Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Debates of May 16th, 1996
Topics
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 450
The Chair John Ningark
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 450
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Once the work is done this year, there will be about 37 kilometres left to do.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 450
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Total region, $16.94 million.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 450
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
--- Agreed
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 450
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Buildings and works, Inuvik, total region, $3.5 million. Agreed?
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 450
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
--- Agreed
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
The Chair John Ningark
Mr. Roland.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
May 16th, 1996
Page 451
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On a clarification, winter road improvements, Mackenzie Highway, various, Inuvik region, what area is that?
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Minister.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The winter roads, various, is in the budget as the section Norman Wells and south. The idea there is to try to upgrade some of the river crossings that have been causing us some problems over the last few years with the environmental issues that come into that area. Thank you.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Total region, $3.5 million.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
Some Hon. Members
Agreed.
--- Agreed
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
The Chair John Ningark
Total buildings and works, $21.395 million. Mr. Roland.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before we go through this area, in the Minister's statement he had made a remark of where we are building our transportation system to our economy; build it one piece at a time. I would just like to throw in a little thing here. We are building access roads and so on and paving existing roads that are there. Is there any time in the future where we will be looking towards possibly heading the highway up further north, direct from Yellowknife? The northern end of the NWT and Inuvik is linked to the Yukon.
Mr. Chairman, I feel it is an important part of what is to come with division and the western NWT, or what is left, to have a solid link. We are building roads in different areas and paving others. I wonder if it is time to start thinking of changing our focus to make the Western Territory more united. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you, Mr. Roland. Mr. Minister.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The issue of building new highways is always a big concern to a lot of people down the Mackenzie Valley. Being a resident of Fort Simpson myself, I certainly would like to see a highway system eventually. At the present time, any new highway system is the responsibility of the federal government. There is zero dollars in their budget, yet they have that responsibility. The responsibility the department has is to maintain and upgrade the existing systems that we have. The ACCESS road program started off as a small program to assist small communities accessing the area outside the communities. It has been a very successful program in the last few years that has been utilized. There are more and more requests for that particular program. The desire is to look at ways and long-term views of how we could try to develop this infrastructure. The view that I take is we need to develop our infrastructure in the North if we are going to develop our economy. This is the direction that we would like to go as a department.
However, we are short of resources. What we have to do collectively, is to try to find innovative ways of trying to achieve this in the long term. The statement that I made in the opening remarks is to try to set some sort of a focus on what we want to do. We need to develop a transportation strategy. There has been a transportation strategy in place for some time now. In the last government, the department upgraded it a few times to make it relevant at the time. We have to do the same thing here now and look at our transportation system, look at our transportation strategy and see how we could plan for trying to achieve what we would like to do in the future. With the fiscal restraint that we are under and with impeding resource development at our doorsteps, we have to try to find different ways to make this happen.
So I agree with the honourable Member that we have to start looking in that direction. Thank you.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Mr. Roland.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
Floyd Roland Inuvik
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a little more than that. Is there any work going on now with the federal government, or any talks at all about trying to improve the situation?
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
The Chair John Ningark
Mr. Minister.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The department officials are always trying to find ways with their counterparts in the federal government to see how we could try to gain access to any type of resources that we could. It's an ongoing process and there's nothing that is really big in the near future. The direction of the department is to try to find ways to get the resources that we need from the federal government. We also have to look at partnerships in the North with not only government, but we have to start looking at partnerships with industries, as well. What we plan to do in the department is try to develop a transportation strategy on how to try to accomplish that.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Total buildings and works, $21.395 million. Agreed? Mr. Erasmus.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
Roy Erasmus Yellowknife North
Highway 3, 243 to 333; is that the highway between Yellowknife and Fort Rae?
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
The Chair John Ningark
Mr. Minister.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
Jim Antoine Nahendeh
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, Highway 3, kilometre 243 to kilometre 333, is the highway between Rae-Edzo and Yellowknife.
Committee Report 3-13(3): Standing Committee On Resource Management And Development Report On The Review Of The 1996-97 Main Estimates
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 451
The Chair John Ningark
Thank you. Highways. Mr. Erasmus.