Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Committee, that’s all I have on my list for general comments. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As a Yellowknife MLA, in my experience I don’t tend to have a ton of transportation issues in particular. But first I’ll say that what dealings I have had with the department have been very good and I find them generally quite easy to deal with. So that being certainly the primary experience I’ve gone through over the years, I too would like to highlight the Deh Cho Bridge as a significant issue that still continues to be a matter of concern in the riding and I look forward to any further update we have, both on the quality of the project and, of course, how the financing stress plays out on our books over the long haul.

The only criticism I hear, when I say criticism I would refer to the strongest voice about the bridge and the bridge project, more has to do with the fact of getting the project done as opposed to what we’ve been saddled with. I think there has been a coming of a realization that by the time this government came into force that train had already left the station and it’s a matter of now how do we giddy up and do this. Whether the bridge opens up on time or not in November, by and large I’ll say the constituents who’ve come to me have said that they’re more happy to hear that if the bridge takes an extra month or so just do it as opposed to any other worry. Their feelings are being carried across quite simply that if the bridge has a month delay, what do they care? It’s a 100-year bridge. One month isn’t going to matter on the life of the extent of the overall project. They would rather hear that quality assurance was taken over a one-month delay. Again, we’re looking at the front end of the project and not realizing the length and quality of the infrastructure.

I don’t tend to talk about the bridge that much. I think my colleague Mr. Ramsay speaks more than enough for most of the Assembly on his perspective. Although it’s different than mine. I just think it’s a legacy project that we’ll look at in a few years and see it in that regard. It’s a critical piece of infrastructure and if we don’t build these types of things, probably no one will. I say that with some hesitation, of course, although I was a bridge supporter going into the election of 2007 I certainly didn’t buy into it in sort of the manner it was done late in the hour in the method it was signed off in. I’m also a realist and I accept the reality that we’ve been sort of weighed in with.

That said, I also look forward, as mentioned by my colleague, to the details that come forward by our

Auditor General and I’m sure we’ll all deal with them in the good stead that they’ll be presented in. Our Auditor General, this being one of her last stops, I don’t know if it’s officially the last stop, but what I’ll say is I learned a lot from her in a number of years meeting her and her staff and have found that they’re able to sort of boil every project down to its nuts and bolts. Whether we agree or disagree, committee tends to agree with her and departments tend to disagree with her, but whether we agree or disagree she has a way of putting things down to what they really mean and takes the drama out of the situation. As that comes forward I certainly look forward to the discussion.

Some of the issues that I’ve come up, and like I say, I don’t usually talk about the bridge so this is one of the few times I will. I’m not the least bit concerned with the money that was held back that we have in trust in cash. I mean, I think that’s a pretty good deal. I don’t care who paid us, whether it was a guarantee or a cheque from the Government of New Brunswick. By and large we have a substantial sum to pick up any discrepancy on the project. To me that’s what I’ve told the citizens in my riding and they seem quite happy that a holdback is there for exactly what happens is sometimes projects have problems. I’ve seen it many times in my experience, although I’ve never run, obviously, a project this large, but there aren’t too many people who have. That said, I have run some projects and I understand that the reality is that there are always discrepancies on particular initiatives. I think the department has done the right thing. Has it been an easy project to juggle? I would run the risk of saying yes and no. I think probably if the department had it from day one it probably would have been a lot better off, but history is one of those things that’s always clear when we look back. It’s anyone’s guess looking forward.

As far as the budget goes, I’ll follow along with my other colleagues page by page as they report particular issues and perhaps I’ll be inspired to question something further than what I’ve seen thus far. As I sort of started off with the start of my statements, particularly I don’t tend to get a lot of feedback regarding transportation issues in the riding. If I do they tend to be dealt with expeditiously in a good way through the department. I’d be remiss to say people aren’t necessarily echoing about Highway No. 3 in the sense of greatest of accolades with the way the road is, but again I’m a realist and I think most Yellowknifers tend to be realists in that they recognize the environment that we live in and there is a certain amount of acceptance. I’ve often told them if you reduce your speed limit by about five K to 10 K some of those bumps do smooth out. When you get a little heavy on that pedal, they seem to show up in places where you don’t expect them.

That said, I’m happy to hear other thoughts and comments from other colleagues.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Next on my list I have Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Department of Transportation has done a lot of work in the Territories. I want to speak on the initiatives that were done in my region and I want to say that the airport infrastructure that happened in my region were very beneficial to my constituents, to the airline companies. We were happy that the department and the Fort Good Hope community came to a satisfactory solution that helped them extend the runway a little longer. People in Fort Good Hope were very pleased that this has taken place, because of their joint ventures with NorthWright in terms of the airline safety and airline passenger travel.

As you know, the Sahtu has about two months of winter road season where it’s very helpful for big families to take their children out on holidays, even though it’s to Hay River or Yellowknife or just to get out and do shopping and go back home. Even though it means taking some time off school. It’s very costly for them. Instead of flying out there, they look forward to the opening of the winter roads, which I want to make a few comments on.

Firstly, the quality of our winter roads is getting better and better. It’s hard for me to say this because it gets a little smoother now. I think we’re moving past the goat road stages of winter roads and the department has taken some pride and certainly it’s the contractors that are out there day in and day out that have put some pride into their work. They’ve actually done a really good job on our roads. Certainly there’s work that they still need to continue to straighten out the winter roads or cut down the hills or corners. That’s to be expected. We’re getting there. There are dollars going into these initiatives.

