Thank you, Madam Chair. I certainly share the Member’s enthusiasm that’s taking place in the Sahtu and in his riding. It is very nice to see equipment moving, people working and people happy. I think that’s a direct result of the investment there by the companies across the river from Norman Wells that will continue for the foreseeable future.

When you have that type and level of activity in a region, I think it only stands to reason that you see the benefits, not just the jobs and the employment but in the transportation infrastructure. If projections are correct and there is a substantial amount of oil across the river from Norman Wells, the Sahtu region is going to be an economic powerhouse in this territory and we will need to start to look at the importance of all-weather roads again, the Mackenzie Valley Highway, bridges, a bridge across the Bear River. These are key pieces to the puzzle and I think as we move forward we can certainly anticipate much more in the area of transportation infrastructure in the Sahtu, given the level of activity there and the potential of that reason. It’s immense. I certainly look forward to working with the Member.

I have got some preliminary plans to get up to the Sahtu probably in about 2 weeks’ time to visit a well site, and I extended an invitation to the Member and look forward to getting up there and seeing for myself the activity that’s taking place there. I know I’ve seen the trucks moving. I’ve been to Norman Wells a couple of times. But I look forward to actually getting out to a well site and doing that, and if the Member can accompany me, that would be great.

On the Canol Mile 222, I can make the inquiry with the department about old surplus equipment. For the most, I believe, that’s sold at auction, and I’d have to get back to the Member on a response to that question.

The other question was the interest on the Deh Cho Bridge. That is something that, because of the delay in the project, something that we have to obviously pay for. It’s a cost of the delay, and hopefully the bridge will be complete this fall and we’ll have traffic moving across it this fall. Thank you.

I certainly look forward to working with the Minister on seeing what type of arrangements can be made and when we can look

at a date we can set down and visit one of the well sites.

I’m happy to see further discussions with the Minister on improving the transportation system in the Sahtu. Certainly, they come up usually from BC on Highway No. 7 to bring in their rigs and equipment from Fort St. John or from the Alberta border. They bring the heavy equipment up to the Sahtu. They also use that system; they use the water system and the marine system there. I look forward to further discussions with the Minister on what type of support we can give to people in the North and the people in the Sahtu for continuing the oil and gas exploration that’s been happening there for the last couple of months now.

I do hope that the Minister can look at the equipment that the department has that they can certainly use at Mile 222 and support some of the activities over there at that specific place there. I am done, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My question is once again in regard to the access to some of our surrounding communities in the Beaufort-Delta region.

As most of you are aware, a lot of our schools were shut down and even some of our communities were shut down during a big blizzard that we had just most recently. Just wondering if there was any special assistance outside of the ice roads and the transportation to the communities, which do rely I wouldn’t say heavily, but do rely on some of the services that are provided by Inuvik. When our contractors run over their budget, if there’s some kind of special budget that is put in place for not only the contractors on the highways and the ice roads but even for our municipal contractors when a town gets shut down because of high snowdrifts. That does cause emergency situations where if somebody needs to go to the hospital of if there is an RCMP emergency, something’s going on that does need to be addressed, and when we have high snowdrifts and lack of ground transportation to get to these communities or even into some of the places in our community, how those are addressed. Last year we had a blizzard that was very similar that pretty well shut down the whole community. This time it lasted for a whole week rather than just a couple of days.

Looking into that and looking at our patterns for the last few years, if you can call it a pattern, this is something that we might be looking at again in the future, and we want to see if we can address this in the budget for next year, even to the end of this fiscal year, making sure that there is money available should something like this happen again. We don’t want to be stuck in the cold when our contractors and our departments have no further

money to reach some of the people in the communities or even get services to them.

Even on the ice roads there was some single-lane traffic, which does become very dangerous, especially with some of the big trucks that are commuting on the highways there. Just a comment on what we’ve seen up in the Beaufort-Delta the last couple of years and making sure that we do have access to our surrounding communities, specifically Aklavik, Tuktoyaktuk, Tsiigehtchic and Fort McPherson. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the question. There are a number of contracts and I’d have to see what provisions are in those contracts to address acts of God or Mother Nature when blizzards come and communities are cut off for an extended period of time. I could certainly look into that and get some further detail for the Member on how that works.

I know our contractors did yeoman’s work in trying to clear the roads and get communities connected again during the recent blizzard up in the Beaufort-Delta, and they are to be commended for all the hard work. I know they put in a number of extra hours to ensure the roads were clear not just in the Beaufort-Delta but also in the Sahtu. I appreciate all their hard work.

But specific to the contracts, I would have to get that information for the Member on what provisions are in there in the event that contractors do run over because of a blizzard. Thank you.

I do agree; the contractors did a great job of opening up the highways again. I do look forward to looking at those provisions for any of our contractors, regardless of whether it’s snow removal or even airport services that do exhaust their budgets, how this government can support those contractors to keep the roads open and the ground transportation feasible for when people need to travel them, especially in emergency situations.

Just a second question, for municipalities that have their own budget for road clearance within our boundaries that the government doesn’t really put a budget into, is there a specific type of budget that can help in an emergency situation such as Inuvik when a lot of our roads were not usable for the whole week pretty well? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Again I appreciate the Member’s concerns. Specific to municipalities, I will consult with my colleague, the Minister of MACA, to see how exactly communities are dealt with when it does come to a situation where communities are faced with the need for extraordinary funding because of a blizzard or costs that they didn’t anticipate. I will get that response back to the

Member once I consult with my colleague, the Minister of MACA. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister Ramsay. Anything further, Mr. Moses?

I appreciate the comments. No further comments or questions, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Moses. Mr. Menicoche, did you have a motion?

Yes. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I move that this committee defer consideration of item number 11, Department of Transportation, contained in Tabled Document 1-17(2), Interim Appropriation 2012-2013. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The motion is in order. Motion is on the floor. Motion is in order. It’s just being distributed. We will wait a moment until people can see it.

Members, everybody has the motion, I believe. To the motion.

Question is being called.

---Carried

So, item number 11, Transportation, $29.848 million, is deferred. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I move that committee reports progress.

---Carried

I will now rise and report progress. Sergeant-at-Arms, could you escort our witnesses from the Chamber? Thank you.

Can I have report of Committee of the Whole, please? Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your committee has been considering Tabled Document 1-17(2), Interim Appropriation 2012-2013, and would like to report progress with two motions being adopted. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The motion is in order. To the motion. Is there a seconder for the motion? Mr. Beaulieu.

---Carried

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

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until Friday, February 10, 2012, at 10:00 a.m.

The House adjourned at 4:59 p.m.