Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr.

Speaker, I want to continue with some questions for the Minister of Transportation in regard to the Deh Cho Bridge project. In response to an earlier question that I had, the Minister said that there wasn’t a firm design on the project itself. I’d like to ask the Minister if he could explain to the House why or how a project of this magnitude gets so far along -- and I believe it’s $36 million having been spent already -- with no firm design being in place, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The

honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the bridge project has to follow and abide by the Canadian Highway Bridge Code on all aspects of the project including design, and must also have the design pass a number of very rigorous tests and evaluations to ensure that the project meets that code. At the time of the

signing of the concession agreement, both the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation and the Government of the Northwest Territories had agreed to complete these detailed examinations. Those are currently being held and we will have the report, hopefully, sometime over the summer. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, going back, you

know, when the concession agreement was signed, and I was under the impression, as were, I think, many members of the public and Members of this House, that the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation had been working on a design for that bridge for a number of years prior to the concession agreement being signed. I believe the government, in signing the concession agreement, should have had a firm detailed analysis of the design done so that no design changes would have to take place, especially this far along into the project. Was the due diligence done on behalf of the Department of Transportation on the design of this bridge before the concession agreement was signed off on, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I think

the project has followed all the rules and regulations up to now. There may have been, could have and should have maybe had this all signed off prior to the project starting. The reality is there was an agreement between the Bridge Corporation and our government that this would happen after the concession agreement would be signed, and that evaluation is taking place now. The Bridge Corporation has hired a very competent firm to do so, and will review all design issues and work very closely with our advisors to ensure that this bridge is safe and as maintenance free as possible and it serves the public for many years to come. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, if you go out to spend

$165 million of what is going to amount to public funds, in my estimation, you would make sure that all that work was done prior to getting into an agreement that commits you to $4 million a year indexed for every year for the next 35 years. Obviously, this was rushed. It was a rush decision to sign this concession agreement and to get the project started. Again, I’m left wondering why and I think the public should be having many questions about why this concession agreement was signed off three days prior to the last election to allow a project to start that now we’re starting to see that all the i’s were not dotted, all the t’s were not crossed. There are some problems here, Mr. Speaker, and I think we need to try to get a handle on those problems. Another question I have on the project is if it is a fixed price contract at $165 million, why are we already accessing the prefunded contingency fund of $10 million, Mr. Speaker? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the

contingency fund was built into the $165 million price tag and it is to cover off any unforeseen costs. It’s not unusual to do this. It’s certainly not unusual to have claims on any large contract of this size. This is certainly a mega-project. It’s one of the biggest P3 projects that are going on and one of the few projects, certainly, in Canada and the biggest one we have on our books. So we can’t expect that there won’t be delays and challenges with a project of this nature. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final

supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Mr. Speaker, we have

had a series of meetings now with our contractors and the developer regarding the performance over this past year. We have had a facilitator come in and talk to the different companies and see how we can improve things. We have all agreed to step up and provide a lot more attention, a lot more resources to the project...(inaudible)...people on the ground. That’s no different for us as a government. We are expecting to have a further position so that we can follow through with some of the quality assurance and audits that are required. I think that’s going to help us move along and move forward with this whole project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The

honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr.

Speaker, my question is to the Minister of ITI in regard to the Canol Heritage Trail proposed park. I want to ask the Minister, Mr. Speaker, has this department done any type of preliminary plans in terms of developing certain sections of that park in terms of proposing to one day have a park that the people of the Northwest Territories would be very proud of? Has his department done some of the preliminary plans to develop it?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The

honourable Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Bob McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have, in the past, worked with the community management committee to look at developing the

Canol Park and Canol Trail, and we’ve done work in that area. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I have read

the...(inaudible)...management park. The report is not yet quite complete; however, some very good people have worked on it for a number of years. Now the next step is in terms of implementation of that management plan. That’s why I would like to ask the Minister: Is there a time and date as to when he foresees the beginning of implementing an action plan to develop the Canol Heritage...(inaudible)...park?

I lived in Norman Wells at

one time and I’m quite familiar with the Canol Trail and the history that goes with the development of the Canol Pipeline. Certainly, in the past, I’ve had occasion to fly the pipeline route and there is a lot of history in that area, and certainly some of it looks like time stood still in some of the places that we visited. There are a lot of old vehicles from the ‘40s and there are a lot of old buildings and there’s a lot of old history. Along with that, certainly, there are a lot of environmental liabilities. There is some significant cleanup that has to be done. There are some significant wires that have been left over from the ground lines that were in place going back through history. So in order to be able to move forward with the development of the Canol Heritage Trail and the park, we require the federal government to clean up the land, deal with the environmental liabilities and then transfer the land to the Government of the Northwest Territories so that we can put the plans into place to develop the Canol Trail and Canol Park. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister has

certainly given a good overview in terms of the history of the park. The Mackenzie Mountains, where that park is situated, has a tremendous amount of wealth in terms of knowledge, experience, traditional knowledge, minerals, just a mountain of wealth in that area. Mr. Speaker, I’ve walked that trail. I have walked it and certainly hope to this year. God willing, we will do the last 50 miles on that trail this year. Mr. Speaker, I would ask the Minister, if his schedule permits, if he will be able to join us. However, I want to ask the Minister, in terms of the implementation of the park, is it possible to start developing some of the significant infrastructure in the park rather than wait for the total transfer from the federal government to this territorial government so the Sahtu can have a park?

Mr. Speaker, the Sahtu

Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement in 1994 included an obligation for the Government of the Northwest Territories to prepare a park management plan for a territorial park along the Canol Heritage Trail. A park management plan was developed under the direction of a park

management committee, which was comprised of representatives of Industry, Tourism and Investment and Sahtu land claim organizations, and was approved on January 22, 2007. Now, as I had talked about the cleanup that was required -- and the federal government is responsible for cleanup of the trail -- the full cleanup is expected to take between five to 10 years. A federal-territorial working group is being convened to address issues related to the trail. As part of that, we can work with this committee to look at whether there are opportunities to take certain parts of it and move forward while we’re waiting for the trail to be cleaned up. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final

supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr.

Speaker, the Minister has made reference to the land claim and the department’s willingness to work within the parameters to develop this park. I would ask the Minister: After 13 years of this park here being developed, would he invite, also, the Sahtu of Tulita district to be part of this working committee to develop the park? Would the Minister commit to doing that?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr.

McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Officials from ITI met with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and discussed some of the issues which included the land transfer, wire hazards, work scheduling, contamination sites, immediate plans, tourism opportunities, trail related infrastructure and third-party interests. Now, the federal-territorial work group was envisaged as being primarily made up of government officials, but I think that we would see it appropriate to meet with some of the people of Tulita to update them on what the situation is and to see where there are opportunities to move forward. As the Member knows, there are some significant abandoned buildings, equipment and vehicles that are out there that have to be cleaned up. I think there are other significant hazards to human and animal health such as oil spills, exposed asbestos, structurally unsafe buildings as well as almost 650 linear kilometres of copper coated steel telephone wire. So I think just with that, it would be very appropriate to discuss with the community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The time

for question period has expired. Item 8, written questions. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My

questions are for the Premier. The Premier participated in a closed door process on constitutional development of the NWT, conducted at Blachford Lake early this spring. Could the Premier please provide: 1. A complete list of the people who were there

and how much money was spent on the meeting and its public relations products?

2. Who provided funding for the gathering and

what was the source of the funding?

3. Which of the partners in his discussions took

on the responsibility for producing the public relations products?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.