It is my pleasure to present the comments of the Standing Committee on Resource Management and Development regarding the Department of Transportation.
The committee supported a number of reductions brought forward by the department. The majority of these come from restructuring or reworking existing contracts. Included in this list are airport contracts for Cambridge Bay, Iqaluit, Resolute Bay; highway contracts for the Fort Simpson and
'-Wrigley area; and, the ferry contract in Fort Providence. In addition to this, the committee supports staffing cuts at regional airports in Fort Smith, Inuvik and Cambridge Bay.
Overall Budget
The committee recognized that this department's budget made up almost 50 per cent of the entire resource management envelope, but felt that Transportation did not go far enough in reducing its overall bottom line. To that end, the committee recommended that the Department of Transportation cut an additional $2.5 million from its overall 1996-97 budget. The department responded by cutting $677,000 from operations and maintenance costs and $1.823 million from capital spending.
Rankin Inlet Tank Farm
The Members noted that this project had been placed "on hold" until such time as the Keewatin Resupply Steering Committee could complete its review and provide recommendations to the government.
With this project on hold, the committee was surprised to see a $900,000 capital project for deep sea tanker moorings in Rankin Inlet in the department's 1996-97 main estimates. When questioned in April 1996, the Minister explained that this project was in fact "on hold' and that a plan was being developed to defer the tanker mooring project to 1997-98. In its place, the department planned to advance a number of smaller projects scheduled for 1997-98 to 1996-97. The committee agreed with this swap and felt that this option would make the best use of resources while waiting for the report of the Keewatin Resupply Steering Committee.
Mr. Chairman, the committee was pleased to see that the Minister did take the request of the committee seriously and did put these changes in place. I appreciate that.
The committee, therefore, recommends that the $900,000 Rankin Inlet deep sea tanker moorings project be deleted from the Department of Transportation's 1996-97 main estimates and replaced with the following: construct community wharf project, Arviat, $250,000; harbour enhancements, Iqaluit and Apex, $200,000; access road, Nahanni Butte, $200,000; access road, Baker Lake, $100,000; access road, various communities, $150,000.
Division
In its initial review, the committee recommended that the department not proceed with the planned transfer of PYs to Nunavut until incremental cost negotiations were finalized with the federal government. The department responded by stating that no substantial costs would be incurred until negotiations were completed. The committee was concerned with this statement and questioned what amount the department considered as substantial. The committee, therefore, recommended that the Department of Transportation not incur any costs related to the transfer of PYs to Nunavut until negotiations are completed with the federal government.
That concludes the remarks of the Standing Committee on Resource Management and Development on the Department of Transportation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.