Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this issue has been on the minds of the partners in Deline and Fort Good Hope and the whole Sahtu region, especially with North-Wright. It’s been on the books as an issue for about nine years. Mr. Speaker, actually it’s been an issue with the Northern Air Transportation Association also, which represents all carriers North of 60. Actually, they passed two motions at their annual assembly to support North-Wright and their partners to build longer runways in the Sahtu. It was brought up in the North American Northern Air Transportation board meetings and it’s been supported by all the members in those association meetings.
Mr. Speaker, we are very appreciative of the Department of Transportation to put the additional runway length to bring it up close to 4,000. I think it’s 3,933 feet in the communities of Fort Good Hope, Tulita and Deline. Actually, Deline itself added a huge amount of their own money to bring the extension up. You talk to the people in Deline, they put a lot of money into it. It wasn’t all of our government’s money. So these are things that they are looking forward to.
Mr. Speaker, the issue here is with the airline companies in the Sahtu. They have been in business in our region for over 23 years, longer than any carrier in the Northwest Territories. North-Wright is owned 51 percent by the Dene in the Sahtu and in the Territories. Their ownership is with Deline, the Yamoga and the Aklavik Indian bands
As I said, this issue has been on the books since the year 2000 in trying to get an additional required runway. North-Wright with its partners want to expand their business. We do not and I don’t quite
understand where the Minister is coming from, but my understanding is the rule 2010 from Transport Canada. They have been doing some logging. We are saying that we want to expand our business. We don’t want to fly around in Twin Otters and Beech 99s. We want to expand our business. The Beech 1900 or the King Air 1900 is the most popular available commuter in North America. These guys at North-Wright have done their homework. They looked around. They did their shopping. The best airline is the Beech 1900.
Mr. Speaker, it frustrates the residents in the Sahtu that if we are going to go with the 2010 rule, we will be paying higher costs in our isolated communities. We want to introduce a pressurized aircraft into our region. Our nearest flight to a larger centre when we leave the Sahtu is about an hour and a half, almost a two hour flight. No washroom, small aircraft. We want no less than what other people fly around in the Northwest Territories on these long flights. We have elders, 60 people that travel on these flights.
North-Wright and its partners have more terminals and land from all the airports than any other carriers in the Northwest Territories. They take up most of the spaces at the airport. North-Wright and its partners have improved infrastructure throughout the system. They have put $150,000 in the Norman Wells Airport lease for the last two years. This summer, North-Wright will spend $320,000 at the Norman Wells float base and cater to tourists, flight service to enhance infrastructure in the Norman Wells. Deline and the Yamoga has invested $1.6 million at its infrastructure here in Yellowknife to enhance services in the Sahtu region. It’s going to be called the Sahtu Terminal.
GNWT says that we have to improve our runway, improvements or length in all the communities, then we ask them, where are roads and bridges like any other community that has them? As I said, in the Sahtu communities, we are 350 miles from the nearest road system and I have flown many, many trips. It takes an hour to two hour flight from here back to the Sahtu. I wonder if any Members here would want to continue flying in an aircraft that we fly, and sit and wonder why we can’t have a bigger and better aircraft with a washroom. There are elders. I know that people told me that they went to the washroom on those aircraft. That is the most shameful and embarrassing thing for an elder when someone is sick. For us here in the Sahtu, in order to get help and improve, the Sahtu has been very busy in oil and gas industry in the Beaufort-Delta and in other regions down here with oil and gas. We have been busy. We have invested lots into the Northwest Territories.
In the community of Fort Good Hope, I had a call from Chief Frank T’Seleie and some calls from the Yamoga board in Deline. They are willing to see if
they could be a partner in this extension. I’m not asking the government to fund everything. They are willing to put some dollars to it and get a partner. Isn’t that one of your future goals in this government here, to build partnerships?
We are asking them to be open. The Minister knows about that. We had some discussions with them. We talked about that. The Yamoga Land Corporation president said they are willing to put some dollars to it. They are serious about it. That is mindboggling. I think we need to really consider some of the options here and some we are looking at. We just had some discussions on P3s. I think for the Sahtu partnerships and North-Wright, we see these opportunities as something that will benefit the Northwest Territories, benefit our people.
In the smaller communities, I understand about the runway length and the safety to them. I have landed many times on the Colville Lake runway. I can only imagine seeing it in Nahanni or Jean Marie or any other small communities in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Speaker, this is not something that is taken very lightly by our residents in Fort Good Hope, Deline, Tulita, Colville Lake or Norman Wells. Our people every day have to get on those small flights, get on the flights and fly. We want to make a contribution to the Northwest Territories and be a partner. I do thank the Members for their comments. I thank Members for their support and Members who spoke on this motion. Sahtu people will remember this type of issue here, that it makes a difference in their life. Thank you.