I call Committee of the Whole to order. We have lots of things on our agenda today. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The committee wishes to consider Appropriation Act, 2005-2006, for the Department of Transportation.

That's it? Well, we will do that after we take a well-deserved break.

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I will call Committee of the Whole to order. We are on

Transportation. I will ask committee if Mr. McLeod can bring in witnesses.

Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses to the witness table.

Minister McLeod, for the record, please introduce your witnesses.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, with me I have Russell Neudorf, the deputy minister; and I also have Mrs. Lynn Cook, director of corporate services.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. When we left off on Friday, we had the opening comments from the Minister and the response from the standing committee. We are now on general comments. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, today it's a pleasure to bring forward comments on behalf of Mr. Pokiak who is not able to deliver them here today, specifically regarding what's lacking in the Minister's opening statement.

There is nothing in the opening comments or this Transportation budget that is very specific to the Tuk-Inuvik highway or the lack thereof. Madam Chair, this project has been in concept, who knows where, for 30 years. Would the Minister speak directly to how we are addressing the lack of the Tuk-Inuvik highway and what investment is he willing to make or what does he plan to make? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will ask Members if they will refrain from making reference to Ministers or Members who may not be in the Chamber. Thank you. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the issue of the Tuk-Inuvik highway has been on our radar screen for some time. We have been looking at ways we can find the funding to put this project on the table. It was in our earlier submission as part of Corridors for Canada. However, the funding was not adequately funded as part of this initiative. We have not brought this issue forward to the federal government for some time. I should point out that the responsibilities for any new roads in the NWT are still under the responsibility of the federal government. We have not brought this issue forward to the federal government. We have had some discussions with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation. We have provided the information to them and we plan to look at this initiative again as part of our review this coming year. We plan to update our Highway Strategy.

We also plan to compile information required to look at putting together our need through the next while in terms of new roads, new projects and make another submission. Our focus will be a little different this time. Last time, our Corridors for Canada submission was focused in the areas of resource development and the potential gas pipeline. This time we still have the issue of resource development, but we also want to look at focussing on connecting our communities this time around and trying to do some reconstruction to the areas that have not seen investment in the last go-around for federal funding. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Madam Chair. It was really good to hear that. It almost sounds like it's going to be a priority for the next Corridors for Canada document. Can the Minister confirm that, because I think he described two areas that didn't receive money connecting communities? Can he reaffirm if it will be a priority in the next document presented to Canada with regard to the responsibility for new roads?

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, it is one of our priorities. It has been something we tried to deal with a while ago. We are compiling new information to put a submission together. At the same time, we are still having discussions with the Mackenzie gas project proponents. We would like to bring forward a number of initiatives that are potential to see as legacy projects. We have a very lengthy list put together and this is one of the projects we would like to put on the table for discussion with them. Our list is well over $600 million right now. So there is still a lot of work to be done. There are still many projects in the North that we have to be able to find some way to attach financing to these projects. So we are working on it from a number of different angles. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate that the Minister calls it a priority. My only concern is, is it a priority of one out of thousands, or one out of 10, or one out of five? The reason I say this is because it was good to hear him say words like legacy project. This Mackenzie gas project is going to be one of our wonderful opportunities to create tripartite agreements between federal funding opportunities, industry opportunities, as well as territorial opportunities to link our communities year-round. I wouldn't fathom to guess how many trucks will be driving up and down the road between Wrigley to Inuvik, but I will say there will be a lot.

That being said, the Tuk-Inuvik highway is still a critical issue specifically for that region. You have, for example, Tuktoyaktuk that has no gravel source and yet gravel is only 20 kilometres away. I don't think Mr. Pokiak's point was to do the whole highway all in one jump, but I think we need a formal strategic priority and plan that addresses that, because within 20 kilometres away, we need that special asset called gravel. That is a key to that community. So if we could work towards meeting that 20-kilometre initiative by saying we can start it and truly we will not accomplish it in one year, but we need to start the project and get it moving forward. In my colleague's words, he demonstrates that we spend hundreds of thousands on ice roads every year that just melt away. It's an investment that doesn't last. This is a type of legacy project. I would like to hear today that you will consult this side of the House about support for legacy projects that go from Wrigley all the way to Tuk, because that will connect our communities permanently. I agree with you, it is a federal responsibility and I won't assume it isn't; but

along those access points, once we establish a firm highway, a lot of economic opportunity can then be reborn. This Mackenzie project is a window of 20 to 25 years. This is the next project. Once we open up those corridors, we can look at what's going to come on the heels of this one. Once we open up those year-round opportunities for people to explore those areas, we can have a lot of development for many years and spread out the boom and bust economy.

Can I get some commitment from this Minister, although it's not in this budget, that he will consult with this side of the House about treating it as a significant priority? I think there are many Members on this side who would like to see those goat trails of highways we had north of Wrigley become true infrastructure and this is our opportunity to have industry, the federal government, as well as this side of the House on board and for creating true infrastructure for benefiting all our citizens year-round. Can we get that type of commitment from the Minister? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There are probably around a dozen initiatives that we are looking at. We still are costing out some of these projects that we need to address and we are still deciding which projects we will bring forward and the methodology we will use to submit that to the federal government.

I want to point out that this project the Member has referred to, a gravel source, is a $15 million project. To have the highway go from Tuk to Inuvik is $100 million. So there really has to be a commitment and we have to have the federal government onside to do that. We have had discussions, as I said earlier, with the federal government some time ago and we would like to do that again.

There are different areas of the North that have needs in terms of new roads. There is the Slave Geological Province, the Mackenzie Valley roads and the Inuvik-Tuk highway, as well as others coming forward requesting us to look at connecting their communities to part of their highways. So there is a lot of work we have to do. We are talking to industry about trying to put some of these initiatives under legacy projects. We are talking to the federal government. Hopefully we will have some positive results in the future.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the willingness of the Minister. Can we get the Minister to at least commit today...Let's first be very clear. We know this wouldn't be done all at once. That's a fair observation. We know nobody is going to give us all the money all at once to do whatever we want. I recognize that and the Minister recognizes that. That's just the reality. What we could commit to is the fact that we want to do these things. I think we need the commitment here today that we will want to do these things. When we say it's a priority, it's not just one in 1,000 priorities. We can only have so many priority number ones and that's my concern. Everything is a priority; but I think this is truly a great opportunity and seize it in the legacy project, as coined by the Minister.

We need new corridors for Canada. This will open up a lot of known and proven areas of potential mineral and oil and gas development opportunities. So this will certainly be a legacy, just not for the short term, but to connect our communities as well. I don't have to go on at length about how our citizens have to drive all the way around through the Yukon and down to B.C., just to get back to the NWT. This will reaffirm our little sovereignty in the Northwest Territories. So this is just one little element of government working for the people. I just want to have the assurance that the Minister will truly make this a priority of this government and engage Regular Members on the importance of this.

The last point which I want to emphasize is by no means would I assume the whole Tuk-Inuvik highway would be done all in one year or in one push. That may be hopeful and may be what we ultimately want, but let's recognize the first surge from that community area is getting to that gravel source and working towards it. Thank you, Madam Chair. If I could get those types of acknowledgements from the Minister of those true priorities, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We certainly consider the Tuk-Inuvik highway as an area we have to develop at some point. We, of course, have to identify the resources to do it. It is a priority. We will commit to engaging the Regular Members in our discussions as we develop our proposal and package. We will share that with Regular Members.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Next on my list I have Mr. Menicoche.