Thank you. Page 9-7, Transportation, activity summary, marine, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $455,000. Agreed?

Thank you. Page 9-10, Transportation, activity summary, highways, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $27.17 million. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’d like to ask the Minister at this point my question earlier about the bridge. He kind of sidestepped it neatly. For people who are looking to get some kind of answer on the amount of money that we’re going to end up spending on the bridge, I did ask the Minister if he could give us a bit of a range. I mean, are we talking a minimal amount of money or are we talking a lot of money?

I know in the Minister’s statement he referenced some of the things which will produce the added costs. So I’d like to ask the Minister again, are we talking in the order of $5 million or less, or are we talking in the order of 50 or 100 million dollars or more? Can he give me a bit of an idea about how much money we’re talking about? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would say that’s minimal and it’s roughly 5 percent of the total project cost. So it is on the minimal side that the Member has spoken about in her comments to me earlier in the House and here in Committee of the Whole. So that’s where we’re at.

For a project that has been delayed like it has, I think to see a minimal expenditure like 5 percent I think is a testament to the project management team and the department for trying to keep it as in line as we possibly can. This project has been delayed twice now, so we’re looking forward to moving toward the finish line and getting the bridge finished next fall. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister. Yes, I think we’re all looking forward to the completion of the bridge. I can accept that this may be a minimal cost. Unfortunately to some of our constituents they may think that $10 million or $20 million or these

numbers that we talk about here, they’re definitely not minimal, but I thank the Minister for his statement; roughly 5 percent of the total project cost. That gives people a reasonably good idea about what we’re talking about.

I do want to say to the Minister that I appreciate his commitment to providing Members with information and I would hope that that would also go to providing as much information as possible to the public. I wish the Minister well in getting to November 2012 on time and with no further additions to the budget. I have no question, Madam Chair, just a comment. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Transportation, activity summary, highways, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $27.17 million.

Agreed, thank you. Page 9-13, Transportation, activity summary, road licensing and safety, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $850,000.

Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I wanted to ask the Minister for the improvements to the road licensing operations, the infrastructure type of support systems, they could help in our small communities where sometimes the contracts are interrupted because of a lack of financial appetite to operate these important services. However, I wanted to ask the Minister if that is something that could be looked at in this infrastructure budget. How do we set up something that the communities can take more advantage of? Because sometimes these operations are costly and their offices actually shut down until somebody comes into the office to say yes, we’ll do this as a service, not because they want to make money. Actually, the money is not that great. So what can the department do to help utilize some of the infrastructure to improve the services in the communities like Colville Lake or Good Hope? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Neudorf.

Thank you, Mr. Neudorf. Mr. Yakeleya.

I look forward to going into the communities that have somewhat struggled with these services and see how these services are going to be improved to the people in the communities. I look forward to that and will get back to the Minister once I visit the communities.

I want to ask the Minister on just what the deputy minister has said. I asked how many dollars are spent with the southern contractor in this activity.

Could I be so polite as to ask how many dollars? He said the majority. Can he answer that question?

At this juncture of our budget approval, it’s very hard to accept Mr. Neudorf’s answers on my question. Surely he must know the numbers that they estimated. He’s got a lot of smart people in the department; they have consultants. They surely must know what they’re paying or what they estimate for anything like this to go forward.

I can’t believe the government’s going to operate their operations on this type of answer to my question; a simple question. He said this is about $1.7 million to complete rebuilding the whole system. He’s saying that southern institutions, southern people have the technology for this and they’re going to be bringing this up into the Northwest Territories. So much for working with northern people on this. I wonder if this request even went to the northern firms to see if they could develop something like this in the North, rather than, say, something in the South there. I think the responses I’m getting back from the deputy are not sitting well with me on this southern contract going to the South on this piece of infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Member’s concern over the $850,000 for the MVIS replacement. It is a very specialized piece of computer system that you just don’t buy off the shelf. Members will recall other programs, the FIS replacement, other larger-scale government software fixes, and IT infrastructure is very expensive. We’re trying to accomplish the MVIS replacement over two years. It’s $850,000 a year. What I can do today is make a commitment to the Member to get a thorough breakdown of that $1.7 million, and we’ll get the projected contract cost and that information that the Member is looking for as soon as we can.

I appreciate that from Mr. Ramsay, to get the details to me on this piece. I still have a hard time accepting that this piece of work is contracted to a southern firm. Even though it could be right on the button here on the computer system, they have their reasons for their madness. I will accept that.

I guess, in short point form, we have a bridge in Norman Wells called Oscar Creek and it’s been sitting there for a couple of years; maybe four or five or six years. Nothing has been done about it. This southern engineer that put it in there didn’t listen to the elder in terms of location and we’re still talking about it. I just want to make a point. The department knows pretty well what I’m talking about. I’m asking again how sometimes the local northern people need also be recognized in some of this work that needs to get done in the North here. This is $800,000-some-odd going to a

southern firm. I just want to make a comment to make a point.