Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to recognize Cindy Jarvis, a resident of Yellowknife. It is her first time in the House today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don't know how many creative ways I can say it to answer this question, but I believe this job has to stay in Yellowknife and I'm committed to keeping it here.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I said earlier in the House today to the Member from Hay River North that this position is based in Yellowknife because it clearly recognizes the importance of being here looking after the broader Northwest Territories, with all the initiatives that are in place in all the different regions in the NWT, and it just totally makes sense to have that job located here in Yellowknife. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have made my position quite clear on this. I want to talk about fishing a little bit because he's talking about fishing. I had just happened to have the opportunity to go to the fish plant last week when I was home. One thing I can say, yes, fishing is a big part of Hay River industry, but the Member from the Beau-Del there, from Mr. Blake, has approached us about doing commercial fishing in Northwest Territories. This is going to have greater implications than just in Hay River, plus we also have money set aside, $1.4 million invested in the Hay River plant as we move forward, if we can...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I've answered this question a number of times already, this is a pan-territorial position that represents all citizens of the Northwest Territories. We have reallocated the position in Hay River that was presently there, away from agriculture, to look after the fishing and agriculture industry to help facilitate that in the South Slave. The position that the Member opposite is referring to is based out of Yellowknife, and it needs to be here to look after the whole Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When we looked at this, the big part of the improvement fees and landing fees for the Yellowknife Airport is to help turn around the operating costs of running the airport. We presently subsidize the airport by $4 million annually, which comes out of general revenue that could help support other initiatives in this House that we believe that we need to move forward; but the big thing with introducing this revolving fund to the Yellowknife Airport, it's also the largest airport in the Northwest Territories. It has 58,000 flights a year that land and come and go from this airport. There are a...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have that level of detail at the top of my head, so I'll have to get back to the Member with that number. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Annual Report to the Legislative Assembly for 2016 under the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The two that we're working on, as I just mentioned, Fort Providence and Aklavik, we'll be working with the communities. We're hoping in the future that we're going to get some more federal funding to commit to do more community energy plans in the future, so we'll be pushing that, but also as part of our energy public engagement that we're doing presently, we are also asking invited participants as well as the public that come to our meetings about the Arctic Energy programs and services and how they can be improved as well. So that's another avenue for people to reach out in the communities...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we are still working on this moving forward. We have drafted a strategy that offers a viable balance and a madeintheNWT approach to advancing oil and gas development in the Northwest Territories. I don't know if the Member has any more questions on it, but we are working on it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.