David Ramsay

Thank you. Depending on the location, teen drivers can either drive to a location where testing occurs, or examiners visit communities on a regular basis. In cases where we don’t have examiners in the community, the testing is based on need and the examiners would go into the community based on need. That’s currently how it works in the smaller communities. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for the question. It’s good timing; this is National Teen Driver Safety Week. We’ve also launched Project Gearshift, which is aimed at getting the types of behaviours and schools engaged in learning about safe practices when it comes to driving.

The Member asked what else we’re doing, and I know that in the Northwest Territories in the past when I grew up here in Yellowknife that we did at one time have driver education in the high schools here in Yellowknife. That’s no longer the case, but students in the high schools here in Yellowknife and in Hay...

Thank you. No, it’s not and we are making every effort to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I can assure Members that I know there are folks out there and the Member wanted to bring some witnesses, but the highway is safe. Highway No. 3 is safe. If you look at the collision rates between 1993 and 2012, collision rates per million vehicles have gone down over half in terms of the volume of collisions on Highway No. 3. I think that means that our highways are safe. We have statistics to back up the fact that there aren’t as many collisions on that road as there were in the ‘90s and that number has been steadily coming down.

The Member seems to… I don’t know if something is...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Member for his questions today. Certainly, the airport at Norman Wells, as I mentioned in response to one of the other Members earlier, we believe it is capable of handling the traffic that it does currently. That’s not to say that it could be impacted further down the road when we see more activity in the Sahtu.

Through the Corridors for Canada plan, we have I believe it’s $15 million earmarked over a few years to look at the development of that airport, specifically commercial development and availability of land for commercial use at the airport. I do...

That bison, to my knowledge, was observed jumping the guardrail and not going across the Texas gate. The Texas gate is utilized across North America as a way of keeping cattle out of an area. It’s certainly something we see a lot of in Alberta and it works. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The issue for the road to the gravel source at Willow Lake is an issue the Member has brought up a number of times in the past. It is something that we continue, as a department, to work with the community. We have funded them in the past for $250,000 through the Community Access Program. We have also helped them develop PDR work on the road itself. We had I believe it was $100,000 toward a study on a bridge crossing. It was expected that that bridge would cost somewhere around $300,000, but it is expected that the bridge on that road alignment would cost about $1...

Thank you. In the almost two years I’ve been Minister, I don’t recall a formal request from the community to expand the airport at Aklavik. If that’s something that predates me, maybe the deputy minister may know something about that.

Thank you. We’ve had a long history of working with industry in the area. We will continue to work with industry so that we can get the requisite investment by industry to enable us to enhance the winter road. Through the Department of Transportation, we’ve done a lot of work on mapping. I know the Member and I drove the winter road last year. There’s a map that’s been developed. We’re improving the road itself, putting in a number of bridges and crossings there.

We will continue to try to improve the safety of that road, not just for industry but for the travelling public, and we continue to...

Mr. Chair, yes. We have a priority to maintain the main highway system here in the NWT. I’m aware of the Member’s request for the department to maintain that access that was previously there prior to the construction and opening of the Deh Cho Bridge last November. We have a letter that is going to be coming to the Member, suggesting that the community look at opportunities through the funding that they have, the Community Opportunities Fund that’s funded on an annual basis by the GNWT, and I had a chance to discuss that letter earlier with the Member.

I will go back to the department and see...