Mahsi, Minister McLeod. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Minister. I'd be happy to work with you on several fronts on this one here in terms of educating our young drivers and educating our people in the Sahtu communities and other communities around the North in terms of having safe vehicles on the road and having responsible drivers on the road because our winter seasons are shortening, but we're also taking advantage of our winter roads and it's important to have education in our communities that driving while under the influence is not okay. Any impaired driving issues should be taken very seriously by our people and by this government. So I'm very happy the Minister responded in a positive manner.

Mr. Chairman, I want to talk about the opening comments by the Minister and he's right on the button, Mr. Chairman, he's right on the button in terms of having a cup of coffee on our dashboards in the Sahtu region and not spilling one drop of coffee on our roads. So I don't know if the coffee is frozen, or it's a fresh pot of coffee, but I had that comment made to me by an elder in Fort Good Hope named Charlie Barnaby, telling me he wanted me to make it known to the Minister and his staff for his compliments of 100 percent improving on our winter roads in the Sahtu region. So the elder wanted to pass that along to him. That's his words to the department.

So I wanted to talk about the safety of the public transportation system. Of course, we have our winter road system only about three months and again we're going to ask for a type of increases in the budget for safety signs. We have big trucks coming through on a time schedule, and sometimes they have to meet deadlines and because they're getting paid by the load or the time they drive up into our communities and they do what they have to do to make a quick turnaround. So if there's an increase in safety in motor vehicles and safety signs and the patrols along the way for wide load trucks and fuel trucks, there's also safety precautions put in place that would see that we have safe driving practices on our winter roads.

Mr. Chairman, the issue of contracts in our region, we only have three months of seasonal work. So when we have this work we fight hard for our own contractors who have assets in the Sahtu region to at least have a fair chance of receiving these contracts, because we have three months of work, that's all we get. We don't have an all-season road that comes in and out and they can work on a yearly basis. If anything, we'll get small little contracts in our community, which is grading the roads and cleaning up parts of the airport like that. So we don't have that advantage of having an all-season road and our contracts are only there for three months and once you have them, you make the best of them because if you lose the winter road contract, you might as well just pack up your bags and move to another community and start getting into other areas. A lot of our people are home grown boys who put sweat and equity into their companies. You know, they're going to stay there, they pay their taxes there. So I appreciate the Minister having some flexibility in discussing things like that and other ways we can work, but yet, at the same time, be fair across the Northwest Territories. But we need in the Sahtu that we pay the prices of the Sahtu, so it has to give some consideration to that.

I have also asked the Minister to continue to take back to his office an idea that maybe my former MLA talked about having a regional office of highways into the Sahtu. I know our operations are right out of Fort Simpson now and our other operation head office is out of Inuvik. So I'd like to bring some of the Transportation offices into the Sahtu to maintain some stability and connectedness and connecting all our communities in this area here.

Mr. Chairman, the increase of resource development in the Sahtu region has also indicated for the increase of volume of traffic. I believe the Minister has done some good work in working with the oil companies to see that we have more stable roads and more stability and safety here. So I'm going to leave it at that.

The airport traffic increased also in the past couple of years and I wanted to ask the Minister later on in terms of the shelter in Colville Lake. We still don't have a shelter. I know there's some plans to put something there. We don't have a facility. So if they have any ideas, maybe he can ask his counterparts if they have any ideas for these Novel manufactured homes. Maybe that's something that can go into Colville Lake's airport for show and tell. I think that would be a fine example of the wear and tear of any type of use of a project.

Mr. Chairman, I wanted to ask the Minister also, he talked about the reconstruction of a project in his opening statements in terms of work done around the Mackenzie Valley winter road. How is that going to impact this year and next year? I will have some more questions in the detail, but just maybe some general comments now.

My last comment to the Minister in terms of the Mackenzie Valley all-weather road is that I wonder, again, if he would consider going back to his federal counterparts in saying that we like the idea. Some people right now are half and half on the Mackenzie Valley winter road. Some support it and some don't support it. The idea that they do like is that let's connect the Sahtu communities first before you push the highway south or north. Do not push it from the south up to Tulita or to the Wells. Push it in the communities first; connect Good Hope, Norman Wells and Tulita, and part way into Deline. But not to push it from the south going from Wrigley to Fort Good Hope. Otherwise our people will not have the chance and the capacity to compete with southern contracts on the winter road. Let's connect the Sahtu first, and let's set these priorities. So I want to ask the Minister to give him some of these things to think about in terms of if he wants to respond, then I'll allow him to. Or it's up to you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for the time.

