Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Department of Transportation is one of the larger budgets and one of the most interesting, and one of the ones that I probably get the most calls about.
One of the first issues I want to bring up with the department in the processes that they have, I know the department has reviewed and tried to deliberate on how to implement their contracts, their tenders and their projects. I’ve been getting a lot of complaints on the fact that a lot of the projects are getting overwhelmingly large and being bundled together. Whether it’s the culvert projects or whether it’s signage or whether it’s some of the drainage work that’s being done, it’s all being lumped into one big contract. Some of the smaller contractors and some of the manufacturers aren’t able to bid on the department’s contracts as they stand. I’d like them to spend more attention to allowing northern content to be maximized.
Along the same line of thought in the maximization of northern content are the negotiated contracts. I understand the department’s concept of trying to keep the work in the North and often to the Aboriginal companies or northern companies, but we also have to make sure that those companies go forward and maximize their expenditures in the North, in the region.
Some of the issues that the department is working with is the Tuk to Inuvik highway, and I look forward to the information that the department is going to spend on getting what those costs will be, the future debate and discussions with the federal government on this 75/25 split, and is that 75/25 split the same amount if that budget goes way up above our estimated costs right now.
I’m also looking forward to, like my colleague from the Sahtu, the continued discussion and the future plans for the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the future plans for that project.
The Deh Cho Bridge, obviously, one of the big issues for the incoming Minister, I would think, as he was a big advocate of getting this bridge done as quickly as possible so we can mitigate some of the high costs that are already there. Along with that bridge, I have some concerns on how the toll system will be set up in the future here, what the costs are going to be to the general public, and how
that’s going to affect contractors and shipping companies.
One of the other areas that I have concern with is the safety programs. The Drive Alive, I think it’s going well, but I think we need to work on some of the highways that are of concern. I will give a plug for Highway No. 7. I think it’s a key factor for tourism in the south and also Yellowknife. I think we have a big group of people that travel the Alaska Highway that are looking for ways to come back or visit another territory, and that’s one avenue. One of the issues out there is that Highway No. 7 is passable most of the time in the summertime, but lots of time you have to put it with the disclosure if it’s not raining, if it hasn’t been raining, it’s fine to go down. But if it isn’t, then there are a lot of people that are not recommending to travel it. That’s part of the year.
I’d like to give the department a little bit of a compliment. This is one of the rare departments where the jobs are out in the regions. I think it’s natural just because of the business they do, the grader work, the work out on the roads has to be done regionally, so I commend them on that. That’s one of the rare departments that I see that we actually have a decentralized department.
From Hay River’s perspective, we’d like to see some additional dredging being done in Hay River, dock maintenance, some dollars spent in that area. We’re seeing more and more difficulties with ships, whether it be large ships such as NTCL’s boats or the fishing industry having difficulty, even recreational vehicles having difficulty getting in and out of the waterways easily. We need to look at finding dollars to do some of that maintenance.
One of the areas that the department has just newly introduced is the new motor vehicle system. I’ve heard lots of complaints about the system. I think it was launched a little early and it needs to be updated. I think, again, the regions need some control and they’re not given those controls to change the system. The system is closed in and is being controlled by Yellowknife and is being handled by Yellowknife. That’s fine if Yellowknife is available immediately, but if Yellowknife is backlogged with complaints, then the system in the region is backlogged and those customers are backlogged. We need to get that system working better.
One of the other areas of concern in this department is the large carryovers. It is a large budget, and I understand it’s been a large budget in the last few years, even larger, but we have large percentages of the budget that are being carried over. I think we need to make sure that those numbers go down and we get those dollars out to the region, especially when we have an economic downturn right now in the territory. I think we need to put that money out to the territory and let the
contractors have that work, and like I indicated earlier, make sure that we’re maximizing northern economy and making sure that the money is staying in the North. I think this department is a large economic driver and I hope that we get all the carryovers completed this year.
I’ll have more questions in the detail. Thank you.