We don’t do that for other offences under the Motor Vehicles Act, so I can’t see us doing that for this amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act. It’s just not something we’ve done in the past and I don’t see us doing that in the future.

Given the fact that you may not do that with other initiatives, this is obviously more of an initiative in which I think safety is critical. If the Department of Transportation is not willing to use that as a public relations opportunity to promote good driving, would the Minister or the department agree to sharing information on a quarterly basis to Regular Members?

We had received that information from the RCMP and if the question comes up down the road from Members, we can certainly try to find that detailed information through the RCMP. Thank you.

Thank you. We are on page 11-13. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m just wondering if the vehicle licensing is in corporate services or is that in highways. That sounds like it might be in highways so I’ll save that one.

The other thing, in terms of planning, again, I’m wondering where the division is between the divisions and planning, but I’m wondering where… I’d like to talk a little bit about the maintenance of our highway systems versus decisions to put resources into new road infrastructure, if that would be, again, under planning and policy here or whether that would be in highways.

I think, Mr. Bromley, your question about vehicle licensing would be under the activity summary for road licensing and safety, which is page 11-33. We will defer your question until we get there. To your other question, Mr. Neudorf, please.

I’d like to pose my question now that I’ve got confirmation that that’s where that is. The maintenance of the existing network of highways is purportedly, according to the department presentations, priority number one, and I think most of my colleagues would agree that that’s an appropriate policy, a correct approach. Unfortunately, we have fallen far behind on maintenance of our highway systems and abandoned that responsibility to a large degree, especially in this budget this year, in favour of accelerating new projects and at an unwarranted pace, as was referenced by the deputy minister.

These are, unfortunately, projects that are both expensive and still unknown as to what their costs are, although each estimate we come up with seems to be greater than the one before. Some immediate examples come to mind. Highway No. 7 we’ve heard a lot about. The Detah road is certainly one in my riding, and the Ingraham Trail, massive work being put into that and already we can see the impacts there. Highway No. 3 and so on. Additionally, though, the new projects are proposed in the most problematic terrain we have and thus these new projects are committing us to yet greater annual maintenance requirements and subsequently greater deficits. I don’t know how we’re going to catch up here if we don’t look after the highways, which is our current situation.

These do cost our residents both in terms of their vehicles and so on, and communities’ vehicles, business vehicles, et cetera, and they are starting to get into the area of increasing safety risks. Clearly, that sort of approach is sustainable. The department would be the first to say that. The Minister would say, and the deputy minister had already said, that a balance of old and new projects’ maintenance and new projects is what they are striving for. Clearly – and even this has come out from the staff – they are not doing the maintenance that is required. How can the Minister justify this? Is this the sort of thinking that have got us in this situation, and so many other areas of government, including other areas of Transportation?

The Deh Cho Bridge has cost hundreds of millions of dollars of options and services that government could have delivered and could be delivering over the next 35 years. This is not a light one to me. This can’t be put aside as, oh, we need a balance and we will go for these new projects and catch up later. This government has already experienced deficits in our infrastructure maintenance and so on. I would like a more in-depth explanation both how this can be justified and how we are going to get out of it, given that the cost will only get worse, particularly given the impacts of climate change and any new development activities we enjoy. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Ramsay.

Madam Chair, I appreciate the Member’s concerns. However, we got the marching orders from this Legislative Assembly to pursue new opportunities and that is something that the department is doing. I believe wholeheartedly that we can balance the demands on maintaining the system that we have while pursuing new objectives. We have a ready, willing and able partner in the federal government.

In looking at the construction of the Inuvik-Tuk highway, we are going through the environmental

assessment currently. We are going to determine what the cost of that highway is going to be. We have not got there yet, so anybody that is throwing numbers around, that is all it is, just throwing numbers around. We will determine what the cost is going to be.

We take safety on our road system as of paramount importance to the department and to this government. We take that seriously. We try to balance all of those demands, and I do believe the department is doing a good job in balancing the demands that are out there. We can’t just sit back and rest on our laurels. I think we need to pursue new projects. We need to grow this territory. We need to grow the economy here. By building new pieces of infrastructure in this territory, that is how we are going to build the territory. That is how we are going to grow the economy. That is how we are going to lower the cost of living to some of our residents in the isolated communities. That is something the government takes seriously. We are going to pursue that. Thank you.

Thanks for the Minister’s response. I guess I have a couple of points on that. The Minister referring to the marching orders of the Legislative Assembly and I don’t debate him on that. The only thing is I don’t think he would suggest that we park our brain outside the door. When the economic analysis for that highway was built entirely on the Mackenzie Gas Project, when that was temporarily shelved for five or 10 years as it has been, then I would think that this body of representatives would likely bring that into consideration and adjust our plans accordingly. It might buy us a window of opportunity to catch up on some of our debts and prevent other debts such as the maintenance problem. That is with reference to the marching orders.

With reference to the belief that we can handle this, typically we try and make decisions on more than belief when it comes to spending the taxpayers’ dollars. I wonder if the Minister would commit to having his department provide us with a report on the status of our network of highways and the maintenance, where we are at with maintenance of that infrastructure. Thank you.

Again, I do appreciate the Member’s comments and concerns. We heard some other Members, many other Members during their opening comments on how well contractors around the Northwest Territories and our staff have been maintaining the road system here in the Northwest Territories. I thank the Members that provided those comments.

Again, as we go forward here, I don’t want people to think that this highway, the Inuvik-Tuk highway between Inuvik and Tuk was solely premised on the Mackenzie Gas Project. Again, we are still optimistic that the Mackenzie Gas Project will go

ahead, but there are a number of other reasons why this highway is of paramount importance to the Mackenzie Delta and to this territory.

Today there is hardly any economic activity in the Mackenzie Delta. They desperately need work. If you look at the future of both onshore and offshore in the area of petroleum development in the Mackenzie Delta, this road will be an integral part of the development of the resources that are there. I have mentioned this before, too, and as a government it is important for us to keep all of our options open. By not building this road, I think we are closing the door on opportunities. We are going to not allow the economic activity and development of the Mackenzie Delta, and I think that should be front and centre. I think we are pursuing the Inuvik-Tuk highway for all of the right reasons. I think we should continue to pursue that highway. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anybody else who wishes to speak to page 11-13? Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, colleagues. Thank you, Minister Ramsay, for those comments. I don’t think I have said the words we shouldn’t build the Inuvik-Tuk highway. I am talking about maintenance of our highways here and balancing it with going aggressively after large, uncosted new projects. The Minister is on record as saying that he would like construction to start this spring or this fall, which I am all for enthusiasm and stuff. I am hoping the Minister won’t try and put words in my mouth and didn’t mean to do that, because I have not ever said that. Thanks for that discussion. I think the Minister knows my thinking on those and that of my colleagues.

My second topic is I know the department has put together a progressive green plan with their facilities and so on. I can’t remember the name of it. It has a catchy name. There we go. If I could just get an update on how we are doing and implementation of that. I believe that came out a year or two ago. Mahsi.

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Neudorf.

That’s all I had on this page. Thank you.

Thank you. To page 11-13, activity summary, corporate services, operations expenditure summary, $10.228 million.

Thank you, committee. We’ll move to page 11-14, an information item, corporate services, active positions.

No questions? Page 11-17, activity summary, airports, operations expenditure summary, $28.677 million. Mr. Dolynny.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Transport Canada is in the process of reviewing all runway lengths throughout Canada and NWT is no different. Can the Minister or delegate team give us an update on some of the outcomes based on those reviews, and how does that affect the runways that we have currently throughout the Northwest Territories? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. Mr. Neudorf.