Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to follow up with my colleagues. Mr. Menicoche and Mr. Hawkins had questions to the Minister of Health earlier and I want to follow up on that.

I find it very interesting that the Minister can stand up here in the House time and time again and say how very, very important this issue is and how deeply involved her and the government are when the decision to close the Edmonton City Centre Airport was made without any vocal outcry from our government or from our Minister.

Mr. Speaker, this happened when people in our communities were coming to us and saying, what is our government doing? What is our government saying about the closure of this airport in Edmonton? And all the Minister can do is stand up in the House and say we’ve written letters. Like I said earlier, it took us two months to get a copy of those letters. None were penned by the Minister to anybody in Alberta. So how can she defend that she has taken this issue so seriously when she hasn’t even written a letter herself to anybody, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Health and Social Services, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am on record to say that the municipality had voted on a plebiscite years ago to close this airport in a phased fashion. Two years ago we were aware that they were closing this and the letter that the Stanton CEO sent is not a letter to some consultant

in Missouri. That was, in fact, very appropriate and direct input that our government put in. We wrote to them to tell them how important this service is. We were involved exactly where we should have been.

Mr. Speaker, since then, the decision to close the airport has had overwhelming support within the municipality, and my job, as the Minister of Health and Social Services, is to work with my counterpart in Alberta to plan. We have a commitment from the municipality that the last runway will not close until we have a plan. The Minister of Health in Alberta talked to me about Premier Stelmach setting up a quality council and we have a commitment from them that we will be involved. Mr. Speaker, we are taking all appropriate actions and necessary actions to make sure that our view and our needs are part of their consideration. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I think the Minister is missing my point. The CEO can write a letter and you can rest assured that if there is a decision by the province of Saskatchewan or the province of British Columbia that impacted the province of Alberta, their Ministers would be up publicly decreeing what that decision was and the impacts it would have on the citizens of Alberta. Our Minister was nowhere to be found when it came to defending the interests of the people of the Northwest Territories and the closure of that airport. That is very obvious, Mr. Speaker.

Now I’m trying to find some comfort in that going forward that we are going to have some assurances and certainty that the Minister will be more vocal on the needs and the desires of our citizens to have those appropriate services in place in Edmonton for medevac services, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

The Member is missing my point, with all due respect. Politicians can do their thing. At the end of the day, we have to be part of the plan. That’s what the Members here expect. That’s what our public expects. What is our plan to make sure that when our patients need health care in Alberta, that they will get their service as quickly as possible? We support Premier Stelmach’s establishment of a quality council, and their mandate is very clear and includes identifying effective practices and making recommendations for the improvement of patient safety and health service quality. Our deputy minister is in, and I’ve said this about three times today, my officials are in touch with Alberta health officials. We have a commitment from them that we will be part of this plan. We have two years to plan this. This is very complicated work and we are involved.

Mr. Speaker, the decision to close the municipal airport happened years ago, years ago. They had a referendum 15 years ago. They had our support then. They have support now. The Member says I should have stopped that. I would rather spend my energy working out a plan that addresses the

patient safety issues of my residents and our residents in the Territory, and I’m doing that, exactly what I should be doing. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I think the Minister is missing my point. My point is that the Minister was nowhere to be found during this discussion on the closure of that airport. There was no public statement issued by this government whatsoever, and I think that was the wrong thing to do, Mr. Speaker. Like I said, our responsibilities are to the people of the Northwest Territories and we have to make sure that our interests are known, respected and accounted for at every table. I don’t think we should be going down there and telling them how they should develop their plans, but every interest of the people of the Northwest Territories has to be respected and known at those tables, and I want some assurance that the Minister is going to make sure that that happens. Thank you.

I’m doing exactly that, so I’m sure the Member agrees with what I am doing. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Your final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hope that the Minister has listened. Again, she is the Minister of Health and Social Services. If anybody is going to defend the interests of the people in regard to health and social services here in the Northwest Territories, it’s her. It’s not her staff. It’s not the bureaucrats in the department. It’s the Minister, Mr. Speaker. I’d like, again, some assurances from the Minister that she is going to take more of a leadership role in being vocal about what those interests are for the residents in the Northwest Territories. Not her deputy minister, not the senior staff, but her herself. Thank you.

