Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve got questions today for the Minister of Transportation getting back to my Member’s statement and also in reference to the Minister’s statement that he made earlier today.

I’d like to ask, given the fact that the Deh Cho Bridge Project was a partnership originally with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, much of the information for the public and for Members of the House was shrouded in a great deal of secrecy. That’s not the case anymore, Mr. Speaker, as the government has taken on full control of that project. I’d like to ask the Minister how the government is going to get all the information about the project so that the public can see all the relative information on the project. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my position on the Department of Transportation’s project, and that includes the Deh Cho Bridge, is one of transparency. We’ve taken all avenues to provide information to the Members of this House. We continue to look for ways to communicate with the general public. We plan to incorporate a newsletter into our communications on the bridge, we’re also working towards developing a website that will have all information around this project, and we want to have an on-site camera where people can patch into the site and be able to view construction as it proceeds and moves forward. So those are some of the things that we want to be able to do for the general public. We also want to commit to the Members, which I have already, to provide regular updates either through e-mails or face-to-face committee meetings. Thank you.

In the Minister’s statement he says the intent is to highlight all the positive accomplishments associated with the bridge. I’m wondering will those positive accomplishments include updated status of the construction audit, updated revenue forecasts, updated financial information on that bridge project? Thank you.

We plan to update all the positive aspects. The Member’s been doing a good job highlighting some of the negative ones, but we also have to flag those. There are a number

of audits that are going on. There is a technical audit that we have embarked on and we have committed to the Members that we would share that information. We’re about halfway through that. We have a lot of documents. We have a lot of information to be able to sift through and see where things are at and we hope to conclude that in another three to four weeks. Of course, we have the Auditor General that has been invited by motion in this House to do an audit and discussions have been taking place. Mr. Speaker, we commit to providing all the information when it’s timely, possibly to the Members of this House and to the general public, good or bad. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister says these things are negative. Mr. Speaker, I disagree with him. It’s reality. He might call them negative. I think it’s reality. And the reality is, Mr. Speaker, this government and every government for the next 35 years is going to have to figure out a way to pay for this Deh Cho Bridge Project. That’s the reality; stark reality, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister, when the Government of the Northwest Territories makes the decision to remove itself from the concession agreement, what exactly does that entail and at what cost to the government? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, some of these challenges have been very negative and some of them have been challenges that were translated as being negative, so I am just reaffirming that. We are at work right now to conclude a lot of different issues that have been out there. There is a lot of review that is taking place. We have stepped in as the project developer. We have stepped in as the delivery agent of this project. We are working to conclude a number of things that are still on the drawing board. That includes some of the outstanding claims and other issues such as dealing with the concession agreement.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister if he has an estimate on what it is going to cost the Government of the Northwest Territories and the taxpayers here to get out of that concession agreement. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it is going to cost us a lot less than what it would cost us to stay in the concession agreement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement and

ask the Minister of Transportation some questions on some of the construction projects on Highway No. 1 and Highway No. 7 just with respect to the reconstruction on Highway No. 7. I think it was kilometre 166, the section that failed last spring. What work is planned for those areas and how much reconstruction will be done between the B.C. border and Fort Liard? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The highway that the Member has referred to, Highway No. 7, has been posing a lot of challenges, as the Member has raised in this House. There have been sections of the road that have failed as a result of spring runoff and rain. It is a road that is at a point in its lifecycle that it needs to be reconstructed. We certainly heard lots from the Member and communities from the Member’s riding.

We have committed to do roughly $4 million worth of work. It is going to require a lot more. It is going to be a requirement of investment ongoing each year, so we have committed $4 million for this year and targeting another $4 million next year, Mr. Speaker. There is, of course, a requirement to deal with some of the more pressure areas that are forcing us to put load limits on the road. There is a real strategy that is going to be redone, because our plans had been focused on another portion of the road that was giving us problems last year. I will provide that information as soon as we have it finalized for the Member. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am just looking for assurances that the work will get done this year. I know that we ran into weather issues last year and weren’t able to complete much of the reconstruction and very little of it, actually. I am looking for reassurances by the Minister that this work will be done early in the year and we don’t end up late into the fall season when there are weather issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, once again I have to say that I can reassure the Member that our goal is to do all the work. We have $4 million for Highway No. 7. We have, I think, 64 kilometres to chipseal on Highway No. 1 that leads towards the Member’s riding. We have a new airport to relocate in Trout Lake. We have a road in Jean Marie River and we also have a commitment to do more work on the Nahanni Butte access road. There is a lot of work that has been committed to. We have a plan for this year. Weather permitting, we will get it all done and contracts are out. We are focused on getting it completed. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I am glad that the Minister was able to list some of the other projects in the riding. I am really pleased, certainly, that

these projects are moving forward. I just want to get reassurance that it will continue to be moving forward. Mr. Minister mentioned about chipsealing Highway No. 1 and residents of Nahendeh are looking forward to that. I think it was 70 kilometres. Just with that, are there plans also to work on replacing culverts on a further 70 kilometres of Highway No. 1 towards Fort Simpson? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, there is a fairly large amount of investment that is going to be done in the Member’s riding of Nahendeh. We can give him a complete plan of work that we anticipate will happen this year along with the negotiations that have to happen as we move forward with our PDR discussions. This presentation was made to Deh Cho First Nations. They have recommended that we work with the community. That is also another area that we have to focus on. We will compile the work. We have it all listed out in different kilometres and different culverts that need to be replaced and I will provide that to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. That is the kind of working with the communities that I like to see and continue on. When will the Minister or his department begin those consultations or community meetings with the different communities in my riding? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, most of the communities have been contacted. Most of the communities are aware of the work in the immediate proximity. We expect a list of information will be out to the communities before I do my tour of the Member’s riding, which is going to be in a couple of weeks. I am sure there will be more issues being brought up and a lot more investment that is going to be pointed to as they feel required. That information we intend to get out to the people of Nahendeh and will also show that information as we go to the communities as well.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable lead Minister for the Energy Coordinating Committee, Mr. Bob McLeod.