Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we have the figures. The Auditor General reviews and audits the bridge project on an

annual basis. They have been since the project started. They also have the information. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, that would be true for the Department of Transportation’s role in the Deh Cho Bridge Project, but I am talking about the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation and their financial records. Has an external audit of the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation’s financial records been audited? If so, can we see it? Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the audit is a comprehensive audit that includes the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation’s financial statements. I think that is all available for this year very shortly. I understand an audit has been completed just in the recent weeks. I can certainly try to get my hands on it for the Member. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I also wanted to ask a question today about concerns over the design. Also in the Auditor General’s report it talks about concerns over the design being brought forward by the Department of Transportation and somebody somewhere overriding a recommendation of the department to continue to waive the requirement for the design being done and to proceed with construction. It is paragraph 27, if the Minister wants to have a look at that. I would like to ask how that could happen. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we do have a design sign-off on all components of the bridge project. As I indicated yesterday, we have also had our own independent design engineers, our experts, review the design. They all approve it. What the Auditor General is looking for is one signature to approve all components. Right now we have a designer that approved the piers and we have a designer that approved the superstructure. Although the superstructure is 85 percent of the overall design, her desire is to have us have one designer approve all the different components and that would bring comfort. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that. It wasn’t really what I was looking for, though. It is paragraph 27 of the Auditor General’s report which states quite clearly that the risk to the project was significantly increased when the Government of the Northwest Territories waived the approval of the design in order to allow construction to start. Was the recommendation from the Department of Transportation not to proceed with construction? Who made the decision to waive the requirement to have that design completed? Thank you.

Thank you. My job is to get the bridge built, to steer it to a final product. It’s very difficult if I have to try to steer it while looking in the rear-view mirror all the time. Mr.

Speaker, I’d have to respond to the Member by stating that the design and the amendment to the concession agreement was made on the advice of the department, it was signed off by the Minister of the day with authorization from Cabinet of the day. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Tu Nedhe, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today in my Member’s statement I talked about the completion of Highway No. 6. I’d like to ask the Minister of DOT some questions on that. Mr. Speaker, could the Minister tell me what the plan is for addressing the chipseal stage of Highway No. 6 from kilometre 67 to kilometre 90? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I commend the Member for raising the issue on a consistent basis to bring attention to the need for improvement to our infrastructure, and in particular Highway No. 6. We have been working very hard with the Member and the Member’s community to move the project forward. We’ve done a lot of work on Highway No. 6. It needed a lot of work to ensure that the preservation of the road was intact.

We have been working and focusing on the area from Buffalo River to the community of Fort Resolution. We had identified a little over $7 million to do the work on that section of road. We’ve done a lot of work in terms of design. We have done a lot of work focusing on an issue that has challenges and that’s the drainage conditions. I think we’ve resolved a number of these issues. We have, for this coming year, approved for chipsealing, a budget. I don’t have the particulars as to the amount and the actual areas. I could commit to the Member to find that and provide it to him, but I can assure him there will be some chipsealing that will be done on Highway No. 6 this coming season. Thank you.

Thank you. Could the Minister tell me what the plan is for the rest of the highway, the highway that goes from -- they’re planning on chipsealing to Res, not that portion -- but the portion that goes from Little Buffalo River towards Pine Point? Thank you.

Thank you. As we come to the end of the season and the commitment this coming year, we need to focus on the additional stretch of road on Highway No. 6. Highway No. 6 is 90 kilometres long. It’s going to take further investment and we recognize it’s going

to be difficult to commit to putting all the dollars in the budget over a short period of time. So we’ve decided that we have to put this in the needs for the upcoming budget or the new budget, the new government, and we have identified that it’s going to need roughly $15 million over the next five years to conclude the work on this road. So that’s something that we’ll be including in the needs. Thank you.

Thank you. Can the Minister place that number into the infrastructure plan for the department, $15 million? Thank you.

Thank you. I can assure the Member that the $15 million requirement is in the needs assessment, the five-year needs assessment. It will be the decision of the next government to ensure that these dollars are indentified and invested into that stretch of road. I can’t commit that that’s going to happen, but as I pointed out to the Member, that’s what it’s going to need and we are aware of that and that’s what we’ve put in our transition documents. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the chipsealing project this summer, can the Minister direct his staff to work with MACA and the hamlet, try to gain some economies of scale, because the community is planning on doing chipsealing in the community as well this summer. I’m just wondering if this Minister could work with the hamlet and Minister of MACA to complete the chipsealing of the community while they’re chipsealing from Buffalo River. Thank you.

Certainly, Mr. Speaker, it’s our practice to work with communities and in some cases we’ve been able to combine efforts and lower the cost of chipsealing. In some cases we’ve actually stepped in and provided some of the technical expertise that the community was lacking. We’d certainly want to sit down well in advance of this project moving forward, to have that discussion and see if there’s any way that the community can take advantage of the work that’s being done in the area. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are for the Minister of Finance. The Minister of Finance was complimented at last week’s public meeting on carbon taxation for being the Minister promoting discussion on this opportunity. Three MLAs and three Ministers attended the roundtable to get the facts and they are to be congratulated too. Participation from

Finance and Environment and Natural Resources officials added to the discussion. With the Minister’s leadership, this discussion is well underway. Can the Minister say what the next steps will be in pursuing this work? Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Miltenberger.