Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to Mr. Yakeleya on his concerns.
Starting at the beginning, I think what we are seeing in the Sahtu – and I know the Member is aware of this – is when there is resource activity and development in that region, some of the benefits come in improved infrastructure. We saw the capital involvement of industry there and what it has done for an ice road in the Sahtu. We need to be looking at opportunities to work with industry to get more of that happening in the Sahtu. Given the activity that is happening in the Sahtu, not just this year but next year, I think there is a lot of likelihood that improved transportation infrastructure is going to be a very large concern as we go forward.
On the portable ice machine or icing machine, I think again industry may play a role in partnering with us on the availability of that technology and in getting that there. I agree with what the Member was saying about equipment located in a community like Deline not being able to get to the work. That is an issue that goes back to the possibility of even constructing some type of all-weather road from the community of Deline to Bennett Field. That is something, too, I know that is of interest to the community of Deline and something that as we move forward again, given all the activity there, that this could be possible down the road.
The Member also talked about Fort Good Hope and people having some difficulty getting registration and licensing. Maybe I can ask the Member to give me the specifics on that case, and I would be more than happy to get him a response on that and how we can improve service delivery in the communities.
The other question was looking at moving regional operations into the Sahtu. I know we are going to be going through the business planning process here in short order. That is an issue that can be brought up by the Member and the Regular Members as we move through the business planning process. Again, I think we have to look at opportunities to ensure that we are delivering efficient service and program delivery around the territory. That is something that we could potentially look at as we move forward. Again, I think we can examine that further.
As far as moving some personnel into the Sahtu, again I think we would have to see which positions they were. Obviously, that would be of great importance. Again, going through the business planning process we will get to see a little bit more of how things work. The Members will be able to have a good dialogue with myself and the other Ministers. We look forward to those discussions on possible areas where we can enhance the programs and services that we provide out in the
regions. I look forward to the opportunity to work with the Member in doing that. Thank you.