Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan is to still meet in the middle, but the approach has changed somewhat, as the Member has indicated. The delay in steel has caused the approach to change. The plan is now to

work on the north side and things are going very well. The contractor has been doing some very good work in launching the steel. We should be hitting the fourth pier or the final pier on the north side relatively soon and construction will continue with the tower as we deal with the breakup of the ice. The plan is to have all the trusses be worked on and put together during the breakup time and be ready for launching as soon as the river is clear.

Mr. Speaker, we still are working towards our goal of having the bridge opened in the fall and there’s no denying there are challenges out there. The delay of steel is one. The breakup of the river is another one, and as I indicated the other day in questions during question period, the ability for us or for our contractor to do work that was planned for warmer weather that has to be done in the cold season or the latter part of the fall is something that we have to work out.

There are many things that are out there that challenge us almost every day. If the weather is colder than minus 35, then we for sure have to take into consideration the safety of the workers and I think there’s a policy that restricts them from working in that temperature. If there are strong winds, they can’t be up on the towers. Those towers are way up in the air on top of the ice and that’s an issue. Also, we were challenged this year when we were caught off guard with the ferry shutting down. That was also cause for delay.

So there are many things. We are in continual contact with the contractor and I’m very confident we have a good team and things are continuing to move forward.