Kevin A. Menicoche

Mr. Speaker…(English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, I’m very proud to be the choice for my riding, Nahendeh, once again, and I wish to thank my constituents for their confidence and giving me the honour and privilege of serving once again. There are many roles that we can serve in our Assembly, but above all we serve our constituents to make a difference to their lives and to make a difference to our communities.

Before I really get to work, Mr. Speaker, I want to use this time to be grateful. I would like to, first of all, thank my campaign team, my campaign manager back home in Fort Simpson...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to say that right now DOT has no immediate plans to be extending any runways in the NWT, but we do have several runway extensions identified within our current 20-year needs assessment. I just want to add, Mr. Speaker, that the longer runways have been suggested as a solution for supporting air carriers, existing planes. The theory is that a longer runway will allow the aircraft to meet the requirements in all situations is incorrect. Longer runways will not solve aircraft performance requirement problems, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; the department has undertaken a student to look at all the airport runways in our communities, to look at the length and as well as the 2010 new CATSA requirement for runway lights there, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’m probably going to have to get into some level of detail here for the Member. He’s well aware of the challenges we’ve had with the ILA and fees and royalty structures in that particular regime. The permitting process necessary for constructing the road from Tuktoyaktuk to source 177 is the application submission will have to have the royalty fees associated with that permit attached. Our estimates, based on the length of the road and the land around the source that we need, runs about $3 million, Mr. Speaker. That’s something of a huge issue for us as...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Transportation has ongoing discussions with ILA to discuss permitting and fees associated with an application to access lands in ILA. Mahsi.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. In my one year as a Minister, I’ve learned quite a bit and that bureaucracy has a lot to play with here too. I would also like to share my funny story. My first act as a Minister in this government was to sign a letter to Mr. Kevin Menicoche, MLA for Nahendeh.

---Laughter

I said, well, what’s going on and they told me that I have to finish a loop. But I, too, would just like to say goodbye to Mr. Handley, Mr. Dent and Mr. Bell, who I’ve had the honour and pleasure of working with and wish them the best on their endeavours. As well, to Mr. Braden who I’ve...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to say that we’re not not doing anything, Mr. Speaker.

---Laughter

At the Member’s request, we’ve undertaken and pressed forward with this runway extension study. It’s something that we’re looking at. We’re looking at the 2010 regulations as part of the study to see how much of an impact the requirements of the 2010 will actually have, then, thirdly, to identify which communities will require these extensions and work forward to a plan to move towards it, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I believe all our communities have runways, so I don’t know what the Member is talking about. The existing runways aren’t impacting any current movement of our freight and transportation of people there, Mr. Speaker, but the runway issue study is to identify the need for extensions in the communities that may have shorter runways and requirements for the 2010 CATSA requirements for longer runways. It is going to have an impact upon our government, Mr. Speaker. We’re looking at potentially 16 runways right now and it’s estimated between 44 to 170 million...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with the Member that that is not the case. We are continually negotiating and having discussion with ILA to discuss the permitting fees and the permitting to access the route for source 177. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we did not hand any application over to the ILA office. Thank you.