Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to present for your consideration Bill 14, Public Airports Act.

In 1990, the federal government devolved the authority for the smaller airports in the Northwest Territories, also referred to as the Arctic B and C airports, to the territorial government. A similar process transferred the six larger, or Arctic A, airports in 1995.

Since that time, the Government of the Northwest Territories has been operating these public airports through the powers granted by the airport devolution agreements, the Commissioner's airport lands regulations, and the Financial...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we always give first consideration to the local companies in the area. We have done so with the Sahtu contractors. We have also had, actually, several sit-down meetings with a number of the companies. We will continue to do so. The requirement for additional investment is, of course, a concern. We will not be looking at going outside of the region, or we will probably look at a process that will allow us to have northern bidders or an RFP, for that matter. As to additional dollars, we may have to look at moving dollars from another project or...

Mr. Speaker, we are doing an assessment of the gravel needs in the community. Transportation has taken the lead on some of this stuff to provide the stockpiling. I couldn’t tell you right now whether that is going to happen in Tuk this year. We have to do an assessment with all of the different departments and see what their needs are in terms of requirements for this coming fiscal year. I will have to get back to the Member as to if there will be a stockpiling program or not this year. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the community of Tuktoyaktuk and several representatives had talked about the possibility of looking at an option of entering into an agreement to sign a P3 project that would provide gravel to the community on a cost-recovery basis. The first step in doing that was to do an assessment of how much gravel was needed in the community. We’ve done some very conservative estimates. That number is 200,000 cubic metres. That doesn’t include the requirements for erosion control, for the Inuvik-Tuk highway, for other growth in the community. We know there is a...

Madam Chair, I guess this is what we’re trying to resolve here with this new act. We’re trying to put an act in place that will cover a number of acts that we fall under that we’re not clear. In this new legislation, the rules are very clear; they’re spelled out how things should be operating. The duties fall under the airport managers to enforce. If that does not follow through, the appeal process would either go to the deputy minister or myself as a Minister, or whoever the Minister of the day is. The first stop would be through the airport manager, but failing that, of course, is the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s pretty hard to answer when there is no question. I certainly will commit to sitting down with the Member in the next couple of weeks, or as soon as he can arrange with the leadership of the Tlicho, to get together to talk about this issue and see if we can find some resolution to it. Thank you.

Mr. Chair, we believe our rates for leases on airport lands are comparable to what the city leases their lands for. We do an assessment on a five-year basis. Every five years, we have a consultant come on stream. We do an assessment and check the market to see if our rates are comparable. So we are quite comfortable that it is comparable. However, having said that, it should be noted that the service levels are not the same. Our lands are leased out. They don’t have provisions for water and sewer at this point, so the rates could be considered higher on airport lands than they would be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the clearing of access roads to cabins is really clearly outside of the Department of Transportation's mandate. However, we have, in some regions, been able to come to some agreements in areas where there are no other contractors or no construction outfits to come and do that work. I would be pleased to be able to sit down with the Member to talk about the particular roads that he's referencing. There is some flexibility here where if there's a clear demonstration that there is nobody else that can do it, if he can demonstrate that there is a land...

Mr. Chair, this bill will not change the authority of the airport managers. I don’t believe the airport manager is on contract. Our contracts are usually with the maintenance side of the airports. That is the case in Tuktoyaktuk. We just recently put the airport maintenance to public tender. A local company has taken on that responsibility. Our airport manager will have the same authority. In fact, he would have also the responsibility to act as an enforcement officer in the airports that he looks after.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with today being Friday and the weekend, coming up, I want to speak on a subject that's been a problem with the people, especially the youth, across the Northwest Territories for years. That problem, Mr. Speaker, is alcohol and drugs.

We've been battling that problem for years and it goes way back. With the pipeline coming, there's going to be more money, more chances to get alcohol and drugs, and too many families across the North, Mr. Speaker, have buried loved ones because of alcohol and drugs. Start making some good choices; and this is a message to...