You’re working with the contractors. That’s what I wanted to say to the department. You’re working with the beneficiaries. You’re working with the local contractors in that area, in that community. It makes a whole lot of difference when you do a couple months of work there. After the two months of the winter road season you have eight months when it’s very quiet. The machines are sitting in the yard. Still the contractors have to pay for the equipment, they have to make their monthly payments. Sometimes it gets a little encouraging to see that this department is doing its darnedest to keep the road in our communities with the cost, because costs are quite expensive doing business in the Sahtu. Sometimes it’s just as easy to get outside contractors coming in with the lower price. There’s a price to pay for that. There’s me talking about these issues in the House here. I think that’s a give and take on both sides.

I’m really hoping the Minister can wrap up all the project description reports that he signed with the Aboriginal groups down the Mackenzie Valley and that we can have a good report. I’m pleased to see that Wrigley to Tuk highway is still a priority for the department and that the highway from Tuk to Inuvik is actually in another stage just ahead of us in the Sahtu. Hoping that there is something going on between the federal government in March to look at the Mackenzie Valley Highway and that they put some dollars towards this project.

I do want to say that hopefully very shortly that bridge gets done, finished, and the focus is off that bridge and put that focus on another bridge in the North.

I look forward to having some discussions on the details of it. I do want to say that the community of Deline has raised several concerns through e-mail with me on the ice crossing at Great Bear Lake and that the Minister’s opening statement had a couple hundred thousand dollars in the acceleration of the ice crossing in Tulita and on Great Bear Lake. I believe last week the weight restrictions were up in Deline and people are now looking forward to getting some of their resupplies into the community, however, that still causes some concerns for the community having their winter ice road crossing open a little sooner and they are looking at alternative routing and hopefully the Minister would be open to some discussions on that. Probably the new Assembly will have to look at that type of discussion, because that will require more dollars. I want to raise that, I want to raise that right in my opening comments.

I want to ask the Minister, in terms of updating in the National Highway Transportation Route, we have done that already with the federal government. Like I said, our winter roads are becoming a lot better, but it is still a little rough around some corners, but then that will only get better as we continue to work on some of the areas that need concentration, such as some of the hills that need to be cut down. That requires dollars and that requires emphasis and focus on governments to put on the Mackenzie Valley Road.

There were some safety issues and I think the Minister responded by having a few more signs on the road that I saw this year. They are pretty damn good in there, might I say, because they are in proper instalments now, not on trees with snare wire hanging from the trees and the signs. The Minister has put some attention to our winter roads by properly installing some good posts and the signs are there. I am glad to say that, Mr. Chairman, the Sahtu, in closing, really depend on these winter roads. There are families, there are old people that travel on them from community to community. Safety is number one, because our winter roads are pretty good, I don’t know,

somehow we started an ice paving program, it makes it even better. The vehicles are going a little bit faster now, so we have to ensure that the safety of our people are more informed and that educational programs are needed in our region. Sometimes we have these truckers that come from the South that really don’t understand truck driving and sometimes they need to be told that this is a winter road and that it is used a lot by people between the communities, and they need to know that they are in the Sahtu where the roads are not quite up to their standards as in the South. So I want to say thank you to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Next on my list I have Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple of other things, if I could. On the bridge, I know some other Members were talking about delays. You know, it’s one thing if the project does get delayed for a month or two or six; it’s another thing if it costs us $20 or $30 million dollars more than what we have got budgeted for the project and that’s the thing we really need to keep our eye on, is the overall cost of the project.

To date, as I mentioned earlier, the management seems to be there. The diligence and the day-to-day management of the project seems to be there. Again, having not seen the contract that’s between the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation and Ruskin; it’s hard for me to understand where our risks lie in any eligible cost overruns of delays in the project. I’m sure the Minister and the department are much more aware of what those risks are and where liabilities lie in that regard.

The other thing, too, I’ll just mention, in a contract of this size, when you tally it all up, $190 million by the time it’s done, maybe even more, it would be interesting to see how much of that money actually stayed in the Northwest Territories and how much of a training and employment opportunity there has been for the community of Fort Providence and the South Slave region. How many people have been trained and employed on the project from the community? You know, who can take those skills and job experience away with them once the crews are gone and that bridge is open. At the end of the day, we are going to have to step back and have a good look at this project and see who here were successful and who weren’t successful, so that when other big projects come along we can ensure that we get the maximum opportunities for people who are in close proximity to the project.

Again, I do appreciate and I don’t want anybody to think I don’t appreciate the work that the department is doing. We just have to keep our eye on the budget. Given the current financial state of the Territory, if this project was to slip in any meaningful way, I’m talking 10 or 15 percent, it would cause a lot of concern here, that’s for sure.

So, again, I just wanted to mention that for the record. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr, Ramsay. Mr. Krutko.

Mr. Chair, I’d like to move a motion to report progress.

---Carried

I will now rise and report progress. I’d like to thank the Minister and his witnesses and ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses from the House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 133-16(5), Northwest Territories Main Estimates, 2011-2012, and would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Motion is on the floor. Do we have a seconder? The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.

---Carried

Item 22, third reading of bills. Madam Clerk, orders of the day.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until Wednesday, February 23, 2011, at 1:30 p.m.

---ADJOURNMENT

The House adjourned at 7:46 p.m.