Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My statement today is a follow-up to Tuesday's statement when I was speaking to the issue of the Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs granting permission to the Deton'Cho Corporation to access a portion of the sandpits here in Yellowknife to develop a residential community. I still do not understand how and why the Minister would and could unilaterally agree to grant access without first consulting the City of Yellowknife. How could the Minister be so bold, Mr. Speaker? On January 7th, he grants permission to Deton'Cho Corporation to access the land, then three days later, on January 10th, the Minister signs off on the city's general plan. What was the Minister thinking? In the event he doesn't know what he was thinking, I want to let the Minister in on something. That is that plans are in the works to develop this area with a 400-unit residential development. Does this Minister care that this is going to happen? Well, he should. If the development does proceed, we could have a substantial satellite community with 800 to 1,000 persons living out at the sandpits. There will be needs, Mr. Speaker; perhaps a school, parks, roads and other infrastructure. How will these items be managed? Who is going to pay for it? The Minister has to pay attention to all of the conflicting concerns on this parcel of land. Any future airport expansion plans involve land immediately next door to this parcel of land.
Residential development for the area is not in the City of Yellowknife's general plan. The Minister's department is currently involved in a joint survey with the Yellowknife Shooting Club and the City of Yellowknife on this exact parcel of land. How did discussions proceed with regard to the much-needed Kam Lake access road should a housing development be planned for this area? The decision to grant access is wrong from so many different angles, Mr. Speaker.
Again today I will be questioning the Minister about how and why this decision was made to grant access to Deton'Cho Corporation to build a housing development at the Yellowknife sandpits. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
---Applause