Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, we have to make sure that we identify the difference between what happened over the weekend with the high winds and what’s been happening on the days that we have warm temperatures at the Inuvik Airport.

This weekend, as the Member is indicating, there were a lot of cancellation of flights. We have no control over that. The runway was dry, the runway was extremely good for landing conditions, it was as a result of the high winds. The airport was open and there was no concern over the staff hours at that point.

If there is an issue that the Member is wanting us to address over and...

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure where the Member is getting the indication that we are not allowing our people to work overtime. We provide all the resources to ensure that the aircraft that can land, that we have the right landing conditions. This year and over the last three years, we have been challenged with conditions that reduce the friction. That concerns the carriers. We have tried all types of methods to improve that. We have utilized our resources a lot more than we did historically, including the use of sand. We have tripled the amount of sand that we use on this airport. We certainly...

I’d have to confirm, but I believe it would require changing the Motor Vehicles Act. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t believe we have any legislation that will allow a judge to order an ignition interlock on vehicles at this point. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we certainly can look at the condition of the road and provide what was targeted for investment for that section. Mr. Speaker, in the Member’s statement he indicated that there were bathtub-sized holes in the road. He forgets I also drive on that road on occasion and I have never seen a bathtub-sized pothole on Highway No. 7. That’s not to say that it has its challenges, especially in the spring, and we’re probably going to be hearing a lot more as we move into the spring thaw and the condition of this road deteriorates and we have huge issues. It’s going to warrant further...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is right; we have had a lot of discussion on this issue and I’m surprised he’s back requesting information again, with a little more drama this time. Mr. Speaker, we have budgeted $12 million for a three-year period for Highway No. 7. We have done a lot of the work that we have indicated. There is still a lot of work that has to be done. Some of the geo-assessments have been done. The survey work has been done for the most part. We can provide that to the Member in writing. I believe we had this same discussion when we dealt with our capital budget, Mr...

We certainly can undertake to do what the Member has requested. There are serious challenges, of course, as to what the mines or exploration companies are going to be doing and that would be something we’d have to have a lot better information. We also would be challenged as to how we would pay for such a road that the Member is suggesting. Those things have to be looked at. I don’t have any problem directing our staff to start having those discussions with communities. There may be other routes that haven’t been considered yet and we’d like to look at that, if we can get that time to discuss...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Constructing a winter road into Lutselk’e is not something that we have on our capital plan at this point. We’d have to have further discussion as to routes that the Member or the community is considering and the rationale behind it.

Mr. Chairman, as I indicated, all of our summer purchases are done and have been delivered. Most of our winter supply is in the communities. We are not very concerned at this point with the prices up to now. We have a fairly good reserve in the tanks in Inuvik. That will help us offset some of the future costs. Right now it is difficult to predict what our summer purchases will come in at. I would expect, as the Member has indicated, that it will come in a lot higher. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, we are just looking to confirm that number at this point. Mr. Chairman, with the current budget and what was approved in our capital budget, we believe $8 million is the total amount.