Thanks to the Minister. With all the industrial development that’s anticipated in the Sahtu region, does the department anticipate a

much bigger increase in marine traffic or activity, and is this reflected in this year’s budget?

Getting back to cost recovery, if we had a request for the Cardinal from industry in using that to cross from Norman Wells or Tulita, that’s something that we would certainly consider on a cost-recovery basis. We could see how that progresses.

As far as marine traffic, I think that will be moving forward. There will be much more marine traffic this coming summer and the following summer with the advance of Husky’s all-weather road into one of their leases in the Sahtu. As well, Conoco has plans to build an all-weather road on the other side of the Mackenzie. As well, there will be more marine traffic. I think Hay River is going to be a busier place as a result of that. We don’t have any money associated with that in this budget, but activity will certainly be increasing.

A final question I have here, and just so that I’m perfectly clear on all the regulatory changes that we’re going to be faced here in the GNWT, is there any increase in our operating costs to this department with respect to marine activity?

No.

Mr. Dolynny is done. Mr. Bouchard.

Thank you, Madam Chair. My questions are along the ferry operation as well. I know the Minister has answered some of them with Mr. Dolynny’s questions, but I’m just wondering about the strategy that the department is going to come with all the ferries. I have heard also that the ferry in Fort McPherson, they would like to upgrade it as well. I’m just wondering when the department is going to analyze and decide if they’re going to move the Merv Hardie up to Tsiigehtchic, maybe the Louis Cardinal moves up to Fort McPherson, and then we would have a spare ferry. When would the department be looking at rolling out this plan to implement? Obviously, the spring is coming and we’re a couple months away from wanting to open up these ferries, so when does the department expect to know about what they’re going to do for this upcoming season?

Thank you, Madam Chair. That analysis and decisions could, in fact, even happen this month. I mean, spring is coming and decisions are going to have to be made, so, yes, we’ll be moving on that as soon as we get the analysis done.

My other question is about the Merv Hardie. I’ve heard that they need to potentially do an upgrade to the engines and stuff like that. Would that be an operating cost or would we be

capitalizing any kind of major engine repairs to that ship? Obviously, we’d do that before we would send it up to Tsiigehtchic, I would assume.

That would be a capital cost, and we don’t have the capital dollars to do the improvements right now. That’s why it was going to be put as a spare, but that’s not to say that it can’t be put back into service and we can find the capital dollars to upgrade at a later point in time.

The other area of interest of mine is, obviously, dredging, and this goes in line with marine. The Minister has already committed to providing some financial assistance to looking at the Hay River dredging, but I’m just wondering if the department is looking to roll out more of a plan for dredging. I’m not just concerned about Hay River dredging. I think there are some other areas of concern. Dredging, you know, maybe some, potentially, in Inuvik and some in Norman Wells. What is the department looking at as far as a dredging program through the Northwest Territories?

Dredging remains a responsibility of the federal government. I see our role as being one that continues to push the federal government to reinstate a program like they had prior to 1994 when they had a multi-million dollar dredging program here in the Northwest Territories. As I mentioned to the Member earlier, even a small-scale dredging program is going to cost somewhere between $2 million and $3 million. Full-scale, you’re looking at probably $12 million to $15 million for a full-scale dredging program. Those are capital dollars that today we just do not have, and again, it’s not currently our responsibility, but we do have a responsibility to impress upon the federal government the need and the requirement to dredge a port like Hay River and others in the territory.

We will continue to impress upon the federal government the need to get a program back up and running here in the North. In discussions we’ve had previously with the federal government, dredging has come up and we continue the dialogue, but we haven’t seen any funding yet. We will continue to push the federal government for funding for dredging here.

That’s all. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m just interested in the issue that’s arisen to the floor, the discussion on the potential transfer of the Merv Hardie down the line. What I’m hearing is the access by Tsiigehtchic, or wherever appropriate, to replace that ferry, the Cardinal I think it is. Has there been any consideration to maybe push the Merv Hardie to the Liard ferry at Fort Simpson and

then push the Lafferty, I think, further down? I’m just curious on the analysis and consideration that will be taken into effect. Considering how busy that highway is and certainly getting with the heavy trucks.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. Minister Ramsay.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The main impetus on looking at relocating the Merv Hardie to Tsiigehtchic was its ice-breaking capability and the fact that it could remain in operation longer, and with the situation of gas in Inuvik, that’s very, very important. Again, decisions are going to have to be made sooner rather than later. The Merv Hardie, we didn’t look at any other location that it could move in the NWT. The traffic volumes aren’t there at other locations and, again, I think we need to keep in mind the situation in Inuvik with the gas and the fact that we can keep that crossing open for many weeks more than is currently allowed with the current operation there. Is it the location we’re looking at?

What’s the enabling document that defines who’s responsible for dredging?

I could find out which document it is, but it’s always been a federal responsibility here in the Northwest Territories. We’ll try to find that document for the Member.

I thought certain limitations of dredging as to where it was or handled was transferred to the GNWT. Is there any familiarity to that?

No.

[Microphone turned off] …last year that dredging was actually paid for by the federal government and to what extent?

That would have been 1994, and it was a multi-million dollar operation at that time. They had a program that was run on an annual basis here in the Northwest Territories. The program ceased to exist in 1994.

Has the department been involved in any dredging since 1994? That’s just short of 20 years.