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Legislative Assembly briefs Distracted driving law ineffective: Dolynny Laura Busch Northern News Services Published Friday, Oct 26, 2012
He said one morning while he was helping out with St. Patrick High School's Students Against Drinking and Driving group, he noticed many drivers waving back to them were talking into their cellphones. "Why go through all the work of getting such legislation and not have the ability, the capacity and perhaps the desire to enforce it?" he asked during his member's statement. Later on during the question period, Transportation Minister David Ramsay said since the law came into effect, approximately 30 tickets and numerous warnings have been given out. "Speaking on a personal note, it's made me leave my phone alone," said Ramsay. The current penalty of three demerit points plus a $115 fine may not be enough incentive to dissuade cellphone use while driving, said Dolynny, adding the government should look at imposing harsher penalties such as taking drivers' phones away as is done in Ontario. No guaranteed funding for day shelter Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins pushed Health and Social Services Minister Tom Beaulieu for an answer to whether the government will continue to fund the Dene Ko day shelter after its current commitment ends in March 2013. Beaulieu said the GNWT has only committed to fund the shelter as a three-year pilot project and that once that term is up it will need to assess the program and make decisions from there. The department is providing $175,000 in funding for the current fiscal year, he said. Hawkins responded with a line of questions aimed to receive a more specific answer, but was given a response of, "maybe yes, maybe no," by Beaulieu. Search and rescue project needs support: Bisaro Wendy Bisaro, MLA for Frame Lake, urged all politicians this week to support Discovery Air and Airbus Military's proposal to replace aging fixed-wing search and rescue (SAR) aircraft in Canada and establish a new search and rescue base in Yellowknife. Currently, the only SAR bases in Canada are in Victoria, Trenton, Ont., and Halifax. "The need for an SAR base in the North has long been recognized by Northerners," she said. "Our vast expanses and extreme climates puts anyone lost in the Arctic in great danger." Since 1998, there has been a steady increase in air traffic using the polar route between North America and Asia. Bisaro estimated that in 2012, about 11,000 passengers risk their lives flying over the Arctic every day. "A base in the North will save lives, airline passengers' lives and our own Northern residents' lives," said Bisaro.
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