what this storm has cost by way of costs to basically not only react to the storm but also the cost to dig ourselves out. The Department of Highways I know were having to put Cats and everything on the roads because graders just couldn’t cut it. I would like to know if the Minister can look at the financial implications of the storm. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we will be able to have a fairly good idea of what it may have cost in the communities themselves and municipal governments to do a lot of the work that happened as a result of the storm. Clearing the snow and that are part of their daily activities that they would take care of after any type of snowfall, but I will do what I can to try and get the numbers as to what it may have cost the municipal governments after this particular storm and relay them on to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
