On Monday, October 14, 1997, the Member for Baffin Central asked me what the Department of Transportation was doing to help families buy healthy foods.
As the Member mentioned, transportation to the remote, off-highway communities is limited to the air and marine modes. The operation of safe and reliable community airports makes it possible for air carriers to bring scheduled air services to these remote communities. Although the department cannot influence retail prices directly, today's scheduled air services deliver a wider variety and more regular supply of perishable, fresh foods than was possible even a few years ago.
At the beginning of this session, in a statement to the Assembly, I reported that, with the northern air carriers, the Department of Transportation is doing everything in its power to protect northern communities from the effects of NAV Canada's proposed new fees for air navigation services. An increase in transportation costs makes everything a small community needs just that much more expensive.
The Department of Transportation has a strong and productive working relationship with the Canadian Coast Guard. The department acts as the Coast Guard's delivery arm in the Northwest Territories for the maintenance and improvement of shore facilities improve the efficiency of cargo handling and help to keep down the cost of resupply.
In 1993 the Department of Transportation helped the Department of Public Works and Services restructure the fuel resupply contracts for the Keewatin region and eastern Arctic communities in 1993. The reorganization resulted in an eight percent annual saving in the cost of delivered fuel. In 1995, the department persuaded the Canadian Coast Guard to award three-year contracts for the eastern Arctic sealift. The longer term contracts resulted in savings of between two and 17 percent in dry cargo freight rates.
Whether through better physical infrastructure or the rationalization of more cost effective transportation services, the Department of Transportation is looking for new ways to bring down the cost of northern transportation. Lower transportation costs are essential to bringing a higher standard of living for the families in remote communities.