Mr. Speaker, my question today is for the Minister of Transportation. I’ve received several inquiries from the community of Tsiigehtchic in regard to the ferry service on the Mackenzie at the Tsiigehtchic crossing. The constituents want to know exactly why it is that they have to wait an hour, up to two hours, to catch the ferry to cross to the Inuvik side. People are missing their appointments in Inuvik. They’re also missing their flights for medical travel.
There used to be a schedule in place, I believe: on the hour from the Inuvik side, on the half-hour from the McPherson side and then, basically, on the three-quarter hour from the Tsiigehtchic to the Inuvik side. My understanding is that they implemented that because the cost savings to the government were somewhere in the range of 40 per cent for, basically, CO
2
emissions from diesel fuel.
People knew when the ferry was going to be leaving on that particular occasion; they could plan for it. People who had to set up appointments in Inuvik could make their connection to catch aircraft south because of medical travel; they were able to plan around that schedule. But right now, they’re not doing that.
I’d like to ask the Minister: can he ensure that we have a schedule in place, basically, for the ferry service to Inuvik like it was the last number of years? It’s a cost saving to this government. It’s a way we can save money, and also we can cut back on burning CO
2
.