Thanks again for those comments. Yet another cost to climate change, and I hope the department is adding that as obviously an environmental cost and not just a financial cost.

I suppose my most major comment is that it’s clear that our highway systems are deteriorating, partly as the cost of climate change and new problems raise their ugly heads. Unfortunately, we are choosing to take on new, very expensive, and even more daunting environmentally, projects, and let our existing infrastructure deteriorate. That’s my major concern. I know the Minister is aware of that.

I just want to throw in one example here and that’s the Detah road. There are many examples: Highway No. 7 and so on. But the Detah road, here we have a project that’s been abandoned in midstream. It’s a very modest project. The residents have been calling for work on this. It wasn’t even really a road. A Caterpillar just threw a bunch of gravel on top of the trees there for a long time. The residents there have been extremely disappointed and, really, aghast that there have not been funds dedicated to that project and that, in fact, it’s being abandoned in midstream like this.

I know the Minister, again, is well aware of this. The work that’s been done there has been done incidentally on the backs of other projects that haven’t been done or whatever, and it’s an incidental approach. I think we have a much greater responsibility to the residents of Detah, as we do to all communities. What is the Minister going to do to correct that situation? I don’t see it in this plan. That’s unacceptable to me, again, when we are throwing tens of millions of dollars this fiscal year, and so on, at new projects.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Ramsay.

I thank the Member for his comments and his concerns. On the existing transportation system specific to highways here in the Northwest Territories, I beg to differ with some of what the Member is saying. I think we’ve done a lot to improve the highway system here in the Northwest Territories. We’re going to be opening the Deh Cho Bridge, a $202 million project, near Fort Providence in the coming weeks. As I mentioned to Member Yakeleya, we’ve spent $60 million over the past 10 years on putting permanent bridges in the Mackenzie Valley in anticipation of the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

We are doing the best we can to balance the approach to looking at new highways and maintaining the ones we have currently. I know the Member is concerned about the Detah road, and I don’t want anybody to think we’ve abandoned that project, but if you look around the territory, I mean, we don’t have the capital dollars. We have to do things incrementally. All you have to do is look at Highway No. 7, look at Highway No. 5, look at any of the highways, really, in the Northwest Territories and you can see that incremental approach. If you look at our capital plan, we just don’t have the funding to put it all in at one time.

In the situation with the Detah road, as soon as we can identify more funding, that will be completed. I’ve mentioned this a number of times: We’re very hopeful that the federal government is going to come forward with a new infrastructure plan in 2014, which will enable us to get some more funding to address areas like the Detah road and other highways around the Northwest Territories that need that type of investment. We’re very cognizant of the situation on the Detah road, but the reality is we need to find more funding. We’ve got a number of competing interests around the territory and when we do find some more funding, certainly, the completion of that project is right there.

I appreciate the Minister’s response and perspectives. I don’t entirely, of course, agree. I think the point is that the number of projects that are being deferred is increasing and the overall state of our highway system is not being maintained as it should be. We are having to make these choices more and more, whereas we used to be able to do both. That’s what’s changed. I think we do need to do a reassessment, but I know committee is grappling with that, as well, so that discussion will be ongoing.

Highway No. 3 has been brought up a number of times already. Here’s another highway that is proving to be very challenging; so far the most challenging, I believe, in the Northwest Territories, again related to our changing climate and the loss of permafrost. We have a few test strips being done but none of those are, obviously, cheap. If one of them does work, you know, to apply it extensively will be very expensive, but it still might be a better option than the bottomless pit of just repairing, repairing, repairing. This is in a zone of discontinuous permafrost. The Minister knows that in the zone of continuous permafrost the warming is an even greater rate than we’re experiencing here in the southern part of the Northwest Territories. But that’s another subject.

I wonder, has the Minister done any work to look at what the costs will be if one of these options proves to be technically feasible to apply them in an extensive way to Highway No. 3.

I thank the Member for his question. We are doing the work. We’re trying to find solutions. I think that’s important as we move forward with trying to figure out the best way forward for Highway No. 3. To get into specifics on the test sections and whether or not the department’s priced out if one of those four is a solution, what it would cost, the whole section is not, you know, the 100 kilometres, not all of it is an issue, so it would just be certain sections. I’m not sure, so I’ll go to Mr. Neudorf to see if we’ve done any price estimates on what it would cost if and when one of these is proven successful.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Mr. Neudorf.

