Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I, too, do not have 100 percent confidence that this could be the last of the money. I hope it is. I have never supported the bridge, but it’s proceeding, and I have never said so publicly either. I know that there is no impact upon, or very little impact, unless this goes into deeper cost than what we’re looking at here, to the people of Fort Resolution. It does impact the people of Lutselk’e by way of freight costs if the cost of freight, the totals coming across
hauling freight and groceries which are ultimately flown into Lutselk’e. I feel that we’re in this now as a government for the long haul. I don’t think that it would be viable to stop the construction of the bridge.
What I would like to see, I think that you’re physically looking at the project. It’s kind of scary to think that we have put up four piers and we’re here asking for money to support a budget that was already in excess of the original budget plan. I’m not sure, I mean, I’m sure it’s some sort of cash flow issue.
Therefore, I would like to, of course, see some sort of financial progress report and run that with a project status report. Originally my assumption is that there was some sort of project schedule that runs percentage of completion alongside the cash outlay. What I’d like to see is that exact thing. A financial progress report running alongside a project status report will give us an indication of exactly where we went off the rails, I suppose. Then also it could give us the comfort that if we’re headed along and we’re progressing and both the financial expenditures are not outrunning the actual construction. By comparing the financial expenditures with the percentage of completion, it will at least give me some comfort that there’s hope that we will get there.
Just from physically looking at it while crossing the river at Fort Providence, you don’t really get a feeling that they’re halfway completed. Yet we’re asking for a little bit of money here that’s 9 percent of what the budget is. To me, I’m having difficulty matching the two to try to understand that the project is actually only off schedule by 9 percent, we’ll say. That maybe the project is off schedule by more than that. If the project is off schedule by more than that, I think it’s going to give the House here a heads up as to exactly where the project is headed and if the project status report comes off, you know, it’s not running parallel to financial expenditures, it would be easy for us to identify, it would be easy for the government to look at that report and do a quick check as to what would be needed to get the status back, get the project back on, I guess, I’m not quite sure what the term would be, but I guess getting it back on the tracks to where the expenditures are not outrunning the percentage of completion. Thank you.