Madam Chair, the Minister has highlighted a critical point for us in the Sahtu. As the Minister of ITI and I have noted, the activity in the Tulita and Norman Wells area is very busy with oil and gas activity, and more and more people are coming into our area. With the lifting of the unrestricted liquor sales, it just adds to the issue of services in health care.
Medevac is one that is dearly held to our hearts because that’s our lifeline outside to services in Yellowknife or in Edmonton. We don’t have the luxury of an all-weather road yet. Hopefully that will be some time down the future. That’s something that the Minister has spoken on, the reality. With the RFP coming out based on doing that evaluation of what is the best way to provide the best services for our patients, that’s key for me.
One of the things in the background is the dollar signs, the money. You gave us the numbers of what it costs to fly in to our communities and what it costs to fly out of our communities. I want to ask the Minister what times are we looking at when the evaluation will be done and then when the RFP would come out, roughly.
There are people within the airline companies that want to work together. They don’t have to compete; they can work together. I know that’s true. I heard them this morning say that we don’t have to compete against anyone. We can work together on this. That’s what we’re looking at because we just don’t want one company to have everything and the rest of the companies are saying, well, what about us. These airline companies want to work together, and I think we can do it. I think that’s what I’m looking for.
In the Sahtu we have some good companies, and in Inuvik and in Yellowknife here or in the Deh Cho. We have good companies that could help each other out here. That’s all I’m asking for, is to give us a fair chance and let’s work together in the North because there are not very much of us to get this work, and we’re all Northerners. We all live here, and pilots are one of the most respected professions in life because they fly in all types of weather.
The key here – I liked what the Minister said – is the best service for our patients. That’s key for us in the Sahtu where there is no other transportation. Other than our short period of winter roads and boats in the summer, we fly.