Thanks to the Minister for that. I would encourage the Minister, as part of transition planning, to put some additional attention on that within the department and continue work and the good work that you’re doing to upgrade that road so it is a reasonable road.

My second question is what is DOT, the Department of Transportation, doing to work with industry and Aboriginal governments to improve winter road access to both the Tlicho communities as well as the North Slave Geological Province? Both of these are economic; the cost of living in communities, but also resource extraction and development and industry in the Slave Geological Province. So who are we working with, what are we doing to improve these links so that we don’t have to worry as much about things such as a warm winter season and short life of winter roads?

Mr. Chairman, I hear the Member’s request for us to keep moving forward on the Highway No. 7 portion of the Deh Cho loop. We have all intentions of doing that. We are hoping to have all our engineering requirements that would give us a better ability to develop a long-term strategic plan for improvements on the road. We also, as part of the Deh Cho loop have done quite a bit of work on Highway No. 1 in terms of upgrading, reconstruction and also chipsealing. We’d like to continue that and that would really enhance a good part of what’s considered the Deh Cho loop.

We are also working in the area of the Tlicho region and the focus has been to realign the winter road in that area. Right now the road is constructed mainly on the lakes and a lot of river crossings, and it’s our desire to move the winter road onto land rather than water. We have set up a steering committee with the Tlicho communities, the leaders. We had all intentions to be a lot further than we were. However, during the last government there was a

request for us to stop all work that was being considered for the Tlicho winter roads, and we did oblige the government-of-the-day and have since had everybody back in the room and had some good discussions on moving forward and we have not engaged our study process and that’s now being done. That, again, will be used for consideration as we decide what investment will be made and how much money we’re going to require. Thank you.

Thank you and thanks to the Minister for that. I remember the discussions about the Tlicho and I’m happy to see that they’re back at the table and that progress is being made in that area. I think those realignments will ultimately help reduce the cost of living in those communities, which is a priority of this government. So thank you for that and please keep going.

The second part of the question, which I didn’t hear a response to, was winter road realignment up to the North Slave Geological Province. In 2006 we lost the winter roads early, which resulted in significant costs to the mines that are in that area. Now I believe that there’s been some talk about realignment, there’s been some talk about an extension to extend the winter road season in the North Slave Geological Province, which would open it up a little bit more for responsible development. I’m wondering what progress is being made in that area and has the department been having any conversations with the federal government about possibly partnering or doing something to extend the winter road life in that area specifically by realigning on land as opposed to water.

I apologize for missing the question. I wasn’t clear on that area of questioning. Mr. Chairman, we have undertaken to access some dollars from the federal government through the P3 Canada Program to do an assessment and a study of a portion of the winter road for consideration for realignment. That process is already underway and we are in the position where we’ve put out an RFP to do a study on this section of road.

That must be the RFP that came out today. There was something in contract opportunities that came out today for a seasonal overland road financing option study in the Slave Geological Province. I’m assuming that that’s what you’re talking about. You can answer that when we’re done.

The second thing is I know that Yellowknives Dene and other groups are interested in helping or participating in some capacity to build capacity of their own on some of this winter road realignment and future of transportation in the North Slave Geological Province. Have any partnerships been weighed with the Yellowknives Dene or Deton’Cho with respect to helping them build capacity so that

they can be involved in the future of the North Slave Geological Province, transportation in the North Slave Geological Province?

Mr. Chairman, the answer that the Member is referencing has been part of the Slave Geological Study is correct. That’s the contract that I was referring to and, yes, we do have members of the Yellowknives Dene First Nations working with us in consideration of this project. They have representation on the steering committee and we’re also, of course, as you know, Mr. Chairman, we have been talking to the Yellowknives Dene on doing some partnership project work that needs to be done on the Dettah access road.

Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Committee, we’re on page 11-21, Transportation, activity summary, highways, operations expenditure summary, $58.094 million.

Page 11-22, Transportation, activity summary, highways, grants and contributions, grant, $96,000.

Page 11-23, Transportation, information item, highways, active positions. Agreed?

Page 11-25, Transportation, activity summary, marine, operations expenditure summary, $7.976 million.

Page 11-26, Mr. Abernethy.

Can I go back to 11-25, Mr. Chair?

Does committee agree that we go back to page 11-25?

Mr. Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In this section I just want to highlight comments from my colleague Mrs. Groenewegen when she was talking about access into the Hay River. Under this section, I know this is mostly ferries, ferry operations and whatnot, but is there any capacity within this division to work with Hay River to partner with the federal government or any other partners about possibly dredging that channel to increase the transportation links out of Hay River? The shallower that gets the more difficult it is for significantly-sized boats to get in and out. Does this division have any responsibility or any ability to leverage, partner or

work with any group to get that channel dredged or is this completely just ferry operations?

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Minister McLeod.

Mr. Chairman, the dredging issue really doesn’t fall under our mandate as the department. However, having said that, we have concerns in this area as it has impacts to many areas of different sectors of the North. We have the marine traffic and the fishermen that are voicing concern. There’s also the issue with the municipality on some concerns that the island that’s being created in the middle of the river is causing or is certainly not helping with the flooding issues that are happening on the Hay River and to the municipality of Hay River and also to the Hay River Reserve.

We have engaged with several departments now to bring this issue to their attention. We’ve had some discussion with the Coast Guard and they’ve indicated that there is a desire to look at it. As of yet there have not been any dollars identified. We have done some studies on their behalf to look at how serious the issue is. There may be more work that needs to be done to assess the situation. We want to keep pressing this issue. We did raise it with Minister Strahl and he indicated he would bring it to the attention of Gail Shea, the Minister responsible for dealing with this issue, and we will continue to have these discussions in the next while.

Thanks to the Minister for that. Obviously, as per its name, Hay River is a transportation hub and that river has access to the lake and, therefore, access to the Mackenzie River is critical as far as transportation links go in the Northwest Territories. I’m happy to hear that the Minister is attempting to do something in this area and I encourage him to keep doing so. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Ms. Bisaro.