Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to weigh in, also, to the 802s, the fleets. It looks like we are getting some brand new mustangs, or stallions at least. The Minister is talking about horses and the old Clydesdales will be put to rest, the old work horses.
I wanted to follow up with Mr. Dolynny’s observation about the government getting into the aviation business. Certainly, when you have these new fleets coming in, there is going to be spin-offs as to the hangars, having staff who are seasonal. These aircraft are going to be situated in a community in the Northwest Territories and there is going to be crews and office space and hangars there and a whole bunch of other things to maintain a fleet of aircraft. That’s something I wanted to ask the Minister: what use, after the season, are these fleets are going to be used.
I also wanted to ask about the effectiveness of these fleets versus the ones that we had. Given that in the past couple of years we cut fire suppression crews in our communities and we certainly need a balance to have people on the ground fighting the fires along with some air support, and I would like to see that we reinvest into the communities that were cut from the fire suppression crews in our smaller communities around the North, even to how much are we going to rely on the air bombers.
In the Northwest Territories, in the southern part here, I would like to have a review as to where the fires were fought and were these fires strictly bomber use all the time. Down south fighting fire is different than fighting fire in the Sahtu where there are no all-weather roads. Some of the fires were far away, yet they were fought. The use of heavy equipment, such as Caterpillars, there were lots of lines cut. How many hours were used on Caterpillars, and are those going to be reclamation areas where you put the cat in for the firebreak? Even for our tour operators, is there something in the infrastructure or within government that if a tourist operator is going to renew their licence, is there a FireSmart type of licence for them to give to the department, because that’s infrastructure, the hoses that go to these tourist operators. Before they get their licence, there should be some strategic planning there as to what happens if they have a fire season like last year in the southern part of the Northwest Territories.
I have a lot of issues around there, even with the infrastructure on having these FireSmart kits. There are a lot of questions for me coming from the Sahtu on these bombers, Caterpillar operators, cabin owners, values at risk, even the areas that could be back-burned saving cabins in the area, things like that.
The fleets themselves, are they effective, are they going to be efficient? I hear the Minister talking about the avgas. There was some shortage at the airports in Inuvik and Norman Wells. These are now different type of flights in regards to will they have the operational capability, say, to be staged in Norman Wells or Inuvik, if there is a situation that calls for them? Do we balance that with fire
suppression crews that are in the Sahtu? What will it cost to have the fire crews in operation and is there a different type of standards for fighting fire in the Northwest Territories?
Down here we see almost every fire. They are far away but they are fought and the water bombers are at them. But last year in the Sahtu, we had to watch them. So, are there different standards of fighting fire? I can see that. That’s one of my concerns.
The other one is that I am happy to see in the budget that Deline is going to get some support in the region.
My last concern is the promise by one of the elders in Fort Good Hope. I talked about a regional laboratory to test our fish and our water. I know the Minister, earlier in the Assembly, talked about monitoring the water in the Sahtu and doing some baseline studies. What the elder is really talking about is having a laboratory where we take samples of the fish, caribou, moose, beaver, the lynx, the muskrats and check for them to see if it’s okay to eat.
I see his point that with the amount of water that Imperial Oil licence is asking for over the next 10 years is not in the millions but it’s in the billions of litres that’s going to be put back into the Mackenzie River. The elders in Fort Good Hope are very concerned over the years of accumulated effects of Imperial Oil putting back that water into the Mackenzie that flows down to Fort Good Hope where they get their water from. The elder was talking about over the years, if that’s the case, then shouldn’t the federal government or Imperial Oil be assuring us that it’s okay to drink, number one, and if the food that they get from the Mackenzie River is okay to eat. Maybe consider it a laboratory where they can sample animals at random so they could tell the people, your food is still okay, the water is still okay. We don’t really know the true nature of the damage in BC or Alberta or the production of development that flows into the Mackenzie River over time. That’s what the elder is asking for, is a proper laboratory in the Sahtu region to ensure that their food and their water is going to be good in the years from now to 20 years. That’s what he was requesting.
Can I say that I’ve wanted to tell the Minister that with the Deline district in the community, the Minister has seen, along with his staff, the condition that the wildlife officers work in and it’s similar to the one in Colville Lake? They have a small little cabin there. It’s a cozy little cabin but I think it needs to be looked at and considered, the same as in Fort Good Hope. They’ve taken some pictures – I’m pretty sure I gave them to Mr. Miltenberger – as to the condition of the wildlife officers working in these extreme conditions up in the Sahtu.
Those are my concerns. The big one, along with my other colleagues, is asking about the fleets that you’re asking us to approve a budget for millions of dollars, and it certainly is a concern to see if we can look at some areas that would satisfy our people in the Sahtu. Is it not possible to have a private contractor look at these fleets, or is it more beneficial for us to get into the aviation business and take on that responsibility? Thank you, Mr. Chair.