I agree with him that I, as the Minister of Health and Social Services, should take leadership on this and give appropriate direction. I have done that. I have talked to the Minister of Health in Alberta on that. The Premier of Alberta has set up a health quality council of Alberta. Their mandate is to promote patient safety and health service quality on a province-wide basis, that means Alberta. They will set out guidelines on how patient safety will be taken care of. My officials are not doing my job. They are working under my direction. They are in touch with my counterpart in Alberta and we have a commitment from them that we will be consulted in this quality council. We’re doing exactly what the Member wants to do and I will make a commitment that we will give you, in writing, as this project… I will give you in writing and we will inform the public about the work as it progresses, but understanding that we still have months to go in terms of working out the plan. I’m doing exactly what he thinks I should do and I don’t know why I’m not being heard. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to talk about airports, but the real airports that are important to the people in the North and have the ability to medevac people out of our communities so that we can medevac them to Edmonton where, basically, those requirements are essential.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation is improving the access to communities by extending airports up to 4,000 feet in Fort Good Hope, Tulita, Fort McPherson and also in other communities that have been identified. Mr. Speaker, the whole reason for that is to mitigate aircraft weight consistency imposed by new federal regulations. Again, these runway extensions are essential to community services and, more importantly, improving access to communities by reducing the cost of living.

Mr. Speaker, in regard to the situation of Aklavik, basically this issue has come to light and the community is requesting when is the community of Aklavik going to have their opportunity to have their airport extended up to the 4,000 feet, which is basically now in federal regulations. I’d like to ask the Minister when is the community of Aklavik’s airport going to be extended to 4,000 feet in the upcoming years. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The 2010 rule on aircraft specifies the landing and take-off approaches that need to be addressed on a number of airports and they apply to a certain type of category. In this case, there are 74 community category aircraft. We had done a study in the last government to review the runway issues across the NWT. We use that as a basis and a guide to improve the runway lengths. A number of communities, Fort Good Hope, Tulita and Fort McPherson and in the case of Aklavik, the runway is 3,000 feet and the aircraft that is being utilized in the community meets the 2010 rule. So there is no issue and our runway study that we did in the last government also indicated that the airport in Aklavik was sufficient and did not need to be extended. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, my understanding of the regulation is that because of the specific types of aircraft that are used in the communities for different reasons, regardless if it is for medevacs or

basically moving goods and services, such as DC-3s, Beech aircraft and, more importantly, the ability to reduce the costs of our communities so that they can bring in larger aircraft into those communities. Right now, the majority of the aircraft that does serve the community of Aklavik is basically the 207, which is a Cessna single engine aircraft. Again, the community would like to see an improvement on the aircraft that is being used. More importantly, to ensure that they also aren’t going to be told, sorry, you can’t fly that type of aircraft in there. If anything, all of our airports should be brought up to a certain standard such as 4,000 feet. Again, why are we excluding Aklavik from that proposal, yet we are putting airport extensions up to 4,000 feet in other communities?

Mr. Speaker, the study that we undertook and the results that we used as a guide did not indicate that there was any demand for a larger 20-seat aircraft to go into the community of Aklavik. That is what the 2010 rule would affect. Those would be the larger planes carrying 10 to 19 passengers, such as the Beech 1900D and the Metroliner and others. Mr. Speaker, that is the reason we didn’t look at extending the airport at Aklavik. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, this again has become a political issue for the community of Aklavik. I would like to ask the Minister if he can accommodate myself in going to the community and have a debate on this issue with the community. I think it is critical that the community formulate these partnerships with communities like they are in Fort Good Hope where they are extending the airport for another 500 feet with a joint submission by both the community corporation and the Department of Transportation. Knowing that these things are happening in other communities, why is the government not open to allowing the same practice to be done in other communities and allow those communities to work with the department to basically allow us to have more modern aircraft flying in there? It is North-Wright Air that is having the same problems in the Sahtu with their arguments. That is the airline that is flying into Aklavik. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I must have spent at least two weeks of this summer in Aklavik. The issue was not raised to me about aircraft types and runway lengths. I would be very hesitant to say I would commit to going back into the community when I was there for quite a few days over the summer.

Mr. Speaker, the current type of aircraft that is flying in there for charter or sched services is the Cessna 207. The airport meets the demands for that. There is really no demand identified for the larger type of aircraft. The medevacs are done with King Air. The airport is adequate to meet that demand. I would

really at this point be hard pressed to be convinced that we should start looking and putting more money in the capital budget for an extension to the airport. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I would like to formally invite the Minister in. We can do our arm twisting in the community of Aklavik with the community members in a public forum and at that time we can have that discussion.

I have been getting calls from the media on this issue which they are being... This issue did come up at the meeting in Aklavik. I would just like to put that request to the Minister so that way we can basically allow the community to raise the issue with us formally and basically deal with the options going forward. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Member has already twisted my arm on several occasions on other issues. We have commitments to meet with the leadership over the next while. I would be glad to put this subject on the table for discussion, whether it means going into Aklavik or someplace in the Delta, or if the leadership is in town here, I would commit to meet with them on the subject and have the discussion whether it is something that is warranted. We would also, of course, have to spell out our fiscal realities and look at what the demand is for that airport. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister responsible for the NWT Housing Corporation, Mr. Robert McLeod.