Thank you. Next on my list I have Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to begin by saying that I am very surprised not to see any capital infrastructure going on into the Willow River near Aklavik, and also I was hoping to see in our budget funds going to the Inuvik-Tuk highway as we begin to start planning.

As we all know, there is very little for work up in the Mackenzie Delta region. It is very important that we start providing employment to the people up in the region and also to ensure that we spread out all of the work throughout the region. It is very important that we begin capital infrastructure, as we do want to increase the economics in the Northwest Territories. It is very important that we begin by building our infrastructure. I do realize that we are waiting for another year, but it is very difficult for the regions, especially up in the Beaufort-Delta and the Mackenzie Delta that we begin as soon as possible. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister Ramsay.

Madam Chair, I thank the Member for his questions. First off, on the Willow River gravel access road, I have been here for a few years. I have seen how, when a community wants access to a gravel source, that is arrived at. We had a couple of Members who I worked with from Nunakput, who kept talking about Gravel Source 177 and the importance to the community to get at that gravel source. When a funding source was found through the Building Canada Plan, that road became a reality, working with the federal government and the community. I believe the community of Tuk put a million dollars into that road as well.

If you look closer to the Legislature, here in Yellowknife, the city of Yellowknife bypass road, as well, when we had access to the federal program, that is when we saw that road get constructed as well. Again, it was a partnership with the Government of the Northwest Territories, the federal government and the City of Yellowknife.

We are very hopeful – again, I have mentioned this to other Members – that come 2014, we are going to have access to another federal infrastructure program that hopefully will allow us to take a look at projects like that and others around the Northwest Territories. Right now, we don’t have the capital dollars to be looking at community access to gravel. That is the reality that we are living in today. Hopefully, during the life of this government, we are going to have access to some more capital dollars so that we can be taking a look at those types of projects.

I want to thank the Member for the support of the Tuk-Inuvik highway. We certainly look forward to getting the cost estimates complete sometime between mid-January and the start of session in February-March and making some decisions so that we can get to work. There are a couple of sections, one out of Inuvik and one out of Tuk that don’t require the permitting, that are shovel ready, that we can get to work on. The region desperately needs the work and the investment. We are anxious to, again, continue to move that forward. Again, I want to thank the Member for his support on that. Thank you.

Madam Chair, the other thing that I wanted to stress the need for is I realize it is the last year that we are putting funds into the Dempster Highway. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to the highway and possible realignment of the gorge. I believe it is Kilometre 30 or so, but there has been a lot of shifting in the road due to climate change, and possibly the safest thing to do is just realign the highway up in that section.

Comparing the different highways I have driven over the number of years, I noticed a lot of attention

is being put in the highways down in the southern part of the territory due to a lot of bison and whatnot. Up in our region, there is a lot of moose, too, yet we have willows that are almost covering the highway. It is getting that bad. Sometimes you don’t know whether you see a moose or just willows. It is a safety concern. I am hopeful that the department would address that this coming summer. Thank you.

Madam Chair, I thank the Member for his concern. Although it might seem like much attention is given to highways further south, I think between Highway No. 3 and Highway No. 8, the Dempster, they have received the lion’s share of capital dollars over the past eight years. There has been a substantial investment in the Dempster.

I just want the Member to know, even though it looks like the funding is ending, it is the last year of the BCP, but the department and the government do recognize that we have to, and we need to continue to, invest in the Dempster. We are going to have to come up with a way to do that. It is not going to just fall off the radar. I want the Member and the Members to know that. Thank you.

Madam Chair, just looking to the future, if everything does go well with the Inuvik-Tuk highway, the tourists that that will bring, we need to do a lot of work to the Dempster Highway. I look forward to working with the Minister to achieve that.

Madam Chair, I look forward to working with Members of the House to ensure that we can find that investment to get into the Dempster and continue to work with our partners in the Yukon Territory on the Yukon side of the Dempster to ensure that that road is what it needs to be, not only for residents but for visitors as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just had a few more questions here. I wanted to, first of all, express my appreciation, as I am sure I am joined by all Members, for the new lighting along the highway starting from the Explorer heading out of town and going by Niven Lake. Many of us do walk along that highway. It has been quite dangerous, certainly for the constituents of Niven Lake. It has distressed many of my constituents who have had very close calls driving over people, ladies walking with baby carriages and so on. To some degree, the lighting means that, as drivers, we are able to see people just before we would hit them. It is an added element of safety, but we are not there yet.

