Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Neudorf.

Thank you, Mr. Neudorf. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do appreciate Mr. Neudorf’s response. It’s nice to see that we’re contributing to the scientific community on the subject.

Following up on what was stated already from the Member for Sahtu, big oil is telling us, in great numbers, what their intention is here in the Northwest Territories. Yet it seems that as a government, as a department our contribution to the success of that region doesn’t seem to equate; it’s not an equal balance. With trying to look at every opportunity of economic stimulus here in the Northwest Territories, road infrastructure is a critical link to prosperity, and literally it’s our pathway to prosperity.

The Minister has been heard on numerous occasions speaking to gatherings on the subject of a highway strategy, which would outline the basic premise of dealing with exactly what we’re talking about today. How do you prioritize budget? How do you prioritize the impact of a limited budget and also forecast for the future when federal money such as the Building Canada Plan came into effect?

Can the Minister maybe allude to when we can see a preliminary draft of such a strategy? How is this strategy going to have input by Regular Members, by public, by community, by special interest groups and by the industry themselves? So again, I’ll highlight in terms of when can we expect to see this strategy? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I thank the Member for his question and his concern. I’ve mentioned this before. We’ve got a couple of big things underway with the Government of the Northwest Territories in trying to grow the economy here and realize the opportunities that exist. The first is the Economic Opportunities Strategy that we are currently in the process of getting into and also the Mineral Development Strategy and I believe we need to conclude those two strategies and feed them into a comprehensive transportation strategy here in the Northwest

Territories. That is going to see us maximize the opportunities that are out there in terms of mineral potential and also other economic opportunities here in the Northwest Territories. To do one before the other, I’m not sure that would be such a good thing. I think we should do the two strategies and tie them all together.

We also are looking at prioritizing expenditures as we go forward and that’s a key part of seeing where priorities are, and any opportunity that I’ve had in the past, I’ve talked to industry about the prospect of partnering on all-weather roads in the Sahtu. That dialogue will continue. I believe – and it’s still early days in the play in the Canol – once the resource is proven up and Husky will be flow testing the two wells that they drill, if there is production, if there is commercialization of the oil, and a big by-product of that oil is gas, I believe that will be a huge game changer for the NWT, for the economy here, for the region and you’ll see things pick up, especially in the area of transportation infrastructure. I believe we will have some willing partners with industry and the federal government to enable us to finally realize the Mackenzie Valley Highway. Thank you.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to ask the Minister, in the infrastructure Mr. Dolynny talked about a little bit in regard to the climate change and the federal government. Is the Minister working with the federal government in regard to some study on the impact of climate change on all our roads in the Northwest Territories? I say that because, again, about the roads into the Sahtu, as the Minister’s words, the play is up to this potential that we’re going to see more and more. Even with Husky. Husky is putting close to over $30 million in building a road to their lease site. That is some serious dollars going into a 35-kilometre road. That tells you a lot. If Husky is willing to put $35 million into a road out of nowhere, actually, that tells me that these oil companies mean business and that right from the border up they’re going to be busy. They want to be busy. They might even bring some stuff to Hay River and barge it there or truck it through the road system. Once they pass Wrigley, they get into the winter road system. Climate change is going to have an impact on our weather and opportunities for employment.

I want to ask the Minister, in the upcoming plans for infrastructure, is his department working with the federal government on any type of initiative that will study our road system with regard to climate change?

I bring this up because I talked with the leadership of the Charter Community of Deline and they are very concerned about the frost on Great Bear Lake.

They are saying that last year on Great Bear Lake the water temperature rose by one degree. That is unheard of. Even today, look outside. It should be really cold and snowing and the ice should be freezing over pretty well in our area. They’re very concerned with the frost on Great Bear Lake and they want to look at an alternative route around the lake to hook up with the winter road section.

I know this is probably the second or third time that I’ve talked to the Minister about this; however, the leadership was very concerned last week that we need to start having some plans on this and having some infrastructure dollars that go towards the winter road from Deline to the winter road that meets up outside of Tulita. I want to ask the Minister again if there has been any type of discussion with the federal government on climate change on our road system in the North here.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member has a few questions. I’ll just start with the climate change subject. I just recently was at the TAC Conference, Transportation Association of Canada, and I met with the other Transportation and Highway Safety Ministers from across the country as well as the federal Minister, and when I had the opportunity, the first thing I mentioned was the fact that the Northwest Territories is ground zero for climate change. We’re having a huge impact not only on our roads but on our winter roads, our runways, things like that. I put it out there that the federal government needs to work with especially the… It’s more pronounced in the three territories but now you’re seeing more pronounced impact of climate change in the northern parts of some of the provinces. For example, last winter in Manitoba they weren’t able to put in winter roads. Some communities had their winter resupply completely cut off because of the climate changing so much. I think as it becomes a bigger issue in the northern part of some of the provinces, maybe we’ll get more support for federal funding to look at the impact of climate change.

