EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
As a department we are responsible for maintaining the quality of the runways and related infrastructure that allows for safe aircraft operations.
Planning for this work is based on conditions of the airstrips, load factors, safety and expected life span of the infrastructure and the equipment.
(interpretation) In 2007-08, $8.4 million is proposed to continue the construction of a new airport for Arctic Bay. In the current year, the major part of the earth works will be completed along with the extension of the power line from the community to the airport site.
In Grise Fiord, $400,000 will be dedicated to creating a gravel stockpile and providing a maintenance overlay of the runway.
This is the final year of a multi-year project that will invest $925,000 in the airport over three years.
$650,000 will go towards rehabilitating the services of the Kimmirut airport.
The project will involve creating a granular stockpile to meet the future maintenance needs to the airport, overlaying the surfaces, applying a dust suppressant product. This will be the second year of the three-year project that will see a total of $1,075,000 invested in Kimmirut’s airport.
(interpretation ends) $420,000 will go towards completion of the project to open Taxiway Alpha and rehabilitate Apron One at the Iqaluit Airport, which will make up a total Nunavut investment of $4.5 million in this $12 million improvement to the airport infrastructure.
The department’s investment in the community Access Roads Program will continue. I am proposing $500,000 for the 2007-08 fiscal year for this very popular program.
Access Roads that connect a community and its residents to near-by locations including harvesting or camping areas, tourism and sites of cultural importance, are continuing priorities of the department. This program will be very well received by the communities and we are very pleased to be able to continue it, extending access to the land outside our municipal boundaries.
The Bathurst Inlet port and road project continues to be a high priority for the department and we have included $75,000 to contribute to its feasibility and environmental assessment of the deep sea port in Bathurst Inlet and the all-weather roads between the port and the mineral deposits in the Izok area.
Access to this area has immense potential for the economy of the territory. Certainly I fully realise that this proposed allocation is nowhere near significant given the magnitude of this project. However, my department is committed to continue to work with our partners including Canada to move this project along.
The 39.7 kilometre highway between Arctic Bay and Nanisivik continues to be used and will be needed until the Arctic Bay airport is completed. We have allocated $100,000 to ensure the road remains in a safe operational state over the course of the year.
In keeping the Canadian driver’s licence agreement memorandum of understanding signed in 2005, the Nunavut government has agreed to implement new security requirements for driver’s licences and I.D. cards as adopted by the Canadian Association of Motor Transportation Administrators and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
This measure will ensure that Nunavut drivers’ licences continue to be recognized and honoured in other parts of Canada and the United States and will remain an accepted form of identification outside of Nunavut.
For this project $800,000 has been budgeted to develop and implement this secure system.
The Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans in collaboration with my department have recently completed a draft Small Craft Harbours Report.
The report is currently going through one final review for final edits by DFO. The report concludes that Small Craft Harbours in our communities could provide very high returns in safety, access to our resources, and economic activity. The department will continue to lobby DFO to begin construction of these facilities.
For our part, we have included $1 million in 2007-08 fiscal year to contribute towards that program.
These are the major projects we will be undertaking in the 2007-08 fiscal year.
There are also some other projects under $300,000 which are grouped together under the heading Small Capital Projects.
We are allocating $1.2 million to complete these projects which will include a new snowblower for Baker Lake airport, a new plow truck for Pangnirtung, and planning studies to ensure our dollars are properly spent on developing the economy and transportation system of the Territory in future years.
This plan makes good use of our limited resources and is well focused on the department’s mandate. I will continue to work hard with my department to ensure that partnerships with the federal government, with industry and with the communities are strengthened and that the current level of activity in Nunavut has a long lasting value on the economic and social future of our territory.
I will be glad to answer any questions from my fellow members, if I can.
Do you have witnesses that you’d like to bring to the witness table?
Hon. Olayuk Akesuk: Yes. Mr. Chairman.
Chairman: Thank you, minister. Does the committee agree to bring in the witnesses?
Sergeant-at-Arms please bring in the witnesses. Thank you, Sergeant-at-Arms.
To my immediate left is Mr. Alex Campbell, the Deputy Minister for Economic Development and Transportation, and Mr. Methuselah Kunuk, the Assistant Deputy Minister for Transportation, and sitting in the Gallery is Mr. John Hawkins, our Director.
Does the co-chair of the Standing Committee have any opening comments? Mr. Peterson.
As Co-Chair of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Housing and Economic Development, I am pleased to be able to provide opening comments as we begin the review of the 2007-08 capital estimates for the Department of Economic Development and Transportation.
The standing committee had the opportunity to meet with the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation in September to review the draft 2007-08 capital estimates.
