Thank you, Madam Chair. I’ll speak briefly to a number of issues. The first one I want to mention is, as the Minister well knows, I don’t see the Detah road on here and my constituents have a high degree of interest in doing something on that front. They’re in mid-project right now doing some great work, and it has provided real benefits to the community with employment, and keeping people at home and developing the Deton’Cho Corporation and their capacity. So there’s quite a number of features. It’s a partnership with the Mine Training Society and so on. I know the Minister is supportive of the project, so I will be looking for opportunities to advance this as it has been in the past with opportunistic funding.
Also, of course, the Giant bypass road. I’m curious; I don’t see that in the capital plan here. I understand that’s coming from a separate fund. I’d appreciate information from the Minister on how the committee is to provide the oversight and accountability for that project through the oversight of Regular Members if it’s not really in the books. I’d appreciate learning some more on the process of that.
Certainly on the Deh Cho Bridge the Minister was thorough in outlining some of the risks identified. I know that he again is very aware that these risks are real. Many of them have been realized along the road. So far the path has been rocky. There’s no question that other risks will be realized. I’m asking that the Minister stay very much on top of that and keep us informed, as I believe he has indicated he will be doing.
Climate change has been mentioned. I’m wondering what systematic protocols are in place for us to capture the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on our infrastructure so that we can be knowledgeable about what we’re doing. I know we’ve been contemplating research. Maybe we’ve been doing a little bit of research for years, passing the money on from year to year, but there’s a lot of things happening with a suite of infrastructure, many of them accumulating to highways and airports, so I’d want to know what actual protocols are in place for capturing those, so that we can be learning as we go.
The Tuk highway, I don’t think we want to move forward unless we have a cost-benefit analysis of this project that indicates it’s well worthwhile. So, I’d like the Minister to assure us that that work is being done or will be done, before we start throwing great amounts of money at the project. Also, a greenhouse gas emissions mitigation plan be developed for the project so that there is a net zero increase in emissions at a time when we are, of course, trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the Northwest Territories.
The Highway No. 7, I know in the absence of my colleague, Mr. Menicoche, not being here, we heard last week plus 14 degree temperatures there. We can be guaranteed that there will be kerfuffles for that highway. It’s a challenging highway, I understand, and it needs some sort of comprehensive response. Undoubtedly, it will be very expensive, but I just want to put a plug in to make sure that at least some planning and ongoing diligence is put into how we’re going to resolve that situation in the long term.
Finally, again keeping my remarks brief, Highway No. 4, as the department has documented, is the worst highway in the Northwest Territories and it’s also got very high volumes, so I’m very supportive in seeing that project go forward and hopefully we’ll achieve completion on that soon. I’m always, of
course, interested in opportunities for helping on our efficiency in delivering projects like the Detah road completion and the Giant Mine bypass as well, which would be associated with that project.
Remarks from the Minister would be appreciated on those topics. Thank you.