In regards to another issue, what we have been noticing over the last couple of years is that the water levels have been higher than usual. I don’t know if it is because of the amount of rainfall and that, but it is having an effect on the ferry operation on the Peel because it is a cable ferry and once the water rises to a certain level, you cannot operate. We notice that over especially this last summer, the water levels have been very high and because of public safety, they have had to shut down a few times because of high water but, more importantly, with the amount of driftwood and trees, public safety has to be taken into account. That is another issue that I think we should be considering in regards to that operation.

I would just like to know, has that come to your attention and, again, have we found ways of remedying the situation. Like I say, in the last number of years we have had a lot of flash floods because the rain in the mountains is heavier. We are getting more water coming down the Peel from the Richardson Mountains and we are seeing flash floods where it is coming. One day everything is okay and the next day the whole river is filled with driftwood and it is a concern. I would just like to

know that in light of, we can call it climate change we can call it whatever, but we are seeing a difference in how the rivers are reacting to the whole ferry operations, especially on the Peel because it is a cable ferry.

We are trying to confirm whether the water levels are indeed higher than historic years. That is something we can’t confirm. We do agree, though, that high water causes concern on the Peel. It brings all kinds of debris, logs, things that are of safety concerns and we are looking at options. We have discussed a number of different ways that we can try to deal with it. I am not sure we have settled on one form or one solution to accommodate the challenges that high water brings, but we may be looking at a different landing system that may help. But as soon as we have something firm that we think will work and is proven, then we will certainly share that. Thank you.

Just to help the Minister out, probably one of your best options is a bridge on the Peel. That will be the best option right now. So will you consider that as an option in regards to the cable ferry on the Peel River?

I agree, bridges are good, although fairly expensive. There has been some investigation on the Peel area, there is some technical research that has been done, we just need to be able to look at for the long term how we can accommodate that request. Thank you.

Just a final point. I would just like to ask the Minister and the department that they keep monitoring this, because it is becoming a public safety issue where we actually had to shut down operations. People have gotten stuck on different sides of the river, especially the travelling public. Because of public safety they had to shut the operation down. I think a lot of people don’t realize that. Again, we do have to ensure that safety comes first. So I would just like to ask the Minister and the department to keep an eye on this one and hopefully they can report back next with some ideas and maybe they can do a little more research on it. Like I say, a bridge is probably the best solution to the problem.

If the situation is as the Member describes, then certainly we will take a closer look. It has not been brought to our attention that the water levels are getting higher than normal. We are aware, however, that there have been issues with high water and every time the water raises above a certain level it causes problems and, of course, the captain of the vessel is the one that makes the deciding call on whether to cross or not. We need to look at the situation and if there is anything that we need to do in terms of adaptation to respond to a climate change issue, we certainly will have to do that.

As I indicated, we had looked at a couple of options and we certainly will take a closer look now that the Member has raised it. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Next the chair will recognize Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The one comment I have is from the Minister. Is there any type of further discussion with the operations in regards to marine support services in regards to the development of the Alberta tar sands. We talked about this marine barge or boat coming down the Mackenzie River, I don’t quite know the name right now of this company, it is NTCL and some company that are doing work in the Alberta tar sands that they want to bring some huge, humongous boats down the Mackenzie River. Has there been any type of discussions? It has been fairly quiet so maybe it is a good thing. I am not too sure. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is correct; it has been fairly quiet. There hasn’t been a whole lot of discussion in the last several months. I think our opinion is that it is as a result of the economic downturn and I think as things pick up down the road we will resume discussions to see if this thing is workable. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Thanks, committee. We are on marine, operations expenditure summary, $7.808 million.

Page 11-26, marine, active positions. Agreed?

Pages 11-28 and 11-29, Community Access Program, operations expenditure summary, $1.008 million. Agreed?

Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Community Access Program, in terms of the program funding going out to the communities, it looks like it is fairly wide range of criteria to access these dollars for these projects here. I just want to look at the gravel resources here. I am just making my case now and probably in the next couple of months in terms of the gravel source for Tulita. They are looking for a gravel source. This would be similar to the scenario of the Tuktoyaktuk-Inuvik road in terms of their access to the gravel source, which happens to be on the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway. The same thing with Tulita to Norman Wells. I am just maybe giving a heads up or saying I am going to make a gravel case.

Something I wanted to let the Minister know that some of the residents of Tulita and Norman Wells were talking about, especially the leaders in Tulita, let’s get to a gravel source that happens to be on the same proposed route of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. So just giving the Minister a heads up.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The budget that we are referring to we have talked about a little bit already and as a result of the Rural and Remote committee that suggested we increase the budget and also change the criteria, we have done that, we have allowed for marine and we have also allowed for gravel. However, the criteria is more specifically geared towards a gravel haul than the construction of a road. Mr. Chairman, this is a million dollar budget to respond to all the applications that come from the communities and it is really not sufficient to expect that we would build a gravel road, of any length anyway, to any source. However, it’s set up so that we can help communities if they need to do a winter gravel haul and help them with some of the costs to offset some of the costs. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Thanks, committee. We’re on page 11-29, Community Access Program, operations expenditure summary, $1.008 million.

Page 11-30, Community Access Program, grants and contributions, contributions, $980,000.