Mahsi, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister McLeod.

Mr. Chairman, the Member's made a number of points that I'd like to respond to. First of all, I guess, I'd like to give reassurance to the Member that we made several submissions to the federal government and we will continue to follow through on these initiatives, working with some of our colleagues in other jurisdictions on the initiative to make the Mackenzie Valley road from Wrigley to Tuk a reality, and also to follow through what we're hoping is going to be a new initiative program, and we're waiting to see where that will fall out in terms of this new government continuing to bring it forward or not. Either Corridors for Canada II, which is a short-term request for additional monies, and additional monies on a short term is just to look at upgrading and continuing the work that we've already started with our Corridors for Canada initiative. We've applied for more money through a second document, $162 million, and this includes money for more of the bridge work, more of the grade work and things of that nature to extend the season. So we're quite a ways yet from building an all-weather road and we certainly commit to having those discussions with the people from the Sahtu to let them know where we're at and what's included in those plans.

With the safety issue of the Mackenzie Valley winter road, it's something that we've talked on a number of occasions with the Member and have discussed ways of how to try to deal with that. We started putting signs up. We've committed to putting 600 signs on the Mackenzie Valley winter road. This is our second year of doing so. Over the last winter season, or I guess the summer season, a few of our signs came down because of frost heaving, but we've put all those up and put it in properly, and we'll continue to work on that.

We plan to have our highway patrol go in as many times as they did last year. We also will be having our highway patrol going with the Transport Canada people and do inspections on dangerous goods. So there's a number of things we're going to be doing to ensure that the safety factor is there on the Mackenzie Valley different road. We've also incorporated a speed limit for that road, so there is now the ability for the RCMP to go in and also for them to stop and charge people for speeding.

The regional office is something that we've moved away from. It was a request that came forward several years ago. We've looked at it. The system we have in place now is very cost-efficient, it is working well. In terms of having enough work for staff to be in the region year round is something we're very challenged to be able to get them to have enough work that will keep them busy year round. So it would either mean leaving our office unoccupied for a portion of the year, or reduce staff, or find additional tasks for our people to do. So we're still looking at it and it's not something that's high on the agenda, but it's something that we're going to have to be able to demonstrate to our Cabinet colleagues that it's something we need to do and we've got enough work there.

Regarding the Colville Lake shelter at the airport, there was a shelter at the airport. We moved it out of there. We got rid of it because it was vandalized and destroyed. We are now doing some work at the airport. We're extending the apron and the parking. So we will now take another look at it and some if we can, at some point, replace that facility and look at a facility that maybe will be a little more durable or something of that nature.

Mahsi, Minister McLeod. Next on the list I have Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to highlight one aspect in general and that is the sustainability, the reliability and the sustainability of the winter road connection into the diamond mine country, Mr. Chair. This winter we've, I think, kind of all held our breath a bit because of the extremely warm weather, the high water, the high levels of snowfall which have severely delayed the opening of this road to full roads. I understand it's open to at least partial loads now and everyone is hopeful that this cold weather that we're receiving now will stay with us, I think, and strengthen the roads and enable what I understand is a record volume of traffic to make it up the road in time.

Mr. Chairman, I recall discussions about this vital winter transportation a few years ago in the Assembly, and with, I think, the same kind of strategy, if you will, that we're seeing winter road bridge construction up the Mackenzie Valley. It was known that the portages, of course, and the stream crossings are the last to freeze and the first to thaw and, therefore, the weakest link in the road. A similar condition, of course, exists on the diamond resupply road off the Ingraham Trail. I'm wondering if the department has been spurred somewhat by this year's warmer weather, whether there's been any sort of revival of the ideas expressed a few years ago where would it

make sense for the sustainability, the reliability, and the length of season for the diamond winter road to put some bridges in the stream crossings at least in the southern part of that road so that we're going to be able to ensure the winter resupply? So that's what I wanted to asked about, Madam Chair. With the advent of this trend, warmer winters, are we going to need to make more of an investment, or try to see more of an investment into the winter resupply road to the diamond mines?

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Member brings forward a real concern, and that's the weather that's been really hampering all our winter roads and all our ice bridges. In some areas, especially down the winter road, the weather has really challenged us. This is the first time that we've ever had to bring in spray pumps from the south side of the Territories into that area to build up the ice so that we can get access into the community and into some of the area for resource development.

