Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I’ll start at the end. It’s better for my memory that way. The first issue that Mr. Hawkins had, I just wanted to clarify. There is a tremendous amount of work that the department is putting into the Inuvik-Tuk highway. That was a director-level
position. It was advertised, it was subsequently cancelled and we’re managing internally for now with a gentleman in that position. So that’s that part.
Also, I wanted to mention, if I could, the Deh Cho Bridge, and Member Hawkins had brought this up as well. What we’re trying to do right now is put together the most comprehensive, up-to-date package on the status of the project, and it’s my belief that we will be able to get before committee during this sitting of the House so that we can provide committee and Regular Members with an up-to-date, factual, comprehensive report on the Deh Cho Bridge. That is before we go to our summer assemblies and the House recesses for the summer. It’s important that Members get that level of detail and we will be discussing the Deh Cho Bridge much more during this sitting.
Also, Member Hawkins talked about Highway No. 7 and I know a couple of other Members had talked about Highway No. 7 as well. Again, this is an O and M budget. Going forward we’d made a commitment to the Member for Nahendeh that we will take a serious look at Highway No. 7 and we will be doing that. I’m looking forward to travelling with MLA Menicoche to Nahendeh on Friday to have a firsthand look at Highway No. 7 and I look forward to the meetings that we have set up there with community leaders as well.
Moving on to, I guess I’ll go to Mr. Yakeleya. I’ll answer Mr. Yakeleya’s comments. I know Mr. Yakeleya has often wanted to have an office, a Transportation office set up in the Sahtu. I think the best way we can get that accomplished is to have a highway run right through the Sahtu, an all-weather road down the Mackenzie Valley. I think that would be the impetus to really take a good look at staffing positions in the Sahtu when we do have an all-weather road going through there. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t be looking at opportunities. Again, that’s going to be an exercise the government is going through on positions and where things are located. That could be an opportunity, as well, but certainly as we go forward here I think that’s probably where that’s at.
On the 75/25 split, we’ve heard that from federal officials. It’s based on a precedent from the Building Canada Plan and the $150 million commitment. That’s where the 75/25 split would come in. If the costs of the Inuvik-Tuk highway are more, 25 percent, if we have to look at putting in more than $75 million or $80 million, then we would have to discuss with the federal government what our belief where the split was and we were of the belief that it was 75/25. So that’s the premise that we’re working off of. We’re still doing the geotechnical work, the environmental assessment is still underway, it’s gone through the technical review. We will get a clear indication and determination on what the final costs will be. We’d be just guessing right now. We
could throw many different numbers out there, but I think until we go through that EA process and find where the aggregate is, and that of course is the biggest cost in constructing a road, then we’ll get a better determination on what the costs are.
Mr. Yakeleya also talked about the statement I made earlier today on the petroleum resource in the Sahtu, and again, I know the Member was listening closely to that statement. We did put a plug in there for all-weather roads in the Sahtu and how integral they are to the economic growth and prosperity in the Northwest Territories and in the Sahtu specifically. I do believe that with resource development we will see a push toward the development of our transportation infrastructure – the two go hand in hand – at the earliest opportunity. I’ve had discussions with both deputies with Transportation and ITI on trying to get in front of the Sahtu Explorer Group at the earliest possible time and begin some preliminary discussions on the future of transportation infrastructure in the Sahtu. As the resource there, the Canol shale formation is proven up. I do believe we have some very, very good upside to discussions with industry on the development of transportation infrastructure in the Sahtu. I look forward to those discussions. I know the Member is excited about that possibility, as well, so we’ll continue to work toward that.
In the meantime, we’re getting some positive indications from CanNor on funding to continue with the work up and down the valley. That’s an important next step.
I’ll go now to… Mr. Menicoche had talked about Highway No. 7 and I think I’ve responded that we are interested in seeing some capital funding for Highway No. 7. We’re going to have to put our minds around how we get a sizeable capital program in there. The highway itself needs a complete rehabilitation that could cost upwards of $200 million. We need to make sure that we have money on a go-forward basis that’s going to address the concerns there on an annual basis. I’m looking forward to discussions on that again this fall.
We have been blessed recently with some warm, dry weather and that hopefully is going to allow us to get, as soon as that road dries out, the $1.3 million in carryover funding for Highway No. 7. We’ll be able to get that to work as soon as we possibly can. Again, if the weather holds out and the road continues to dry, I know there was a big snowstorm and a lot of precipitation there a couple weeks ago. We’re hoping that the weather does stay well.
