Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the situation that we find ourselves in regarding the Nanisivik airport and Arctic Bay and the emergency strip is it is going to take some time to come to a good resolution. There is work being done between the department and the owners of the Nanisivik mine and the municipality of Arctic Bay, to try to figure out how to best deal with this situation. During my visit to the community, in meeting with the hamlet of Arctic Bay, we covered some of this area. I am told that the people in the department in the east are also continuing to work with the municipalities and talking with the owners of the mine to try to come to a resolution. This department spends a lot of money maintaining the airport at Nanisivik mines. We clear their airstrip and keep the lighting going and the equipment going and we also maintain a highway to Arctic Bay to the airport and thus to the mine itself. There is a considerable amount of money that we spend towards keeping the airport open. What we would like to try is to make some sort of an arrangement with the owners of the mine, if they could take over the operation of the airport themselves, that would free up the type of money that we are spending on the airport. That way, we may divert some of those resources towards the emergency airstrip in Arctic Bay and build it up into the type of airstrip that the honourable Member has been requesting. It is going to take some time to do that, and we are actively trying to make that kind of arrangement at the present time. Thank you.
Jim Antoine on Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
In the Legislative Assembly on February 18th, 1997. See this statement in context.
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
February 17th, 1997
Page 671
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
See context to find out what was said next.