Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If the Minister would take the time to look back at the submissions made to the 13th Assembly he will find that there were two submissions made. There is a company in Fort Providence that, on July the 8th, is making a presentation to the community to discuss the possibility of constructing a bridge. I cannot understand why the Minister is not aware of it when everyone else seems to be talking about a bridge, he does not seem to know. My question, since he is not aware of it, would he be willing to construct a bridge? Would he take that into consideration if the proposal was fiscally sound so that it did not incur a cost to the territorial government?
Debates of July 5th, 2000
This is page numbers 467 - 532 of the Hansard for the 14th Assembly, 3rd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.
Topics
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 495
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 495
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 495
Vince Steen Nunakput
Mr. Chairman, my department says that they have heard of the proposal but they have not received any proposal. But we would be open to all options and all offers.
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 495
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 495
Michael McLeod Deh Cho
Thank you, that is good to hear. I have heard the Premier indicate that there is a real desire to increase the exploration season for oil companies by constructing a number of small bridges in the Sahtu area and in the areas north of here. It really makes a lot of sense, but I was just wondering if the Minister has ever looked at trying to increase, by the same token, the shipping season along the Mackenzie for barging. I have noticed through my life in the community of Fort Providence that once the ice on the Mackenzie goes, it is another month before the tugboats can get out of Hay River because of the ice that is on the lake. The season does not usually start until the end of June, when the ice has gone out in mid-May. We probably could get another month or so of shipping if we had looked at relocating the barging headquarters or putting a launching facility in the community of Fort Providence, or at least in the area. I would like to ask the Minister if he has looked at that kind of a scenario?
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Howard
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Specifically, to my knowledge, we have not looked at a barging operation starting out of Fort Providence. What I do know is that a barging company tries to take advantage of early shipments up and down the Mackenzie River before the lake ice is free. The overall transportation strategy that was done in the early to mid-1990s did look at transportation on the river system. One of the options that was looked at there was the possibility of a barging service starting out of Fort Providence. There really has been no interest, to my knowledge, expressed by the private sector that carries out that kind of business. Thank you.
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
July 4th, 2000
Page 496
Michael McLeod Deh Cho
The reason I bring up the barging relocation is because of my next question. It kind of ties in but it is also another option that I have looked at and many other people in my riding have looked at. It is looking at extending the rail link that goes to Enterprise and turning it north so that it would go to the south side of the Mackenzie River. It would make a lot of sense, in my opinion, and would save wear and tear on the highway system, although that would probably be the extent of what we could look at because we do not have a bridge yet. I am just curious if the Minister has had any discussions with any of the rail companies and if he has even considered extending the rail link north to the south side of Fort Providence.
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I have not met any of the rail people since I have been the Minister, but Mr. Howard may have some information.
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Howard
Mr. Chairman, I really cannot add to that. We did have some pretty significant discussion with Rail Link, the new owner of the rail line from Grimshaw north to Hay River. That was in terms of the service only to Hay River and to the marine terminal at Hay River. To my knowledge there has been no discussion of extending the rail system beyond the Hay River-Enterprise corridor.
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Michael McLeod Deh Cho
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I certainly want to encourage the Minister and his department to start looking at new and different options. It seems like we are stuck in the same rut. We are talking about the same issues over and over and getting the same response that there is no money, when in fact, there are many different initiatives we could look at.
Under the environmental concerns, I want to raise the issue again that I raised in the House regarding the ice bridge at Fort Providence. It is more and more becoming an area for a potential disaster. We had a close call this year. There is a need for highway patrol and enforcement in that area. I had asked the question to the Minister and he had indicated he would look at that seriously. I want to remind the Minister that we have on average 13 to 15 accidents on the highway with the bison and we do not have any highway patrol there to enforce the speed limits.
Has the Minister given some thought to the idea of having a highway patrol officer located in the community of Fort Providence?
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, at the time the Member brought the question up, I passed it on to the department. I think the department has a plan in place. I will ask Mr. Howard to respond to that.
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Howard
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member's request was heard by the department. We are in the midst of an entire functional review of our motor vehicles division. It looks at all aspects of not only enforcement on our highway system, but the other areas of the division's business, the registry system, driver's licenses, license plates and so forth. We are looking at how we specifically deliver our enforcement program in the division. We hope to have that review totally complete by early September. We should be able to make a final decision on that basis sometime this fall.
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Steven Nitah Tu Nedhe
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. For the record, Mr. Chairman, I would also like to speak about chip-sealing Highway No. 6 in Fort Resolution. I have asked the Minister and his department staff on a number of occasions, at a personal level in his office, in committee meetings, and in the House, so for the record, I would like to ask the Minister again in committee of the whole, can the department look at chip-sealing Highway No. 6? Thank you.
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Public Safety
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
Page 496
Vince Steen Nunakput
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the persistence of the Member. As with Highway No. 5, Highway No. 7, and Highway No. 8, I have to say the same to every Member. The department is looking on an annual basis at the needs of the highways. We then see if we have the funds to address and improve the conditions of the highways over and above what they already are.
We just do not have the funds. We would like to address all the needs, but we just do not have the funds. Highway No. 6, I have been told by the department, although it is not anywhere near what we would like it to be, it is passable and serviceable. That is all I can tell the Member. I do not have any capital dollars I can spend on his section of the highway. Thank you.