Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Infrastructure on the cell service. When will the connections between the communities begin? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from the Deh Cho. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is a situation that we are somewhat dependent or really quite dependent on right now on NorthwesTel. They are our provider of cell services. What we have done in this space is certainly encourage them directly as a stakeholder here in the North but also encourage CRTC to ensure that their funding pots and funding pools are available to provide supports for exactly this service. And, Mr. Speaker, one of the biggest reasons -- or one of the biggest barriers isn't necessarily just the cell towers themselves. It's the lack of energy to actually power those cell towers. So, Mr. Speaker, we've raised these issues both, as I said, with NorthwesTel and CRTC and certainly are hoping that we will continue to see positive responses from them in this space as we have on some other issues that we've raised. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, are there any communication safety alternatives that can be put in place between Fort Providence and Yellowknife and the other communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that actually is an opportunity to raise something that has been changing in the last couple of years where some of the vehicles that are used by the GNWT staff and fleet are installing satellite-based technology in those vehicles. This is not a perfect solution but certainly if folks are finding themselves in need on the highways, our staff now are better placed to actually provide cell coverage. And, Mr. Speaker, there's other opportunities that we may be able to use, again, to set up towers that would be localized at key points. Again, so just to provide at least some emergency services. So happy to speak to the Member more and perhaps there may be specific areas along the way that we could work towards having some emergency locations of that sort. Thank you.
Thank you. Is there a record of traffic incidents on these isolated stretches of highway that lack cell service? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, there is, indeed, and I certainly can get those numbers for the Member. I don't have all different stretches of highway. But I would certainly be able to provide that to this House.
And, Mr. Speaker, I just want to make one more note. There are -- there is a movement in some phone abilities now for people's cell phones to actually connect directly to satellite. I want to say that here because, again, this is an issue that affects residents, and I appreciate the opportunity to bring attention to the fact that people should look at their own new -- the newer cell phones because they may actually have the ability to connect via satellite without a cell tower. So that technology is changing very rapidly and, again, we want to support residents to use what's available for their safety. Thank you.
