Vince McKay

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. We continually work with partners, including DND in communicating the status of the project. I'm quite certain they're aware of the issues with the ground and the problems that we're having with that, just to settle it. So, yeah, the department works with the Department of National Defence and communicates with them the status of this project and, you know, the path forward. With regards to the town of Inuvik, I'll have to find out from the department of what communication has been sent to the town of Inuvik in regards to that. I'm not 100 percent sure on that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, so the Department of Infrastructure has been working closely with their partners to complete this project at the Inuvik airport. This is a strategic airport, as the Member stated, for the Northwest Territories for numerous reasons, and also the interest of DND. So, yeah, we continue to work on the runway extension and work with our partners to the interests of the area, and we'll continue to work with them to complete this project as it is an important project for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'm not entirely sure about the timeline on updating the policy or those guidelines. But what I could do is, again, reach out to the department and see what the plans are for them. However, we do follow the -- the communities do have to follow numerous guidelines when it comes to operating a landfill. Part of it is having a water license which goes through Wek'èezhìi Water Board in the Tlicho region, but in the other communities it's Northwest Territories Land and Water Board. Yeah, and the other thing to this is if there's any concerns about any spills or any...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That I wouldn't know offhand. There's a lot of detail behind that question. However, what we can do is reach out and see how the community landfills are established. I know some of them are established on a clay base, not necessarily a liner. So I can reach out -- we can get the department to reach out to the -- they might even know but I don't have that detailed answer here. One of the things that I will say is that a lot of the landfills are -- actually all of the landfills are community-base operated, so they're operated by the community governments so they would be...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yeah, so there is some delay to the previous commitment of paving. However, as the Member's probably aware, the ground in the area is built on permafrost and so is that runway. So what the department is actually waiting for is an opportunity for that ground to settle as much as it can before they start doing a lot of the paving. The problem is, is right now it's moved actually quite a bit in certain areas. In the last -- from last fall until now, there's been some area of movement of up to a foot. So in order to bring that up to grade, they would have to fill that in...

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. There's quite a bit of work being done on Highway No. 4. There's a widening, there's culverts being installed, improved drainage. So general maintenance and full improvements to the highway in that section there. Thank you.

Annually, throughout all our road system that -- where we do repair or anything like that, we've got 175 kilometers that is scheduled for replacement repair of chip seal and on our road system there. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I do understand that there is some concerns there, and I know it's been worked on with annual maintenance. And I think that's the plan currently right now is to continue with the annual maintenance for that area, or for that runway in Sachs Harbour. And we don't have anything scheduled as of yet. But, yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair.

Sorry, I'll ask b to respond there if you don't mind.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the current schedule for this year, like I said, is from kilometer 59 to 61 for the projects, you know, for the improvements. That section that the Member is speaking of would be addressed through our annual maintenance and probably this coming summer. Thank you.