Mr. Speaker, our first priority within the department is the safety of our facilities, our streets, our roads.
When we originally looked at the refit for the N’Dulee ferry, when the scope of work was laid out, it was planned that we would do this before any of this type of delay would be happening for this specific ferry.
When we looked at the refit and saw that further work needed to get done within the ferry, that required us to put in extra resources and time, and those other circumstances that happened are out of our control.
Again, we want to make sure that we do a proper job. Safety is number one, and sometimes it does make it inconvenient for people in small communities.
I come from a small community in our region, in Sahtu, and we are also aware of these winter roads and the undue circumstances that happen that hinder our transportation of goods — and people to events such as the well-attended event that is happening in Hay River.