Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's quite nice that the government has spent this money and it can't be deleted and we find ourselves in this position today. I know I made my points pretty clear yesterday, but I would like to add a couple of things. I just want to state for the record that I'd like a commitment from the government, you can criticize something to death, Mr. Chairman, and I've been critical of this expenditure, but I think the government needs to have a look at its airport, the grand scheme of things. I know there is a master plan that was developed for the airport property, and before we spend this money on the current terminal building, we have to ensure the residents of Yellowknife and of the Northwest Territories that that terminal building is going to be in its exact location not 10 years from now, maybe 20 or 25 years. We have to give them some type of guarantee that that building is going to stay there. Mr. Chairman, I haven't seen that type of commitment. I see a government that is intent on spending $11.2 million and we know the government's track record in terms of design/build and how things can quickly go off the rails. We don't have to look too far to find examples of that, Mr. Chairman. So my concern is it's going to cost the government probably $15 million, let's just say, and it has to make a commitment to stay where it's at. Why are we looking at moving the terminal building to the west side of the airport property, over by the sandpits and who knows what that would cost, probably over $100 million, Mr. Chairman? So I think the government has to let Regular Members here know, let the public know, that if we are going to spend millions of dollars on the current terminal
building, it better well stay there for the foreseeable future, Mr. Chairman. That's my concern in this and I'll offer that to the government. You can be critical, but you have to be able to offer something, and that's my solution to this is I don't mind spending money if the government can commit to the terminal building staying where it is today.
One of the other things I wanted to mention, Mr. Chairman, while I've got the floor, is the airport today. In its operation today, one of the biggest issues that I find with the Yellowknife Airport is in scheduling. I know the government is not in the business of telling companies how to run their business and how to compete with other companies but, Mr. Chairman, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me that airplanes take off and leave within five to 10 minutes of each other. That results in the airport being crowded. It doesn't make much sense and I don't know how we communicate that to the companies that are using the airport, but even if it was a half-an-hour or 45 minutes, Mr. Chairman, it would make a world of difference for that airport. It's never busy except for one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening. That's when it's at its busiest and I think that's something that we have to address too, before we rush off and spend upwards of $12 million on an expansion. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I think I've said my piece. Thank you.