Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on Fridays I tend to like to keep my statements light so today I'm going to speak about airships, also known as blimps, dirigibles, or zeppelins, but of course they are not made from lead.
Airships or aerostats are aircrafts that gain lift using buoyant or lighterthanair gas that can navigate under its own power and must be tethered to the ground. A hot air balloon is an example of an airship. Early airships utilized hydrogen gas to produce lift however after the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 when 35 people lost their lives, airships have transitioned to using the inert nonflammable helium gas.
In the North, we rely heavily on seasonal ice roads to move goods and supplies to our most remote communities. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent over the past 40 years on melting infrastructure to connect our people. By not investing this money into permanent infrastructure, we now find ourselves in a state of peril as the uncertainty of climate change wreaks havoc on the extremely sensitive ice. The vast geographic landscape of the North is rich in resources, couple this with a lack of transportation corridors and isolated communities, and the Northwest Territories may be a place to consider airships for our future needs.
Airships may prove to be cost beneficial over traditional transportation methods such as building and maintaining roads, as well as landing strip infrastructure is not required furthering savings.
Possible applications for airships in the North could include passenger and cargo transportation, firefighting and emergency relief efforts, telecommunications, tourism, and geographical monitoring and surveying.
Airships can provide an environmental benefit. Under certain conditions, airships can have better emission levels than traditional overland travel methods while having a lesser impact on local wildlife and terrain. Airships also have a much higher fuel efficiency than conventional heavierthanair aircraft and an airship produces 80 to 90 percent fewer emissions than a conventional airplane.
In May, I will be presenting virtually at the 2022 Aviation Innovations Airship Conference being held in Montreal. Delegates are interested to learn more about how the NWT deals with our transportation issues, including our melting infrastructure. They've asked me to speak on my experience as an ice engineer and consultant in the North and the challenges we face. It is my hope that this will help to inform those who may be interested in collaborating with the GNWT in this interesting and exciting area of air transportation. And Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that my thoughts are with the people of the Ukraine and their families here in Canada. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Great Slave. Members' statements. Member for Hay River South.
