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

Thank you, Madam Chair. With the indulgence of the chairmanship, I’m going to be asking questions regarding the Deh Cho Bridge. It’s not part of this, but there is no category in terms of infrastructure for highway for the bridge design. So if I can, I’ll be asking questions regarding the Deh Cho Bridge, if that’s fair.

I think that’s fair enough. Go ahead, Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you very much and thank you to the committee. It looks like we’re burning the midnight oil to get this project completed for November and I applaud the hard work thus far. I’m looking forward to seeing this done on time. It is to my belief that the contractor still, to this day, has temporary lighting – and I’ll stress the word “temporary” – for aviation, marine. A number of the cabling and conduit is still not complete and I don’t believe there is an emergency phone that is operational yet.

Can the Minister give us an update as to will this bridge meet so-called safety requirements or reasonable safety requirements for the opening here, from predictions we’re hearing, a number of weeks? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Department of Transportation will only open the Deh Cho Bridge if it’s safe. The items the Member is mentioning are not critical to the bridge opening. I believe most of the components the Member speaks of are in a program which will be tendered next year for electrical works on the

bridge. I believe it’s one, I’m not sure exactly, I’d be guessing how much exactly, and maybe I’ll go to the deputy minister for the exact number, but we are certainly looking at opening the bridge and when we do that, and hopefully it will be in the next few weeks that that bridge will be open and it will be safe to travel on. We wouldn’t open it otherwise. Thank you.

Thank you. I guess, from the average person or the common person, you take possession of a house, you take possession of any infrastructure, you usually take possession with full electrical hookups, you get an electrical permit signed off by inspectors and you’re allowed to have possession of your house. So, like, we’re opening up the bridge here with temporary. If the Minister indicates that it will be safe, well, we’ll have to take the department’s word and we’re hoping that those provisions are put in place.

The Minister does mention the fact that there was a tender or RFP, I think I heard. I assume that this is a significant cost. My next question is, if there is still a significant cost still remaining which would be part of the 2013-2014 budget, we don’t see that in our substantiation sheets here in terms of being an item. Can the Minister indicate as to why?

I believe that would be, and I know it is, part of the overall bridge budget. That’s why it wouldn’t be contained in here. To the other aspect to this, like when you buy a new house, obviously, there are some deficiencies. There’s paint that has to be repaired or chips in the floor, whatever the case may be. There will be some deficiencies that have to be addressed. They’ll be addressed as soon as they can be addressed. That’s not to say that the bridge cannot be opened safely and we can’t get traffic moving across it. We need to begin collecting toll revenue and paying for that bridge, so we do need to open it up. It will be opened up and done in a safe manner.

One of the components that isn’t part of this plan, that will be available in the spring, is an emergency phone. Can the Minister indicate if there are problems on the bridge, there’s no cell service there, what are people to do?

It wouldn’t be any different if you were on any other section of highway without a phone. If you stopped at Chan Lake, there’s not an emergency phone at Chan Lake or anywhere on that highway. It wouldn’t be treated any differently. Eventually, we will have a phone on the bridge and that will be part of the contract that I talked about earlier with the electrical work that is required, and that will all be completed as soon as possible, but that won’t stop us from opening the bridge.

Again, we’re taking the discretion of the department in terms of citing safety, and I give credit to the department for assessing that. I

just find it odd that we’re granting access to this bridge use with temporary systems in place.

My question again, and I’ll leave it at that because I know we want to move on with other questions, we are in a safety topic here. Can the Minister and the department assure that these components are not a critical element for the operation and opening of this bridge in a timely manner?

That’s what the engineers advise us. We’ve got a number of advisors working on the bridge project. As I mentioned earlier, safety is our prime concern. The bridge will be open and it will be safe to the travelling public. Because it won’t have a phone on it doesn’t mean we’re not going to open it up. We want to open it up in the next few weeks so there’s no disruption in service during freeze-up, so it’s important that we continue to work toward its opening here in the next few weeks.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Dolynny, anything further?

No, thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate it.

Thank you. I have nobody on my list. We have Transportation, activity summary, highways, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $23.250 million.

We’ll move to the next section, pages 9-12 and 9-13, Transportation, activity summary, road licensing and safety, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $1.050 million. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My questions will involve the Motor Vehicle Information System or the enhancements that are going to be applied to the system. If the Minister or deputy can give us a broad or brief overview of exactly what components are being enhanced.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Neudorf.

Thanks, Mr. Neudorf. I think the word “on-line” is intriguing. This is something that’s been brought up in the House, even as lately as this week here.

Can we get a bit more detail as to what on-line services the department will have operational during this fiscal year?

So I understand that the on-line component will probably have very limited capacity in the short term. It sounds like we’re getting extended components of on-line use.

I guess where I’m trying to go with this is things like renewing your driver’s licence, updating your address information, checking those basics, can you print, can you order your abstract and have it printed kind of through electronic means. Can the Minister elaborate? Are those types of on-line services in the near future here for the residents of the Northwest Territories?

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes, we are hopeful that by the end of next fiscal year we’ll be able to provide those services on-line for the residents of the NWT.