Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a return to oral question asked by Ms. Mike on September 29, 1992, concerning the relocation of the Lake Harbour airstrip.
On Tuesday, September 29, the Member from Baffin Central asked me if the Department of Transportation has done any studies to consider alternate locations for the Lake Harbour airport.
Mr. Speaker, in 1989, the department commissioned a study by the consulting firm of J.L. Richards and Associates Ltd., of Ottawa, to examine possible sites for a new airport in Lake Harbour. The study examined six alternate locations and recommended a site about three kilometres west of the community near Water Lake.
The Water Lake site would accommodate a 1,000 metre, that is a 3,000 foot, runway properly aligned for the prevailing winds in the area. Furthermore, the site is open for aircraft approaches and fee of the large hills which interfere with the approaches to the existing airport.
For infrastructure planning purposes, the department has accepted the conclusion of the 1989 Lake Harbour Land Development Study, that the Water Lake site is the preferred location for a new airport.
However, this is a very expensive project. The Department estimates that the cost of the airport's construction would come to approximately $14 million. By comparison, the final cost of the new airport in Paulatuk will be about $4.2 million, and the major improvements planned for the Pelly Bay airport are expected to cost about $3 million.
Given that Lake Harbour has an airport adequate for the community's air traffic, and that the airport meets Transport Canada's standards for V.F.R. certification, the department has deferred the Water Lake airport project until it has first brought all of its community airports serving isolated off-highway communities up to Transport Canada's licensing standards. Thank you.