Mr. Chairman, as I believe I stated yesterday, the subject of airport emergency response services is one of particular concern for the department. The Minister of Transport Canada has brought forward first a regulatory amendment to the airport regulations. That amendment came to a Gazette reading, at which point the Government of the Northwest Territories responded. Since that time, it has been indicated to us by Transport Canada that the second stage of the regulation, Gazette Two, would be brought forward in the near future. Those regulations would require the reinstatement of some level of airport firefighting at particular airports, depending on the level of service and aircraft movement at those airports.
The department expects once these new regulations come into force -- not having seen them yet -- that five airports will be affected in the Northwest Territories; Fort Smith, Norman Wells, Fort Simpson, Inuvik and Hay River. Those requirements would require reinstatement of airport firefighting services.
I would want to state though that the responsibility for airport firefighting responsibilities prior to 1995 was with the Government of Canada, Transport Canada. It was their decision to remove and shut down those airport fire services at those airports. It was not the Government of the Northwest Territories. When the transfer occurred, the Government of the Northwest Territories did not have airport firefighting at those sites. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.