Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today it was regarding the trouble that we have been having in Inuvik at the airport with the aircraft not being able to land due to high winds and the friction. Mr. Speaker, will the government allocate resources to enhance the airports to develop operating systems that will lead the world in Arctic aviation in regards to airport runways? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I personally take full responsibility of all the issues that come forward on our projects on any of our operations. However, I certainly can’t control the weather that has been posing a lot of challenges to us. Mr. Speaker, this weekend we had a number of flights cancelled, as the Member indicated. We had a total of six flights that were scheduled to go into the community of Inuvik. Only one aircraft was able to land. It was not due to runway conditions. It was due to the high winds that we experienced over the weekend, especially in the Beaufort-Delta.
Mr. Speaker, is the Minister able to get us some starting staff and paying maybe a little bit of overtime to start getting the sweepers out at seven o’clock in the morning instead of eight, to make sure that runway is open so the planes could land? It wasn’t only the high winds and the cross-winds. The friction on the aircraft, the weight and balance issues, Mr. Speaker. Is it possible to get the Minister to let the department in Inuvik at the airport start at an earlier time? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am not sure where the Member is getting the indication that we are not allowing our people to work overtime. We provide all the resources to ensure that the aircraft that can land, that we have the right landing conditions. This year and over the last three years, we have been challenged with conditions that reduce the friction. That concerns the carriers. We have tried all types of methods to improve that. We have utilized our resources a lot more than we did historically, including the use of sand. We have tripled the amount of sand that we use on this airport. We certainly need to revisit the challenges that are being brought forward by climate change, where we have conditions of unusually warm weather followed by a decrease and a drop in temperature that freezes the moisture that is on the runways. That may be a requirement for us to look at using rather than sand and dry chemicals. We may have to look at de-icing through liquid form. We are trying to address the issue. There are challenges in doing so. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, why is it we are getting so much frost on the runway? I heard reports. It is not only the condensation. Are there any chemicals that were put on there by the Canadian military regarding the CF-18s? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, all the information points to the issues being brought forward by climate change. We had zero degrees temperature for several days followed by extreme cold in that area. We have this year applied 230 tonnes of sand where historically we have provided 50. You can tell that there are some challenges in dealing with ice conditions. We need to look at what are the jurisdictions doing and including some testing of our own to try to address the issue as we feel that this is going to be an ongoing issue occurring every year. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You know that having that airport open 24 hours a day is a main key to the Beaufort-Delta in regards to the communities of Inuvik and all the surrounding communities because of the air medevacs and the jet service and that not having any flights per day causes havoc. We had over 200 people stranded in Inuvik. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister commit to me today to talking to the department regional superintendent in Inuvik to see what we can do if they have to start early, and is he willing to do that in regards to getting a commitment from him? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, we have to make sure that we identify the difference between what happened over the weekend with the high winds and what’s been happening on the days that we have warm temperatures at the Inuvik Airport.
This weekend, as the Member is indicating, there were a lot of cancellation of flights. We have no control over that. The runway was dry, the runway was extremely good for landing conditions, it was as a result of the high winds. The airport was open and there was no concern over the staff hours at that point.
If there is an issue that the Member is wanting us to address over and above what we’re doing, we’d be glad to sit down and talk about the circumstances. We provide overtime, we provide materials, we have provided a lot of extra this year and we’ll continue to do so. We’ve committed to meet with the municipality, the town council in Inuvik and we will continue to have our staff available for discussion on this issue. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
