Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, by no way am I implying we need to discourage northern travel and the Minister didn't allude to that, but I want to make that quite clear that this is a reality of our future and we need to embrace this opportunity, as well as enhance it. That being said, I appreciate his acknowledgement of the flying over and the sense I get was they call us five minutes in advance. I mean, this is more of a metaphor, but they call us and say be ready because we may be coming to your airport. So whether it's a 15-minute radio-in or it's an hour radio-in isn't so much the point. The fact is we know when they're coming, but we don't know when they're going over us.
I would certainly like a debate on policy in the context of putting forward a unanimous position, which is we want to be kept in the loop. From the sound of what I think the Minister was alluding to, other territories are having the same problem. We're left out of the loop and whether it means that they're flying over, they should at least acknowledge they're in our airspace. I don't believe in being silent on northern sovereignty. I think that's an issue that this House leaves by the wayside a lot of times. I would like to hear it screamed and trumpeted much more and with that sort of little rant, I say on the side I tip my hat at Mr. Danny Williams showing sovereignty in the Newfoundland perspective. Although, I have to admit I
was a little concerned on the flag lowering side, but very happy to see them raising it again.
I think our government needs to emphasize our position in Canada. I think it always has to be kept in a respectful context. It almost appears as if it's on a need-to-know basis at this regard and I'm very concerned about that. I would like to hear today that the Minister is working towards that so we can break down that wall, again to reaffirm and assert continually our northern sovereignty and our northern position, because I feel that we should be part of this equation. Again, to encourage them not to discourage these flights, but also I go back to what I was saying earlier, which is I'm taking the point of view of a safety perspective that if the Northwest Territories or Yellowknife is being nominated as a potential landing zone for these types of flights, I have serious concern that we're not dealing with something over the long run.
I will acknowledge and I would emphasize my appreciation that the Minister has made clear that he quoted three last year. That probably means wheels on the ground, but I hope you also include the potential call-ins that we may have. Again, I think this builds a case just on the emergency side. I haven't even begun to talk about the tourism side or just the national side of what this would bring, the international side which would bring maybe more Americans here, or the international side which bring the Japanese here. I mentioned last week or the week before about my enthusiasm about bringing them here to the Northwest Territories.
That being said, my long little-winded rant, I would like to hear that the Minister will engage clearly on the federal level that we have a sovereignty issue here. We would like to be in the loop. I would like to hear the Minister emphasize today that if the word priority isn't a word, I would like to hear him emphasize that this is a priority, that we want to do something with this. I know it's not a budget item, but I certainly would like to hear that we are going to address this as a priority because, from an emergency point of view, I think it's quite a solid anchor that could have massive economic spin-offs that benefit the whole Northwest Territories. Lastly, I would like to hear some encouragement from the Minister about his consultation with Regular Members. I know this is a good Minister and he does engage Members from time to time and I would like to hear that as well.
So those three major points and he can slide in a few extra good comments, I'm sure. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.