Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. I am going to touch on a number of issues, rather than deal with specific issues.
First of all, Mr. Chairman, with regard to the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, I concur with the committee's report in relation to the comments they made. I am in agreement that the cost is escalating and the current estimate was $57 million, but it could go as high as $75 million, by what we hear. I would like to caution the department that, at the end of the day, we are going to end up paying for that bridge. If the cost escalates as they are predicting now, it's going to be us, the travellers, because the toll they are going to put on there is going to be more. I concur with what the standing committee is saying on this and we have to nail down a number we can stick to, a maximum dollar figure, so we know what the costs are going to be.
Mr. Chairman, with regard to airports, I want to make a few comments. I agree with what the committee said with regard to the combined-service building that is anticipated to be done at the airport here in Yellowknife. I guess the department should also consider the highway camp, so it's all in the same general area. I think the committee, if I read the report right, is suggesting that too.
With regard to the CARS program, Community Aerodrome Radio Station program, Madam Chair, it's going to be given over to a private contractor effective April 1st. I would like to encourage the department to work closely with NAV Canada and whoever the new contractor is going to be, to ensure that services continue to be delivered at a high level; and, that the northern contractors and northern employees are used to carry out this work as we have been doing with our government.
The other area I wanted to touch on with regard to airports is I wanted to know, Madam Chair, if the department had any discussions with the Dogrib Rae Band pertaining to the airport they have at the Edzo site. I know it's a privately-owned airport, but has there been any consultation or discussion to see if we could turn it into a public airport, as Wha Ti or Rae Lakes or Wekweti? The initiative has been taken on by the community, because the department was reluctant to put in an airport. This is
one of the few communities that bend over backwards to get their airports off the ground and they have done it successfully. I am just wondering if the department has discussed this with them. It takes money to operate a private airport. I want to know if there has been any discussion at all to see if we could move or assist them in terms of funding with their O and M or even to try to make it into a public airport, as we do in other communities.
With regard to highways, Madam Chair, and winter roads, I know the department is doing a lot of work in this area in other regions. I am more interested in the North Slave area. The winter road goes to the outlying communities of Wha Ti and Rae Lakes and also to Wekweti. My understanding is that Wekweti does not get a winter road on an annual basis. It's usually every other year, if I recall right. I wonder if the department had any discussions with the community, because I know that at one time the community was suggesting that maybe a new route should be undertaken, so that they would be connecting onto the other winter road that we have going to Wha Ti and Gameti, rather than going through the mine right now; going through Lupin. I wonder if the department had any discussions with regard to that.
The other area I wanted to touch on, Madam Chair, is highways; again, pertaining to our highway camp that we had in Edzo. Over a number of years, the department has been reducing the PYs in that particular camp. The people who are currently there have managed to stay quiet and not go against the department with what they are doing, but my understanding is they don't 'have a mechanic to service their equipment there, they don't have a clerk to do the paperwork there. They have a supervisor and, if I recall right, there are only four or five permanent jobs there.
I was there this weekend and I had the opportunity to talk with some of the staff. They would love to have it back as we did years ago when we weren't in a financial constraint with our government, but they never got those positions back and they are hurting right now. They are coping with what they have now. When equipment breaks, they will have to either bring it to Yellowknife or get someone out there. That's a big concern to me.
I am going to be following up in the next go-around, Madam Chair, so that we enhance that particular camp to the level we have here in the Yellowknife camp. My understanding is the Yellowknife camp has more PYs than we do at the Edzo camp. Even in the Minister's riding, his camp has more people than we do here.
So I just wanted to put the Minister on notice that, even though the department has been requesting that they reinstate these positions, nothing has been happening. I hope, through the next business cycle we go through, he takes a serious look at implementing these PYs back into that camp; especially the mechanic and the clerk position. There are other operators or trades people that were cut previously.
I am really concerned about the services that are being provided from that particular highway camp and the number of people who are doing the job. They are doing the job from Edzo all the way to Chan Lake and beyond. They are limited with the number of people over there.
Moving on, Madam Chair, I just wanted to say that I am glad that this Highway No. 3 work is going to continue on. Finally, it's going to be finished within another year and there will be a paving program starting at the other end, with the work that's been done this past summer. We are going to be seeing the conclusion, finally, of Highway No. 3 coming into Yellowknife.
Madam Chair, those are some of my general comments, but once we get into detail, I may have more comments. For now, I would like to ask the Minister to respond to some of the issues that I raised. Mahsi.