Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to the issue of barging services in Nunakput riding. Since the GNWT, Mr. Speaker, has taken over barging six years ago, our communities continue to be at risk of barge schedule and weather, and they always run out of supplies in the communities which is costing our community members more to fly in materials off the airplane and whatever is needed.
Mr. Speaker, the barge schedule is set every year. So why are the community resupplies not the first priority to be complete? Why do our communities consistently wait to the end of shipping season and hope their supplies will arrive? The GNWT, Mr. Speaker, is a public servant. We are all public servants that serve the people of the Northwest Territories, and the people of the Northwest Territories should be put first.
This year in Nunakput, communities of Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok that we got barges got in but the month prior to the month and a half prior to that they were flying in flat Pampers because the store shelves were obsolete. They were deleted. And so is the government willing to see if we could do some sort of if the people were to bring back a receipt from airline or something like that to help the residents of those two communities that had great bare expense to try to survive, are they willing to come and work with us to get funding back to the people that had to pay so much?
Mr. Speaker, does the Department of Infrastructure not establish a schedule in collaboration with the communities' leadership when coming up in the next weeks to come. It arrives in the community and meets the needs of the residents.
In October 2018, while shelves in the communities were depleting, MTS cancelled the barge resupply in Paulatuk. This year we're good to catch it. Ice was impassable. The mayor of Paulatuk at the time, the community was never given clear delivery dates besides the original forecast, and the barge arrived early September. And while the barge did not arrive that season, Mr. Speaker, it was late. The residents bore the whole cost of buying supplies for the community. Mr. Speaker, I will have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure at the appropriate time. Thank you.
Thank you, Member for Nunakput. Members' statements. Member for Great Slave.