Members were surprised that the five-year capital plan for the Department of Economic Development and Transportation is virtually non-existent.
The current five-year plan lists no new projects starting in future years.
Members are concerned that this may mean that necessary projects such as airport infrastructure upgrades are not being planned for.
Members noted that the capital estimates include a project to upgrade the Government of Nunavut’s Driver License and General Identification Card Security System. Members urge the minister to work with his colleagues to ensure that new equipment will also assist Nunavummiut in their efforts to obtain such documents as passports. Members also encourage the minister to have a communication plan in place to ensure that Nunavummiut are aware of any changes they will see in their drivers’ licences.
Members noted that the capital estimates include a $1 million fund that represents Nunavut’s contribution for small craft harbours. Members noted that the Nunavut Small Craft Harbours report is under review by the federal government.
Members are concerned that the federal government has not yet agreed to fund the Small Craft Harbours initiative and support our minister’s negotiations with his federal counterparts.
Mr. Chairman, members are concerned about the implementation status, the long-term planning for necessary airport improvements.
Members note that the 2003 Nunavut Air Services Study outlined several infrastructure priorities that are necessary to improve the level of service from airlines.
Current runway lengths and their composition reduce the level of service that airlines can provide and can also increase the cost of providing services. Members urge the minister to work towards implementing airport upgrades that enhance service opportunities for Nunavut’s airlines.
Members noted that the Iqaluit Airport Project is largely being funded through the federal Airport Capital Assistance Program.
Members look forward to receiving information from other airport projects that may receive funding under this program in 2007-08.
Mr. Chairman, members have moved in support of the Bathurst Inlet Port and Road Project.
Last winter the ice road transportation season was very short and mines were forced to airlift supplies into their sites.
The reality of climate change means that alternative methods to achieve affordable re-supply will be necessary to ensure that mining in the North remains feasible.
Many Nunavummiut hold jobs in the mining sector and there is hope for even more employment opportunities. Members also noted recent discussions in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories regarding the Bathurst Inlet Port and Road Project and urged the minister to make every effort to move this project forward.
Mr. Chairman, the members continue to be frustrated by apparent lack of progress with respect to such large scale infrastructure projects as the Kivalliq-Manitoba Road Project. Members urge the minister to continue working to move these projects into the actual construction phase.
That concludes my comments on the 2007-08 Capital Estimates of the Department of Economic Development and Transportation.
Individual members may wish to raise questions or make comments as we proceed.
Before we proceed I would like to remind members of the following: according to Rule 77(1), you have ten minutes to speak and according to Rule 77(2), subject to the discretion of the Chairman, a member may speak more than once to a matter under discussion but not until every member wishing to speak has spoken.
I’m not too sure where I can begin, but I would like to say about the topics that I talked about earlier about Pond Inlet because the people of Pond Inlet are very resourceful, say in the summertime there was 128 people working for the Co-op in the summer especially contractors for the Baffinland contractors and providing food services and other things.
Whenever they’re closed down in the winter there’s usually 75 employees of the Co-op up in Pond Inlet, but there’s a lot more employees in the Co-op than they do have at the hamlet level, as well there’s also small contractors in Pond Inlet and they deal with economic development and tourism and there’s also guides that go out taking people out hunting such as big game hunting, as well as tourists that go site-seeing to see whales and migratory birds.
Those are the types of outfitters that we have.
There are a lot of licenced outfitters that have small crafts and they have spent a lot of money in dealing with tourism.
They would like to be able to get a small craft harbour.
For example, last summer... my clock is going very fast. This past summer, there were two crafts that were lost due to the weather, because it was quite windy.
One was tied at two ends, and the other got loaded with water and it sunk.
Whenever there is high tide we can’t get to our boats.
Like I said, looking at Lancaster Sound, and the other rough seas and when the wind is coming from Davis Strait, there are a lot of high waves that come into the harbour, up to the low tide area, and we cannot get to our crafts.
We have wanted that in Pond Inlet for a long time, not just as a safe haven for the boats but for the purpose of making money because their wage economy is based on guides taking people on the land as a way of making money.
As soon as the sea becomes rough and it comes into our harbour, it destroys our small crafts.
As well, the Coop wants to build a new hotel, either make an addition, and put in another additional 20 rooms because there isn’t enough room at this time.
There are also young people in Pond Inlet who want to pursue the tourism business because whenever tourists come into the community, they tell each other.
There are a lot more tourists coming to our town.
The other thing that was talked about in Pond Inlet was how the tourist industry could receive assistance to build a website on the worldwide web.
They usually have a tradeshow at the school to show the public what kinds of business people can get into.
