Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do have a few things I want to mention here with Transportation. The first is an observation that there was a 60 percent increase or variance from the budget we passed about this time last year for Transportation and the budget we look like we are ending up with. So, obviously a lot of changes to the budget during the year with the appropriations and so on.
Most of that was Vote 4 dollars, but $9 million of the $60 million increase, a $56 million increase was Vote 1 dollars. This was at a time when we’ve had a 50 percent reduction in net fiscal benefits. We had over $100 million in unanticipated and unplanned climate-related expenses and many other issues to face.
I am just wondering: would the Minister be able to forecast a little bit of where he anticipates this budget to be ending up and how much of that will be revenues and what we might be looking on down the line for Vote 1 dollars and Transportation’s budget, whether it’s going to be anything like the current year which is not all said and done yet.
There are a couple of projects that are eight-year projects for me so far. I’ve been through a number of Ministers of Transportation. It’s still unresolved and little progress, and important to the safety of my constituents. The first is the Detah road. Several years ago we finally had 4.5 kilometres reconstructed. That highway was never constructed. It was slapped together, as you know, and is in desperate need of reconstruction. So, I’m wondering when we will complete reconstruction of the Detah access road. I think we’d love to have an access road even in the condition of the Inuvik one.
The second one is the highway crossing between Niven Lake and the four-way stop entering Yellowknife. Again, this is now the eighth year of watching people walk along that highway, on the very edge of that highway, as we saw this morning and every morning, and this can sometimes be kids, strollers in the summertime and so on. It’s a serious issue. I appreciated quite a number of years ago when the Minister of Transportation finally put in some street lighting to help with that. Drivers have complained as much as pedestrians because it’s so dangerous and they know it. They’ve narrowly missed hitting people. Again, this has fallen through the cracks because it’s a city issue, it’s a GNWT issue, it’s your issue, it’s not my issue and so on. Meanwhile, the safety of our residents is
compromised. For me, it’s disgusting. I’d like to see someone finally take an accountable role and get that resolved.
I heard about the Inuvik study. The money was budgeted for a study on that situation for the Inuvik Airport. I also believe I heard that money was being carried over. I want to know why that work wasn’t done, when it’s going to be done, and I’d like to know what other carry-overs we can expect from this department for work that hasn’t been completed or you are anticipating not being able to complete. That’s all I have, Mr. Chair. Thank you.