Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The gate itself was in the neighbourhood of half a million dollars. The good news is that that gate does work. The bison that did appear on that bridge and in photos that appeared on social media didn’t go across the Texas gate that was installed. It in

fact went around and jumped a guardrail and got onto the bridge. The Department of Transportation is currently looking at a remedy to see that bison can’t go down on the right-hand side of the bridge and jump the guardrail and get on that bridge again. So we’re taking steps to ensure that that does not happen again.

Again, the good news is, the gate works. Thank you.

Thank you. Well, I guess the next question is: How does the Minister know they can’t cross the Texas gates? Thank you.

It reminds me of a joke my kid would say, is why did the buffalo cross the bridge.

---Laughter

Obviously, to get to the other side.

But in all seriousness, how much will this cost now to fix this new remedy or new hole we’re finding out in the Deh Cho Bridge process and system? How much more money is required now to keep the buffalo from jumping from the side onto the bridge, and what remedy does the Department of Transportation have in its pocketbook of plays to deal with a buffalo in the middle of the bridge while people are coming over it and while they have no choice? Something is going to happen.

Thank you. It wouldn’t be a great deal of money to get that fixed and that guardrail raised up. I certainly will make a commitment to get that figure to Members. We have to remember that where the Deh Cho Bridge is, bison that are in the area, that river is frozen six and a half months out of the year. They could certainly walk across there, and bison have been known to swim up to a kilometre at a time. So they could certainly swim across the river.

Our objective, in all of this, is public safety and keeping bison off the bridge. The cattle gate was put in to ensure that bison stayed off the bridge. Obviously, we had a bison that went around the gate and jumped the guardrail, and we will make every effort to ensure that that does not happen. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m really glad to hear what the Minister had to say, but he avoided my last question, which is simply: What is going to happen if there’s a buffalo on the bridge and somebody comes along and goes over the

hump of the bridge and all of a sudden sees a buffalo? The buffalo has nowhere to go but on the side or jump over. Potentially someone could hit the buffalo; there’s nowhere to swerve. I mean, we know how narrow that bridge is. So the question essentially is: Is public safety being compromised with this failed solution to keep the buffalo off the bridge?

Thank you. No, it’s not and we are making every effort to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.