They also wanted to get some training on business management by the government because there are a lot of people out there that would like to get that kind of training.
I know a unilingual couple, who have an outfitter’s licence, and they have the insurance, and they take people out polar bear hunting. They don’t even use a southern agent.
They do it themselves.
They also hire people with dog teams.
Like I said, there is going to be a mining company that is drilling at the present time, but we heard later on that the European people that own the company would like to be able to do some testing, or to start the mine as soon as possible because they have found rich minerals about made of about 70 percent or high grade minerals.  They want to be able to have heavy equipment to work in that mine, but our runway is not adequate.
I have a feeling that there is going to be an accident because the airstrip is right in the middle of the community, and there will probably be an accident pretty soon.
From the spring to November, there is a high volume of aircraft traffic, because Pond Inlet is the main area from Mary River.
If there was to be an accident, it would be very dangerous because it’s just like Pangnirtung - the airstrip is right in the middle of the community.
They would like to be able to get an airstrip that can service jets. If they had jet service, they would also be able to service Arctic Bay, Clyde River, Igloolik and all the other communities as well as Mary River, with cargo and passengers.
Patients that go down to Ottawa have to go through Iqaluit, and it takes a long time to go to Pond Inlet, but if there were jet service in Pond Inlet then they could travel right from Ottawa land here in Iqaluit for a few minutes and without deplaning they could travel straight to Pond Inlet.
It would only take them about three or four hours from Ottawa to get to their communityy, then the 748 could travel to the other communities, and then there would be a faster flow of traffic. It would be a lot cheaper for groceries and other materials because a lot of the groceries and everything else that you buy is very expensive in Pond Inlet right now.
The Government of Nunavut could probably build a terminal and with the federal government’s help, then the airstrip could be relocated so that we could have jet service up there.
We will now proceed to a page-by-page review of the departmental estimates starting with page K-7.
I welcome the minister and his officials to the House.
I see that there is $500,000 budgeted for access roads.
Can the minister or his officials give a brief explanation as to how communities in Nunavut can apply for those funds?
The money is within our department and the communities can make proposals to access these funds.
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman and I thank the minister for his answer.
Perhaps if he could provide me a bit more clarity: $500,000 that is Nunavut various…how would an individual community, lets say from in the Kitikmeot, apply?
Do they submit their application to your office here in Iqaluit? And if so, when would they be required to submit their application? I’m thinking in terms of timing; when do the applications get reviewed and approved so that communities can plan for some of the work they do in the coming summer.
As it is popular in every community in Nunavut we go by first come and first served approval basis and we also have proposals that we look at by April 30, $500,000 is gone.
So maybe Mr. Campbell could elaborate more on that.
The minister indicated we do have some criteria and guidelines that we follow as a department. We have set April 30 as a deadline to receive applications from all the communities.
We are suggesting it is a first come first serve kind of process. $500,000 is not very much when you start divvying up among the communities.
We do have an evaluation committee under transportation that looks at all the projects. They also look at what previous communities received in the allocation in prior years and we try to make sure the funding is distributed to communities as fairly as possible.
Mr. Peterson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I thank the minister and Mr. Campbell.
I’m glad Mr. Campbell mentioned previous years and “fairly as possible” because I was worried: with first come and first served there is going to be a stampede.
There are some communities out there that write good proposals and others who don’t have all the personnel at their disposal to write proposals but given time they will get a proposal in.
I am wondering in the review of your program, have you discussed how you can ensure that communities are aware of the program and how they can take steps to ensure that they get their applications in and are considered.
We are doing our very best to promote this and we have regional offices that help out in the promotion with the program that we have.
Again, this is the people in Nunavut really look forward to get their proposals approved. We have $500,000 again and we have regional offices making sure the communities in each region know about this program.
On the same section of Small Craft Harbour contribution, I wonder if the minister can give me, similar to the access roads, a brief overview of how communities are determined to be eligible and how they would submit proposals to the program.
Yes, what we have done is that we try look at the communities on how it would benefit...I know that most of the communities don’t have small craft harbours. It’s an outcry from almost every community that doesn’t have a harbour where they could put their boat safe and have people safe.
In the community of Cape Dorset, where I’m from, the winds are very strong, especially when they come from the south.
So again, the seven communities that we’ve put down for possible funding from the federal government on small craft harbours, we are looking at the fisheries side of the communities that we’ve selected in the past. So that’s the small craft harbours.
So just for clarification purposes, is the minister saying that if the harbour has an economic impact on the community and then on Nunavut, they would be eligible for this program?
Well, I’m sure that every community would benefit from having a small craft harbour.
