Debates of March 15, 2018 (day 27)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there are not enough pilots in Canada to meet the demand, and this gap is widening. The effects are being felt across Canada, but, in the NWT, we are disproportionately affected, I would say, because our territory is so large, would have a lack of road infrastructure, and the new rules around pilot fatigue mean more pilots are required to maintain the current flights that we have. Many residents rely heavily on small regional airlines, and those are the type of airlines that have difficulty retaining pilots because they are being poached by the bigger companies who can offer more. The NWT has become sort of a training ground for pilots where young pilots might come in and then leave, so the pilots are also more inexperienced. I have heard that the big companies are hiring entire classes of pilots and instructors. You know, it does not look well for the future.

In Hay River, we would like to see more flights in and out of there so we can get some competition and lower the prices, but this pilot shortage is making that even more difficult. So, because the Minister of Education is responsible for labour and training, I have some questions for him. First, I would like to ask: has the department identified this as an issue? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know, not too long ago in the Yukon government, they looked at creating some type of training school for pilots. The Member is correct. We do have a shortage of pilots throughout all of Canada, and, when our pilots here, in the Northwest Territories, are getting approached by big airlines, it does become a concern for residents. As well, as he mentioned, a lot of us are connected by the airlines. We have had initial discussions with one of our airlines here, in the North, but that is all it is right now, just initial discussions on how we can move forward in creating some type of partnership or training for pilots, a pilot school here, in the Northwest Territories. We will continue to keep Members updated as this moves on because I do know that the Yukon has really jumped into this, and we want to follow suit because we do have a very vast region here, in the Northwest Territories, and we do need to get to our communities.

That is great to hear. I have gotten a couple of good answers from the Minister today. I was talking to someone yesterday, and one of their relatives wants to go to flight school, but it's, I think it was, $90,000 a year. You know, it's pretty cost-prohibitive, so I am glad to see that the department is taking these steps. I know it's early days, but does the Minister have a timeline when we can expect an update on the progress of this?

As I mentioned in my earlier response, we just had initial discussions. That is where it is right now. I do believe my colleague the Minister of Infrastructure has sent a letter of concern to his federal counterpart about some of these concerns with pilots and concerns that the Member has brought up here today. We will keep Members apprised of how this progresses as we have these discussions.

I guess it is very early, but is this something the government would look at partnering with a local airline on? Is the government willing to look at providing funding to get this school started?

We do not really have the full details in line right now. As this progresses, as the work progresses with one of these northern airlines, we will see what kind of response we get back from the federal government. We will have a better idea of what everybody's role is in this and what our role will be as a government. Until then, we really do not know until we get more details.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.