I know the Minister perhaps can recall, in the 16th Assembly we also called for a walking and light trail that is off the highway there and also a safe

crossing section. Again, many of us have to dodge across the road in the dark and so on. The streetlights are certainly helpful there. At least you can wave your arms and hope to be seen there. That is much appreciated, as I have said. Now, can we take those next steps? These are not huge costs, but I think, in terms of safety, with the amount of traffic we have there, walking traffic and so on compared to anywhere in the NWT, worthy of the Minister’s attention. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Ramsay.

Madam Chair, I thank the Member for raising the issue of the lighting there. I know it is nice to finally have that lighting in place and I share his concern over the safety. We have had some discussions with the City of Yellowknife. We will have to find some money. Again, I think it is going to take a bit of money. We will continue the discussions with the City of Yellowknife and see if we can come up with a way to work something out here for the residents that use that section of highway. Thank you.

Thanks to the Minister for that commitment. What would be the time frame we can get that done in? Thank you.

Thank you. We don’t have a firm timeline on it. It has more to do with the funding and identifying funding to make it happen. Thank you.

Thank you. That’s the crux of the issue, of course. I’m five years into it, starting into my sixth year, and this has been an issue that whole time. Obviously, as Niven Lake develops, the traffic increases and so on. So I do appreciate and I hope we can put a time frame to it soon, and at least with the discussions and get the partnership going. I know the city has expressed interest, but somebody has got to take the lead on it. So I guess it’s our highway.

My next topic is the Inuvik-Tuk highway. I, obviously, am concerned that again it’s not listed here. We seem to be authorizing this project through rather random supps as we have done this year to some degree and intend to do to a further degree, perhaps. Apparently for ‘13-14 as well. Not sort of the normal course of business. I do realize that we are struggling to get the environmental assessment completed and whatnot, and a final decision made. We’re spending very significant dollars in light of other serious infrastructure demands, including health infrastructure, other highway infrastructure and so on. These are very serious trade-offs that we’re making.

I have mentioned some of the challenges, and I know the department is probably aware of many more challenges than I am, but climate change is the area of concern that I’ve been bringing to the

table and particularly in light of Highway No. 3, but also in light of the location and the high water content in the area compared to any of our other highways, except possibly Highway No. 3 which goes through a high-density pothole region and so on.

Could I just ask what degree of warming is the highway being planned for? I know that the Minister has mentioned the gravel investigations have been to prepare for 50 years of maintenance as well as construction. Obviously, that’s relevant for climate change impacts. Also, I’m interested in what changes in precipitation have been considered in the environmental work that’s been done to date. Again, there are significant, but less confident predictions in changes there. Generally increases in precip, but the lower confidence for precipitation means that there is going to be an increase, but it may be 10 percent or it may be 1,000 percent, and of course, Nahanni Butte can tell you all about that. So I’m interested in what degree of warming and what degree of change in precipitation in that environment the department is planning on. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate the Member’s questions and concerns. The department is considering climate change when it comes to the design and the eventual construction of that highway. The Member is asking for warm-up rates and also precipitation rates, and that’s something I don’t have and the deputy minister wouldn’t have that level of detail here. When we appeared before committee the other day, we had a number of reports that were submitted for the environmental assessment. Some of that information would have been contained in those reports, and we’ll compile that information and we’ll ensure that Members get that level of detail. Thank you.

I appreciate the Minister’s commitment there. The reason I have come to ask those sorts of questions is, in dealing with the Giant Mine remediation project, we found out that the engineers were very out of date in the rate of change, and that’s why I mess about in those kinds of details. But I could just share with the Minister that my understanding is probably out of date. We know that things are changing to a greater degree than scientists have predicted, being a conservative bunch, but we’re talking for that 50-year period in the degree of 10 to 20 degrees of warming during the winter period. I couldn’t tell you the precip myself. It’s relatively low precip to start with. So it doesn’t take much of a change to be a big change, obviously, in that sort of situation.

So I’ll leave it at that. My concern is that we are giving up a lot of other options and priorities in exchange for new projects, and I do detect a deteriorating condition of our existing highway

system, and I know the Minister and deputy minister have clearly stated that that’s a first priority is maintenance of our existing system. Thanks for that opportunity.