Wally Schumann

As we move forward, I believe this is something, like I said in the House yesterday, it is something we are keeping a close eye on across the country. If this bill passes in the House, we will definitely get back to committee on what is going on and keep everyone informed on where this process is going.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can get back to the Member with the exact details on it, but I can tell him right off the top between medical travel and business and relocation tickets that were out of Yellowknife, it comes to 3.7 per cent of total travel out of Yellowknife. It is roughly over 10,000 flights. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

--- through our public engagement sessions that we have talked about quite a bit this week in the House. To date, we have held public engagement sessions in Norman Wells, Fort Smith, Yellowknife, and Fort Simpson. Next week, we are going to be in my home community of Hay River and we are going to be doing a workshop with the community of Behchoko moving forward. We will be collecting this information and we will be using this to develop our energy strategy moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan moving forward is, yes, we are going to introduce an airport improvement fee into the Yellowknife Airport to help pay for some capital expenditures moving forward. The airline fees typically charge a percentage on these fees across Canada, and it is something that we are keeping a close eye on. As the Member alluded, that is in the news today, and we will see what the outcome is from that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As soon as we pass the budget and pass the Revolving Funds Act, we will be able to address this. Moving forward, we anticipate to collect upwards of $8 million to $9 million extra in revenue per year, offsetting the $4 million that the government already subsidized the airport by, so, with the collection of these new fees, we will be able to invest this money at an opportune time once we move forward.

Yes, we were well aware that this fee was charged when the airlines collect the outbound passengers, so that is the answer.

Mr. Speaker, the Government of the Northwest Territories has made a commitment in its mandate to increase online accessibility to driver and motor vehicle services as well as commercial permitting services. I'd like to tell Members today about work the Department of Transportation has done to fulfill that commitment.

Over the past four years, residents and businesses of the Northwest Territories have been able to access a number of secure online driver and motor vehicle services such as vehicle registration, renewals, driver abstracts, driver testing appointment booking, rescheduling or...

I wish to table the following document entitled “Strategy for Revitalizing the Great Slave Lake Commercial Fishery - March 2017.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Member for bringing that forward. Yes, the Yellowknife Airport has a significant economic benefit to the City of Yellowknife and the residents of the Northwest Territories, with a thousand direct jobs. When we move to this new funding model for how we develop the airport, it has the potential of creating probably tonnes of more jobs. I couldn't give him the exact number. We realize the economic potential that lies there, particularly for the City of Yellowknife. It brings in significant amount of dollars to the community as well as the Northwest Territories.

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Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Member is well aware, we are in early discussions on how we're going to move the climate change framework forward. As the Premier just stated, we are out in community engagement. We have also met with power suppliers in the Northwest Territories and we are reaching out to the mining industry on how we are going to implement this moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.