David Ramsay

Yes, I would like to, at the earliest opportunity, get a chance to meet with community leaders in regard to the Willow River access road in Aklavik, and going forward we do have to find a way to get some further funding into Willow River access road program. The community can avail itself of accessing the Community Access Road Program that they have in the past. So that opportunity is still available to the community. We’re also hoping with the new Building Canada Plan that communities across the Northwest Territories will have opportunities for additional funding programs to look at programs...

Mr. Speaker, fundamental to all this is a diversified economy here in the Northwest Territories. It’s great news that the federal government has approved Gahcho Kue, and that will be very beneficial for the territory and the North Slave region.

There are opportunities elsewhere in this territory. The government has done a lot of work in advancing the Economic Opportunities Strategy where we’re going to talk about how we’re going to diversify the economy with agriculture, forestry, fishing and also tourism. This is an opportunity that’s before us, it’s something we can plan for, it’s something...

Mr. Speaker, we have to just continue with developing industry best practices when it comes to developing the resources that we have here in the Northwest Territories. I think that will bode well for us.

There has been a lot of research done on the integrity of wells that have been drilled and fracked. Again, I think it all comes down to putting the facts on the table. I know the United States government has done a great deal of work in that regard in trying to identify any contamination of groundwater from the drilling and fracturing of wells. I don’t believe in a million wells that were...

Mr. Speaker, responsible oil and gas development has the potential to grow and diversify the Northwest Territories economy, and help create a sustainable, prosperous territory. Nowhere has this reality been more apparent than in the Sahtu region. There is a lot to learn when it comes to ensuring our residents are prepared for rapid development, and any development continues to minimize environmental and social impacts. Today I would like to share the lessons learned during a recent trip to the Bakken oil formation in Saskatchewan and North Dakota.

I recently led a tour of the Bakken oil...

We’re going to keep all of our options open, and again, I think this will certainly become much clearer as we get closer to April 1st next year.

Thank you. A lot of this remains undecided today. However, my belief is that we need to be making decisions here in the Northwest Territories related to the development of our own resources and we’ll see where we get with the discussions.

Thank you. When it comes to the safety of our teens and youth here in the Northwest Territories, we’re always willing to talk with anyone, and I certainly will have the discussion with the Minister of ECE on this. We have to look at the high rates of preventable collisions, injuries and fatalities amongst our young drivers. For now, our focus is going to be on Project Gearshift and opportunities to get professional driver training into other high schools around the Northwest Territories and to young people who need that necessary training to get their driver’s licence. Thank you.

I don’t have the parameters that the Member wants, but I’ll give him the stats in the House, the stats that I do have. Yes, there is regional disparity in that. The number of young drivers, youth that have a Class 7, a probationary Class 5, or a Class 5 licence among youth aged 15 to 24 is the parameter that we have, if you look at Yellowknife, Hay River and Fort Smith, 67 percent of youth 15 to 24 have one of those three types of drivers’ licences. If you get outside of those three centres, that number drops to only 33 percent and it is something, through this work that we’re doing with...

Yes, at the earliest opportunity in the schedule, we can work out the schedule, but as soon as my schedule permits, I’d be more than happy to visit the communities in the Mackenzie Delta. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In respect to training opportunities for communities in the Mackenzie Delta, I would expect there would be training opportunities as a result of the Inuvik-Tuk highway.

In regard to the Willow River access road, we still haven’t got the funds earmarked for the Willow River access road. So without any funding for the construction of that road or advancing that road project, there would be no training opportunities. Thank you.