Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s certainly well within the authority and the powers that the Minister can direct the department to start evaluating this rather than maybe pushing it off to a new Assembly and to sometimes get the decision by committee by saying, well, we’ll wait for committee to provide direction could take quite a bit of time. In short, the Minister is well within his ability to say this is something we could review and perhaps provide some input back to committee, and that’s what I’m looking for.

Northerners need an opportunity to help heat their houses more efficiently. This can help drive those results. This is the best way we can get people using our program in a way that makes the most sense. You can only buy so many toilets to be efficient. You can only buy so many freezer chests, et cetera. Let’s do something that has real meaningful results for people struggling to heat their houses. This makes a difference.

I as well am of the mind that when I built my own house that you can never have too much insulation. I’ve got R-45 in the walls, R-60-some in the roof. I never regretted it for a minute and it’s over 30 years. I don’t disagree with the Member. It’s an issue of capacity and timing, so we will have the discussions about it as the Member has asked us to. Will we be able to launch a full-blown program in the next number of weeks or days? I would suggest that there is going to be work needed to be done, resources found, and looking at our priority list to see where this would possibly fit.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just have a couple questions for the Minister of Transportation. As I mentioned, we have purchased a bridge in Aklavik that’s now sitting in Inuvik awaiting enough ice to transport to Aklavik. But in order to have this bridge in place, we do need funds.

I’d like to ask the Minister, will the Minister work with the community to ensure we have enough to have this bridge in place by the end of this season?

Thank you, Mr. Blake. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we will be working with the community to install the bridge. The bridge is in Inuvik, as the Member indicated. There are also piles that have to be ordered and installed in order to place the bridge on, and that’s also going to be happening on this winter road.

We’re not talking about a lot of money here. It’s just a couple hundred thousand. It’s not $200 million like the Deh Cho Bridge. It’s only a couple hundred thousand. I look forward to this project being completed, and I will be willing to work with the Minister on this.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. That’s more of a comment. The Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Transportation is proposing amendments to the Public Airports Act to make the act more efficient and effective. We are finalizing a legislative proposal to amend the act and we’re hoping that a review for that will be before committee within the next month or so. Early 2015 is our schedule. We are looking at things like harmonization with the Motor Vehicles Act, giving people at the airport the same authority that lie within the Motor Vehicles Act. We’re looking to extend leases at the airport. There are a few things

that are laid out in the legislative proposal, like I indicated, that we would be discussing with committee soon.

What we’ve heard from the Minister today is very encouraging, but the disposal of assets on airport lands is about as confusing as it comes. There are blurred lines of confusion on the role of the department and that of its Minister.

That said, can the Minister share with Members what changes may be forthcoming that could clarify the level of authority and responsibility of both the department and the Minister with respect to such asset disposal?

I suppose there would be two different categories of assets. Assets that are left by a lessee on the property site, the disposal of those assets is laid out in the lease how the disposal of assets is determined. If assets are left behind, it’s laid out in the lease so that it falls under that responsibility. The disposal of assets that are owned by the government and how we dispose of that, we go through the regular process of providing the asset to Public Works for disposal and Public Works will determine if no other government department would be using that asset or need that asset, then it would go to the next process of going through the disposition of that asset.

Historically, lease arrangements and the length of terms of airport lands have been nothing short of a dog’s breakfast in design. Can the Minister indicate to the House what is his department prepared to do to encourage tenant growth and meet the growing needs of current leaseholders on all our airport lands?

Within that review of the Public Airports Act, we’re extending the leases to a maximum of 30 years. That gives them a longer period, so something more definite. We also lay out in the lease that there would always be a market value for the lease. So every five years we do a market assessment on the lease and then the individuals are advised. If there is to be an increase on the lease payment, then the lessee is advised eight months in advance of any increases. We’re hoping that this will build more certainty for the individuals that are leasing at the airport.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department has attempted numerous times to investigate opportunities to improve management efficiencies at the Yellowknife Airport. However, during this administration there have been no real investment opportunities pursued, resulting in limited impact on the economic benefits for Yellowknife and Northerners.

Can the Minister inform the House how much emphasis the Department of Transportation is

placing on making governance at the Yellowknife Airport Authority a priority?

The Department of Transportation has identified the Yellowknife governance as a project that we should be reviewing. This review of the governance at the Yellowknife Airport is going to be done under the Refocusing Government Initiative by this government. We’re going to look at the management options at the airport so that we’ll review all the options. The Department of Transportation is working with Finance to look at these. We’ve also hired a consultant to specifically look at all of these for consideration, probably by the next government.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.

Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Premier. This government needs to show stronger leadership in taxing the high costs of basic goods. In my Member’s statement I highlighted the Nutrition North Program.

Has the Premier and his Cabinet reviewed the findings of the Auditor General’s report and public health experts who have clearly demonstrated deficiencies in the Nutrition North Program? As an obvious next step, is this government putting pressure on the federal government to fix fundamental problems with Nutrition North or even bringing the old Food Mail back? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Nadli. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I myself have not specifically reviewed the audit, but I am aware of some of the findings and I think that the fact that the Government of Canada has seen fit to put more money into the program gives me some comfort that they will be able to benefit those that are most in need. Thank you.

At the territorial level, what specific actions does this government take to track, report, compare and offset the costs of basic goods in remote Northwest Territories communities? Communities such as Tuktoyaktuk, Deline. Sometimes our communities that are located off the road system have to fly their goods in.

Is this government keeping track of how goods are distributed in those communities? Mahsi.