David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just to clarify – and I thank the Member for his question – was it to replace the Louis Cardinal? Was that the question?

Processes like the EA take some time. I know the economy right now in the Beaufort-Delta isn’t what folks need it to be. We need jobs, we need opportunities there. I believe this project is going to help us deliver on growing the economy in the Beaufort-Delta. Should the project be approved in February-March, we will be able to hopefully move on a couple of sections that are shovel ready, both out of Inuvik and out of Tuk. Hopefully the project itself would commence construction in the fall of next year. That would be the fall of 2013.

Mr. Chair, in the short term I believe we are ready. In the long term, and that is when we look at the development, commercialization, production perhaps going on in the Sahtu, that we are going to be looking at things like the Mackenzie Valley Highway, fibre optic link, the Mackenzie Gas Project, the possibility of another oil pipeline south of Norman Wells. These are all things that are going to be a part of the equation when it comes to the development in the Sahtu.

Certainly, we need to find more money. The Department of Transportation is not alone. When I say that, I was recently at the...

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to congratulate the Department of Transportation for receiving the Silver Award for Innovation from the Institute of Public Administrators of Canada.

Every year the institute recognizes world-class innovators for improving public service in Canada. This year the Department of Transportation is nationally recognized as one of these innovators. This prestigious award acknowledges the hard work of many individuals and provides an opportunity to share the influence of their good ideas with the rest of Canada.

Mr. Speaker, the award recognizes the department’s...

I appreciate the Member’s concern about the runway length in a community like Deline. As he’s referenced, the runway in Deline is almost 4,000 feet. I know when I was on the Regular Members’ side, the Member had brought this concern up a number of times in committee and in the House. Since I became Minister a year ago, I haven’t received a formal proposal from the airline or the community. I’d be more than happy to try to work, like we did in Fort Good Hope, to try to come up with a solution if an extension is required in Deline, to try to find a way to work toward that. But, again, I haven’t...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had the discussion with the Member on a previous request to the department on hours and operation of the parks in the South Slave near the community of Hay River. I’ve also had that discussion with a number of residents here in the North Slave. I’ve also had the discussion recently with the MLA for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses. It certainly is an issue and I think it’s something I’ve committed to looking at, going back to the department and seeing where it’s possible to amend contracts and to allow, weather permitting, parks to be open and operated for longer...

Mr. Speaker, we do have that information. Again, that is very detailed information. We have the Northwest Territories Tourism that provides the marketing for the Northwest Territories. We also have staff here in Yellowknife and in the regions to get to the dollars that are spent specifically on promoting rubber tire traffic to the campgrounds to the Northwest Territories. Again, that is a number that I will get to the Member and break it down by region for the Member as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. The predominant visitation would be in the North Slave region, of course, with Yellowknife. We do have a breakdown of where the numbers come from and I would be more than happy to provide the Member and his committee with those visitor statistics related to campground usage across the territory.

This is fairly new legislation. The numbers that I gave the Member earlier, 30, that doesn’t include the last four or five months. We’ll get updated numbers for the Member.

But it’s like seatbelts. When seatbelts, you know, wearing a seatbelt came into force, it took the public, it took people awhile to put on a seatbelt and wear a seatbelt for safety reasons. Nowadays you do not get into a vehicle and not put a seatbelt on. I do believe that through public awareness, through enforcement, tickets being issued, people losing demerit points, I do believe that as we move forward and the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The latest data that the Department of Transportation has on tickets issued under the distracted driving legislation goes until almost the end of May, and that resulted in 30 tickets being issued. As to the amount of warnings, I’d have to get that number for the Member.