If these were funded by the federal government, we would have to review it again and see how or which community would need one.
The majority of the Nunavut communities do not have small craft harbours or breakwaters.
I’m just wondering if the minister could clarify for me what the definition is of a small craft harbour.
I know in Cambridge Bay we have a natural harbour, I guess you would call it. And then we have a dock where the barges come up.
When you talk about small craft, are you just talking about small boats, you’re not talking about large ships or sailing ships? Could the minister clarify?
I will get Mr. Kunuk to answer that question, please.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, minister. Mr. Kunuk.
Mr. Kunuk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In regard to the small craft harbour, it was set up by the DFO Harbour Branch.
We set this up in alignment with the DFO Harbour Branch and it goes up to about six meters for the boat.
That gives me a sense of what the program is targeted at.
On the same page, under Bathurst Road and Port Study, there’s $75,000 budgeted.
I appreciate the minister’s financial contribution to that project. Just for the record, Mr. Chairman, I believe they need to complete the work they’re doing now, they require $3 million, and so it’s quite significant.
I think the more value would be from the minister, in terms of lobbying at the federal level with his federal counterparts.
We do appreciate the $75,000 and we did appreciate the $1 million the Government of Nunavut has contributed over the years, but we’re going to need significant capital funds to get that project off the drawing boards and into development.
I think the latest, current estimates overall for the whole project is running close to $260 million to the $300 million range. It keeps getting more expensive. As every year goes by it seems like another $25 to 30 million increase.
I know that there was a positive meeting last week in Yellowknife; I think it was last week, at the Geosciences Forum by a number of mining companies, and the Kitikmeot Corporation, and Nunalogistics, in support of that project.
There is a meeting that is going to be planned in Vancouver during the Cordilleran Roundup later in January to discuss how to proceed with that project. They’re going to require a lot of support from the Government of Nunavut to advance that project.
I don’t really have a question on that because I think we know the situation. That’s more of a comment.
Information for the minister.
We’re on page K-7.
Minister Akesuk, (interpretation) would you like to take a break?
In regard to Mr. Peterson’s comments we will talk to the Mine Development and also to the federal government.
We’ll work hard and lobby to make sure that this becomes a reality.
Mr. Arvaluk (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a question, and as a preamble, the minutes are just ticking by and I am just making my opening comments.
When we’re talking about small craft harbours, for example if we built one in Pond Inlet, we also bring material to the Inlet and it starts from there to May River; that’s where they’re going to unload upload the ships up there.
The people of Pond Inlet, with boats, transports lighter materials; not like trucks or anything big like that, but culverts, and material, and so on.
In regard to the small craft harbour contribution, we’re not only talking about small fishermen. There has been studies done on whether there’s halibut around our area, but it hasn’t started yet because we don’t have a meat processing plant in Pond Inlet. The HTOs, as they are going to be the organizers, are getting ready to make the proposals.
Are we just going to wait for the federal government, or have they approved to putting money aside for small craft harbours? What is going to be happening in the interim? There have been studies done in Pond Inlet already.
We’ll wait for the federal government and once the monies are approved we will start putting the work in progress. We have approximately $3 million with the Nunavut Government.
We are all going to work hard and keep lobbying the federal government. We have made our proposals to make small craft harbours.
We have to abide by the rules that were set by the federal government. If we don’t then it’s going to be impossible to access those funds. We have to apply the laws that are used for the Small Craft Harbor.
It’s not just for Pond, I don’t think I’m just talking about Pond Inlet, I think we’re talking about other communities Assistant Deputy Minister Kunuk was on the radio and he talked about the priority communities.
He also talked about the other communities that are the second priority, for example, the first priorities were for safety and hazard reasons. Like, for example, in Pond Inlet, I don’t know any other communities, so I’ll just use Pond Inlet as my example because we need motor vehicles.
When you don’t have motor vehicles, you can’t run a business in Pond Inlet, likewise in Pond Inlet when you don’t have a boat, it’s impossible to travel so you need a boat.
If you’re a hunter you need a boat to travel, if you’re a hunter and I know and I was told that there were more than 200 boats in Pond Inlet, even though full-time workers are part-time hunters up there, then how will you know what priority we’re on, where does the Department of Transportation already know what priority level we are at?
The hamlet, or the HTO for example, for all of us who were running to be elected men and women use the small craft harbour as their priority because they always start to travel by boat, and that was their priority to build that. That was their campaign position.
How long will it take for your department to hear from the federal government because we already have the blueprints ready for a small craft harbour? The economic development officers have been applying for that a lot, they work along with the HTOs and so how long would it take to get those obtained?