I’d like to thank the Minister for all those commitments. I haven’t heard that in a while in this House, so it’s something to celebrate.
I was talking to a gentleman who was originally from Europe in regard to asphalt. With asphalt, basically you can haul it over a long distance, up to four or five hours, before it will set. I know that in Inuvik they are producing asphalt for the expansion in the Inuvik area. I’m wondering: has the department ever looked at a plan to deal with the laying of asphalt? We talk about main-street chipseal. I think it’s something we have to look at.
I notice that under Transportation, Transportation wants to take on that responsibility in-house. If they’re going to take it on in-house, that means they’re going to require the appropriate equipment to lay asphalt, chipseal, whatever.
You mentioned that the Main Street Chipsealing Program, which has been in place a number of years, has been cancelled. The whole idea was that MACA was the one that basically worked with the communities to identify the dollars and that Transportation was the department that had the engineering expertise to manage the project. Is there a possibility that the department could look at some sort of territory-wide initiative that can deal with this dust-control problem in the communities, deal with the issue of accessing asphalt, chipseal or whatever where there’s already an existing operation? That alone will save money for the communities in the long run and also develop a territory-wide program that will benefit all communities.
I feel this is achievable and is something that should be seriously looked at by the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs along with the Department of Transportation. If Transportation wants that infrastructure, then Transportation can provide that service to our communities along with
the highways. I think that’s something that has to be considered.
After having that discussion with that individual at the airport, where he was mentioning that there was a certain type of asphalt you can get now that you don’t have to set right away and that you can transport over a couple of hours and it will still hold before you have to lay it, I think that’s something we should seriously consider. I know there are quite a few projects in the works. We’re looking at Highway No. 6, Highway No. 7, Highway No. 5 and work that’s going to be going on in different airports. There are projects going on in the Inuvik area, and I think that should be seriously considered by the department.
I’d like to ask the Minister if that is something he can possibly look at in light of the cancellation of the Main Street Chipsealing Program: if we can sort of enhance it and come forward with a new initiative that’s accessible to other communities throughout the Northwest Territories so we can improve the dust control in our communities.