Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Speaker, again, the town will be very appreciative of the response here. In terms of this situation here, can I ask the Minister in terms of instructing his officials when they do meet with us, what constitutes emergency measures such as a situation like this with Norman Wells? Does this type of funding that the town is requesting fit in some type of policy that constitutes an emergency for this situation?

Mr. Speaker, the town of Norman Wells only did what any other community would have done to save its sewer plant, water intake plant. Certainly we would support the Minister in terms of going forward with the Building Canada Plan in terms of the projects. What is the status of these BCP projects in terms of 2009-10 with this government?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Norman Wells has the smallest population of any tax-based municipality in the Northwest Territories. Located on a very large river, in the spring when the Mackenzie breaks up, ice jams cause flooding and shore lands can be battered.

Since its construction about 70 years ago, the town’s water treatment plant and macerator building have been at risk of ice damage and flooding and possible demolition of these very important buildings. The council requests funding from MACA to cover costs of a breakwater or seawall. The town thought the costs would come from the...

Mr. Speaker, the challenges that we have in our region is the short construction period by the time the materials get to our region. Again, in terms of going forward, if the people from the Sahtu could somehow sit down with the district office and list some of the concerns from the 2008 Auditor General’s Report -- the inspection, the construction, the material -- this would be very beneficial to the corporation. Again, I would ask the Minister in his reviewing of this budget, would he be able to get the leaders and people from the Sahtu to sit down in the district office and say this is how we...

I thank the Minister for his comments in terms of specifically recognizing that there certainly needs to be work done on the signage on our winter roads. I would even go to the extent that if the sign structure division can give some of these dollars to our region in terms of having the contractors do the work in our regions. These contractors put on these winter roads know the roads very well. They’re very well experienced. They know the terrain of our land. They know how to put these signs in and, provided that they’re given the proper resources and equipment to put these signs up properly...

Certainly the Minister is correct in terms of some discussions that have happened with the communities and North-Wright regarding solutions on this issue. We feel in the Sahtu that we’re going to pay if we don’t have those runways extended to the length that we would see benefitting the communities.

The Minister has referred to additional costs and that if we go to a different length of runway it means a higher category. The people in the Sahtu already pay high prices for their airline tickets. They use the small aircraft in those dangerous mountains, with respect to the weather, the terrain...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Can the Minister just explain the very complicated issue here of a point that he brought up in his discussions with Mr. Krutko regarding Transport Canada’s 2010 ruling on certain airports in the Northwest Territories? We have an issue in the Sahtu with this ruling, especially from an airline in our community that has partnerships with the two communities in my region. Can the Minister give an explanation on this very important rule and what this will mean in terms of the impacts on aircraft carriers’ business points of view?

Mr. Speaker, I didn’t mean to put the Minister in the position of speculating, but clearly, Mr. Speaker, when the panel comes together in June, the panel will have some very concrete ideas as to where we could go in terms of what does it take to maybe implement a two-rate hydro zone or electric diesel zone in terms of rates on our electricity. Certainly we went through the Public Utilities Board for the general rate application process. So there are some things we could do right away in terms of reducing the cost of energy in our communities. Again, I am asking for some, maybe a broader...

Thank you, Minister, in terms of the disadvantages, the way I look at it is that the energy panel really has a lot of money in terms of putting together facts and information. The communities would have very little money. Even the Minister has said that the business communities have to pay their way, so I see that they’re disadvantaged in terms of how this process will be. However, again, I would ask if the Minister would continue to look for other avenues where the communities can be properly funded to have a meaningful consultation. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the communities are at somewhat of a disadvantage because, and I’m not too sure if there are any resources available to them for research information in terms of the rates in terms of the suggestions they may come forward with. The panel may have all the research available to them, but do the communities have some type of a fund available to them to do their own research in terms of looking at some solutions that may be brought up through these consultations?