We’ve received some money in the past through the Building Canada Plan to look at that. Certainly, I agree with the Member that we need to ensure that we’re doing whatever we can to look at climate change, to get the funding that’s necessary to examine the impact so that we can build our transportation system in that regard, knowing full well what the impact is.

One of the other things I wanted to respond to was the Member had talked about the warming of Great Bear Lake and that’s a direct result of climate change as well, and the fact that the community is having trouble with the winter road there. Last year we did supply some increased funding to the base to allow that work to get done and we will do that

again this year with an increased effort to see the winter road put in. We are working with the community of Deline, and like last year, there will be some additional funding to get that winter road in.

The community of Deline certainly appreciates the opportunity to continue to work on that stretch of their highway. There’s nothing more than driving the highway in our regions and communities and seeing local contractors, local workers on our highway, working and improving the highway system. Stopping and talking to the operators, there’s pride in their face and voice when they talk about the work that they have for that winter or that week or that couple of months. Then them working on the roads and it goes twice as far when they see their family members driving. They know that their father or uncle or grandfather is driving on the road, so they take extra precaution and care on those winter roads. I want to thank you for continuing this type of leadership on our winter roads. The Sahtu certainly appreciates it.

I’m very concerned when we start seeing the number of trucks coming up from the South to supply the oil exploration projects in the Sahtu. I’m more concerned that once the Huskys of this world say, yes, we have a good product, we have to get it out, be it gas or oil that we’re hoping to have oil and we need to get on it right away because in the big oil and gas industry, time is money and they want to make money, but they want to see that the territorial government will be there to help them out. They are building a 35-kilomtre road because they want to have at least nine months of product and work. They don’t like this three months. It’s costing them too much. So that’s what I’m hoping the Minister would prepare a strategy in the Sahtu, even through a special economic discussion paper, to get the attention of the federal government.

I want to ask the Minister if he has considered putting together a northern highway or transportation strategy for the northern communities, communities that do not have the luxury of getting in your vehicle and driving to another community to do shopping or go to work. There are a lot of communities that do not have that type of luxury right now. We’re hoping that the federal government will step up to the plate. Is there a strategy such as Colville Lake or Deline or Fort Good Hope can see some infrastructure?

You have some communities in the Northwest Territories that have roads. Nahanni Butte has a road. Jean Marie River has a road. We have real small communities that have roads into their town, which is really good. We’d like the same opportunity in the Sahtu or any other communities that don’t have it.

We always rely on the airplanes or the marine. We want to see some strategy. We want to see some action from this government that says we can put a road in here, let’s do it. Look at that paved road in other areas are fixed up. We need to look at the small communities and say, yes, we can put a road into Colville Lake or to Fort Good Hope or Norman Wells or Tulita. We have roads. We’ve done it before. That’s what I’m looking for.

The Member is talking about the Transportation Strategy that I was speaking of earlier. I do believe that we do need to get there. I also talked about the Economic Opportunities Strategy that’s very important to getting us to where we need to go, as well as the Mineral Development Strategy. I think those three things are key to the economic success that this territory could have, and I certainly look forward to working with the Member and other Members of this House.

The opportunities in the Sahtu, I’ve said it before, are immense. It’s got to be sustainable and the benefits have to be given to residents of the Northwest Territories first and foremost. The Mackenzie Valley Highway is a big piece of this. It’s a big piece of the Transportation Strategy. It will go down the very middle of our territory and connect us from north to south. It also will be the fibre optic link and that transportation corridor could be a possibility, as well as the Mackenzie Gas Project.

We have lots of opportunity in front of us and I do think that working together, we can get where we need to go. For us, the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway is the first step in the construction of that Mackenzie Valley Highway. We’re very anxious to move on that, to get that started, get it complete, and I do believe there’s going to be a number of opportunities and the Mackenzie Valley Highway is a big, big part of that.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair. My first question has to do with the upgrades to the sand and salt storage facilities. I understand that salt was declared a toxic substance for use on highways in 2002-2003, somewhere thereabout, so we need to store it responsibly. It seems like we’ve been very slow to move on that so I’m happy to see that we’re finally moving, but I’m also distressed that we are, in fact, continuing to use this toxic substance. There’s something that seems a bit odd to me that we would freely apply a toxic substance when we know the impacts that it is having on our environment. I’m wondering if the Minister can tell me if we’re moving away from the use of salt, and what are we doing to come up with a non-toxic replacement for the application towards whatever the issues are that meant to resolve.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate the Member’s concern. The department does have a salt management plan that meets all of Environment Canada’s requirements. We don’t believe that there’s another way we can go instead of salt that would be economic. From a safety perspective, it’s where we need to be. I appreciate what the Member is saying, but we do use salt and will continue to use salt. Perhaps the deputy minister can provide some further detail to that.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Neudorf.

Thank you, Mr. Neudorf. Mr. Bromley.

Thanks for those comments. What is the problem with sand or the equivalent non-toxic? Is it that it disappears or something? What are the benefits of salt versus sand? Is it strictly economic?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m going to go to the deputy minister for a detailed response to that.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Neudorf.