On the Wrigley portion of the road we do not have any capital today for improvements on that road. We did see some improvements with the Enbridge spill. There was some money that went into improvements on the road. That highway obviously has a very low traffic volume. If it does become a
bigger issue, I think again through the capital planning process we could try to identify funds for that section of the highway.
I’ll move now to, I believe it was Mr. Bouchard, talking about larger projects and how smaller companies are having a hard time getting in the door and how we need to maximize northern content. I agree with the Member. We do have to take a look at this. I think going forward there have been changes to the Business Incentive Policy recently that will take a look at where subcontractors are coming from. I think that’s going to help. Speaking just for the Department of Transportation’s contracts, 91.5 percent of our contracts in value – and this is in the fiscal year 2011-2012 – went to northern and local companies. I believe the department is doing a very good job on trying to keep money in the Northwest Territories. That to me is a primary goal and objective, is to keep money circulating in the northern economy. By spending 91.5 percent in 2011-2012, I think that’s a good indication that DOT is doing just that.
Mr. Bouchard also talked about the Deh Cho Bridge. Obviously the expectation is that it will be open in November. We’re optimistic again that that is going to happen. We will, as I mentioned in response to Mr. Hawkins, have a full and thorough presentation to Regular Members during this session and I look forward to discussing that project much more in depth when we get that opportunity.
Also, we are trying to help organize some dredging in the port of Hay River. I know how important that work is to the town of Hay River and to the marine operations in that town. We’re looking forward to doing that. Eventually we are going to need a sizable amount of capital dollars and we’re going to continue to press the federal government on the requirement for money to dredge the port of Hay River and we’ll continue to work towards that.
On the motor vehicle information system, we did receive some complaints early on in the rollout of the new system. The Member raised it again today and that was the first time I’ve heard it in some time. With any new system there are going to be a few growing pains and we’re going to need to work through those growing pains. I believe we will get there. We’ll see those concerns decline over time and I believe they have.
I agree with the Member and I believe maybe another one of the Members had mentioned the amount of carryovers. We really need to address that and I agree with the Member. We need to figure out a way to ensure that the capital dollars that we have and the projects that we have are going to be delivered in a timely fashion. I hope that going forward, and as Minister I take this very seriously and I want to see the amount that the department’s carrying over on an annual basis reduced. I think once we get over the hurdle of
opening the Deh Cho Bridge this fall, I think we’ll see some more push on getting the projects that we have completed and I look forward to doing that.
Mr. Blake talked about the access road to Willow River. Again, we have supplied some money through the Community Access Road Program over the past two years. I believe it’s in the second year of funding on the PDR, the development of that for the access road to Willow River. This is similar to the road to Source 177 in Tuktoyaktuk. It’s going to be about 18 to 19 million dollars. If it’s determined to be a real need in the Mackenzie Delta for the town of Aklavik, that is something that we will have to look at down the road.
Also we’re looking at options with some contractors on maintaining the receiver at Rat Pass open.
I’ll take the Member’s comments about seeing the people from the community doing the work on the ferries. He didn’t get into specifics but I will look at that and maybe I can talk to the Member and see if there are some specifics that he has. Maybe we can go from there.
I wanted to thank Mr. Blake for his comments on the work that’s done on the NWT side of the Dempster. That is a very nice thing for him to say and we appreciate that. I’ve also had discussions with my counterpart in the Yukon talking about the discrepancy between the NWT side and the Yukon side in terms of maintenance. I brought that to his attention. We’ll see if Yukon is going to put some more effort and impetus on their section of the Dempster across the NWT border.
Mr. Bromley talked about climate change and if we don’t mitigate it’s going to cost us more and more. I agree with the Member. I think we are doing the best that we can. I know it’s a big issue but it’s one that the department takes seriously. The federal government regulates fuel efficiency. Our job, I believe, with all the equipment and operations that the department has, is to educate not only our staff but the public. That’s where I see our role and I think with some of the initiatives that the department has taken I think we are taking a lead role across government in doing some of this work. I’m excited about the fact that we’re involved in some of these national organized efforts on looking at climate change and the impact on infrastructure. Again, I think that is going to help us as we continue to look at the impact climate change has on us. I agree with the Member, we need to look at the cause of climate change not just how we react to it.
I do think I’ve covered everybody that provided opening comments. If I missed anything, if Members wanted to get to that during the detail, I’d be more than happy to expand on anything at that time.