David Ramsay

That is with the program review office and that continues to be a question of where do we want to take that. Certainly, if there’s some political direction on what happens with an airport authority here in Yellowknife, that’s something we look forward to input from Members on their thoughts on an airport authority here in Yellowknife. Thank you.

I could find out which document it is, but it’s always been a federal responsibility here in the Northwest Territories. We’ll try to find that document for the Member.

I believe it would just be through commitment and willingness to take on that agreement.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We have done a benefit analysis. We could look at getting that for the Member and other Members as well. The Member is correct; there are a number of those benefits and they have to be quantified. We’d certainly like to help get that information to the Members.

Mr. Speaker, that would be pages 9 and 10 of the briefing that was provided, the deck that was provided to the committee. The Member is well aware of what the risks are. We laid them all out on the table two weeks ago.

As the project moves forward, we will continue to lay out the risks associated with this project. For a project that’s close to $300 million, there will be some risks. Thank you.

We continue to work toward a business case, and I think that’s where we’re trying to get to. This is discussed in the Airport Development Plan. It outlines what the Member is talking about today. As far as planning, a lot of that would take place under corporate services or the commercial development section of the airports division, so that money the Member talks about would be contained in those units inside the department. But, again, we have to get a business case to make something like this happen.

Dredging remains a responsibility of the federal government. I see our role as being one that continues to push the federal government to reinstate a program like they had prior to 1994 when they had a multi-million dollar dredging program here in the Northwest Territories. As I mentioned to the Member earlier, even a small-scale dredging program is going to cost somewhere between $2 million and $3 million. Full-scale, you’re looking at probably $12 million to $15 million for a full-scale dredging program. Those are capital dollars that today we just do not have, and again, it’s not currently...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As far as we know, the sale is moving forward. There were some legal issues earlier on but, for all intents and purposes, the sale is progressing. We have recently met with Harry Winston, soon to be Dominion Diamond Mining, and we wish them well in their pursuits in the Northwest Territories.

Thank you. The Inuvik-Tuk ice road and the road to Aklavik, together they’re about $2 million. So we’re going to save about $800,000 in putting that ice road in between Inuvik and Tuk. It’s about $800,000. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for her statement and questions today in the House. I think it’s a great opportunity, not only for Hay River but for the Northwest Territories, and if we can plug in the tourism angle, and arts and crafts, and a number of other things around the territory into that channel in promoting the Northwest Territories, I think that’s a good initiative. We’d be more than happy, at ITI, to sit down with the Member and see what support the community needs to have a staff person located there to maximize our opportunities through that channel. Thank you.