Thank you, Mr. Chairman. During the last few years in Fort Providence they have been doing some work with regard to a community plan. One of the plans is to look at where the present maintenance facility is. They have been looking at whether it may be possible to relocate the maintenance facility in Fort Providence to a different location so the entire riverside area would eventually become residential. Perhaps, even look at relocating the maintenance camp so it is closer to the main highway system.
Mr. Chairman, I noticed that Jeannie Marie-Jewell is not here, but have you ever talked about a tripartite agreement between the Alberta government, this government and the federal government with regard to the possibility of an all-weather road to Fort Chipewyan and onto Fort McMurray? I do not know whether this is still an issue, but if Jeannie were here, I am sure she would have brought that up. I thought I would mention that so you could respond to her on that.
The other thing is with regard to winter roads, winter crossings, for example. What is the possibility, or have you ever looked at the feasibility of having that done privately by private contractors? Is it still the intention of the Department of Highways to keep doing that? I know there are certain requirements necessary for that and certain kinds of equipment, but the department has that equipment. I do not know why they cannot let Fort Simpson do the one in Fort Liard, or Fort Providence do the one in Fort Providence, Fort McPherson doing the one in Fort McPherson, Arctic Red doing the one in Arctic Red, and Wrigley doing the one in Wrigley. So, there are all those possibilities. It would give the communities the opportunity to create employment.
With regard to highway maintenance, I notice we still have contracts with certain aboriginal organizations. The community of Fort Providence is still interested in that area. Where it would not affect the overall employment of Transportation personnel, I think the community should be given an opportunity. We still have some people who have relocated to Providence because they did not wish to lose their jobs in the Department of Transportation. If the community expressed an interest, I would be interested to see if your department, John, would look at even negotiating a contract in that area.
There were some comments by eastern Members concerning wharfs and that type of thing, but we really do not have anything with regard to an emergency response team. In the western Arctic we have ambulances and fire trucks. In the eastern Arctic, if you run into a situation where people are lost out on the ice or if there is a plane crash, you do not have anything in place. As part of your transportation strategy, you should also be addressing this whole sector. I am not sure if this is your department's responsibility, however, you should be looking at this.
I still have problems with signage. We do not have anything with regard to points of interest in the Northwest Territories in general. There should be a large sign on the Mackenzie River talking about the Mackenzie River. Brian also mentioned the Canadian shield begins around Fort Rae. No one mentions this. I would like to see people stopping, looking, seeing and reading to make it an enjoyable event. This is not happening.
I have one final comment with regard to the weigh scale operation. This only applies to certain times of the day or certain times of the hour. This also includes the whole patrol system. I notice that everyone works from nine to five. There are many truckers travelling on our highway system after five o'clock. There are not any checks and balances with regard to the particular hours of operation.
With regard to the highway patrols, I have noticed that we have highway patrol teams who overnight in the communities. Sometimes they leave, it gets close to 4:00, and they collect overtime by staying that extra hour in certain areas. Perhaps the best way of addressing the issue of highway patrol is to see if it is possible for the department to look at the redistribution of the highway patrol. I am going to be making a motion with regard to this at the appropriate time, Mr. Chairman.
I have two pages of issues with regard to the definitive objectives. Perhaps the Minister might want to respond to some of the issues I have brought up.