We're also being very challenged in the building of the road to Wekweeti, and it's become very obvious that it's going to be a concern this year about the ability to get that road completed. We've seen a number of pieces of equipment go through the ice and we've also seen some of the creeks that were frozen three weeks ago now are flowing already. So it really brings concern about other areas.

The concern on the roads to the diamond mines is something also that is of concern to the diamond companies. It is now open to partial loads. I think it's up to 60 percent, or around that area, for the load capacity that they're bringing in. It's allowing them to haul partial loads and get fuel into the mines and it's probably still cheaper than flying it in, but it's a concern.

Whether bridges are going to be the answer, I don't know. A good portion of that winter road is built on ice and we would really have to take a look, or they would have to take a look at a different route. I don't know if that's possible to put in all the different bridges. We are looking at some small initiatives to see how we can deal with ice conditions.

There are companies out there that are coming forward with different creative innovative measures of trying to look at making the road last longer or getting on the ice faster. We are trying at least one of them with a company that's producing mats to see if that would work to save from mud being tracked onto the ice. There are also mats that have refrigerated units attached to it. So there's things out there that we're looking at with interest.

But overall, we haven't looked at bridges for the winter road. We have, though, been looking at increasing and looking at the all-weather road portion on the Ingraham Trail and see if that would make sense to extend that portion. That's the extent of what we're doing there, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Braden.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, okay, I'm sure the companies are going to be anxious to look at this over the next few years just to see what kind of a trend there may be. The impact on the economy for at least the whole of the North Slave region in the event of a very dramatic failure of that trail would be quite substantial. So there is a lot at stake in maintaining the sustainability of this road. So I would certainly be interested in hearing from the department, at any point, just what kind of measures could be undertaken in there.

Madam Chair, that's really the only thing I have under general comments. I have some more specific questions that I will undertake when we get to detail. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Braden. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. General comments. Next I have Mr. Villeneuve.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess just a broad perspective on the department's opening comments that I just want to let the Minister know that it's good to see that a lot of the new highway infrastructure improvement initiatives are in cooperation and in partnership with our federal government, and it's good to see that the department has initiated a lot of these good initiatives because they do comprise of a large component of retaining our current infrastructure in a safe and reliable mode, I guess. I know that a lot of the monies that the Department of Transportation is putting into our highway systems is through the federal government. It's good to see, and I hope that they keep up that kind of lobbying effort and meeting with our federal government to renewing a lot of these funding initiatives and seeing some more improvements in our highway systems.

I guess I just wanted to touch on stuff like initiatives where the Corridors for Canada I and II that where they are talking with the federal government on initiatives of this type, that all the highways in the NWT be included in these funding arrangements, because I feel that all highways in the NWT are corridors in the NWT and every highway has just as much weight on importance to residents as any other one, whether it's for commercial use or just for private use.

Just on the topic of negotiated contracts also, just to stress some more points that my friend from Nahendeh was talking about on the importance that these negotiated contracts have to our smaller communities and our more remote centres that rely heavily on transportation contracts coming down the pipe to the community, and the money actually being directed into the community and staying with the community. Again, you know, just earlier today I was talking about the government's new outlook should be one that splits up the policy into two different perspectives, one for the smaller centres and one for the larger centres. Because I can see the government's rationale in that the negotiated contracts are not really fair in Yellowknife, Hay River, Smith, Norman Wells, and Inuvik and places like that, but all the other 27 smaller

communities, you know, negotiated contracts are really valued to the communities as a whole. A lot of the community elders, youth, and people who want to stay in the communities rely on these contracts, and I just don't see the fairness in just going across the board and having one negotiated contract policy that applies to every community in the NWT. I hope the government kind of embarks on this new outlook, I guess, for the revitalization of small communities. I know a lot of the companies in these small communities that work with negotiated contracts and they've been going on for years, but a lot of those negotiated contracts have a lot of merit in why they should be retained as negotiated contracts. A lot of these educated people in a capacity that is built within these communities assists people in moving into the diamond mine industry, or the oil and gas industry, and they don't usually stick around in the community too long once they're qualified either through heavy equipment operator course or something of that nature. It's a continuous capacity-building initiative, I think, for smaller centres, and I think that's something that the government should place a lot of value on in keeping our small communities in the loop and not having these large corporate giants coming in and plopping themselves down in the community just to win a tender or something like that.

With that, again, I know that the Bear River Bridge project in the Mackenzie Valley road program is at the $100 million mark and that includes the beginning of the construction on the Bear River project. I just wanted to ask the Minister, what portion of that $11 million is directly attributable to the phase one or phase two of this Bear River Bridge project? I just want to get some perspective of how much the department is actually looking at spending this year on the project.

Thank you, Mr. Villeneuve. Mr. McLeod.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I guess, first of all, we have to agree that a lot of the responsibility for investment in our roads lie with the federal government. We need investment from the federal government and will continue to bring our vision of what roads can be developed, or should be developed, in the Northwest Territories over the long term and work at trying to secure some funding. Any of the programs that may come forward we have developed a lot of that work. We've scoped it out, we've done some of the costing on it, so we are quite ready to move forward.

In the latest submission to the federal government we focused not only on areas in the Northwest Territories where there was a considerable amount of resource development. We have also looked at other communities where the resource development activity is not there in terms of large traffic volumes or aircraft, but we also took into consideration that there needs to be good roads, safe, reliable roads, and a lot of these roads are starting to get on in age and have to be reconstructed. We included Highway No. 6 and we've included in part of the budget that was in our proposal, a $2 million amount for a number of years, four years, because we feel that these communities need to have the roads, the good quality paved roads, such as that we're developing on some of the other highways. It also factors into the cost of living when you have roads that are...We have the good, safe, reliable system in place.

The negotiated contract issue is something I had responded to Mr. Menicoche on. I recognize and I'll say again, I recognize that there's still a considerable need in our smaller communities. A lot of times these contracts provide a lot of the training that happens in the small communities, and I know for a fact in Mr. Villeneuve's riding the company there has always done good work and has produced a lot of good equipment operators. But at the same time, it's been a revolving door for the diamond mines to pick the cream of the crop and the guys who want to go on and try other things.

We should point out, though, that negotiated contracts is something that's been focused on usually for the smaller communities. I don't believe we have any negotiated contracts in the larger centres. We kind of restrict them to the smaller centres. The larger centres have a good, healthy market or a good...There is good competition there and I don't think they would appreciate it to go in and negotiate a contract. Having said that, there are still areas of the Northwest Territories where there are a number of small communities where there's a lot of activity happening, and there's a lot of small companies and small aboriginal companies that are competing with each other. What has happened in some situations, it's made it really difficult for the MLA to sign off a support letter when you have three or four different companies asking you all for support, and it puts, sometimes, some of the politicians in a very awkward situation.

The Bear River Bridge, we have committed I think it's $11 million. It's a portion of the $25 million that was earmarked for this bridge and this is to pay for some of the engineering, the geotechnical, some of the work that has been, work that's required to do on this bridge, and also the start of the actual construction of this bridge. That's what this budget amount is for.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Next on the list I have Mr. Pokiak.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I think I'd like to start off by showing my disappointment in regard to the Minister's opening statement, remarks. Basically I'm talking mainly about the access road to source 177, to the gravel source for the community of Tuktoyaktuk. This has been going on for quite some time now. You know very well that in Corridors for Canada I, there was $15 million identified to source 177 for the access road. Looking at some of the research information that was provided to me, Madam Chair, I have a feeling where that money has gone to. I won't name any MLAs sitting here, but that money's gone to another riding that I'm sort of disappointed in. Highway No...well, I'll call it Ingraham Trail, anyway.

So that's my disappointment in regards to the Corridors for Canada I where the money was identified.

Further comments, Madam Chair, is I am glad that the department is looking at trying to access funds under Corridors for Canada II and also connecting Canada from coast to coast to coast. I will continue to lobby to get this access road built to source 177, Madam Chair.

With regard to the proposed $2 million for the reconstruction on the highway between Prelude Lake and

Powder Point, I'd like to ask the Minister if there was any money or any funds requested by the diamond mines for the reconstruction of this access road, or with this road. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Pokiak. Mr. McLeod.

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I think it's important that the Member is clear that the $15 million he's referencing is the number that was scoped out as the actual cost at that time. It's a 22-kilometre road to source 177. We did not get any money from the federal government. There was no money allocated through the SIF program for that project. There was some discussion about a cost-sharing arrangement where we would pay. It was two-thirds, one-third, and the Northwest Territories was required to pay two-thirds. We didn't think that was a fair arrangement, so we didn't accept that offer. So there was not, at no time was there money allocated through the Corridors for Canada that we used for constructing a road anywhere else. That road is projected to cost about three-quarters of a million dollars per kilometre and there was, I think, to date, one kilometre done on it and that was done by the community. The community has been applying for money through the community access road program at $50,000 a year, and they use this money to construct that portion of the road.

As to the diamond mines requesting, Madam Chair, I'll have Mr. Neudorf respond to that.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Neudorf.