Thank you, Mr. Clerk. All those in favour, seven; opposed, zero; abstentions, seven. The motion is carried.

---Carried

Item 18, first reading of bills. The honourable Premier, Mr. McLeod.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 46, Deline Final Self-Government Agreement Act, be read for the first time.

I ask for a recorded vote.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The Member is seeking a recorded vote. All those in favour, please rise.

All those opposed, please rise. All those abstaining, please rise. Thank you, Mr. Clerk. All those in favour, 16; all those opposed, zero; abstentions, zero. The motion is carried.

---Carried

Bill 46 has had first reading.

Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Bill 38, An Act to Amend the Jury Act; Bill 41, An Act to Amend the Partnership Act; Committee Report 10-17(5), Standing Committee on Government Operations Report on the Review of the 2013-2014 Annual Report of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of the Northwest Territories; and Tabled Document 188-

17(5), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2015-2016, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.

I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order for today and ask what is the wish of the committee? Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We wish to continue with TD 188-17(5), Northwest Territories Main Estimates 2015-2016. We want to continue with the Department of Transportation, then the Department of the Executive and Environment and Natural Resources if we get that far.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Is committee agreed?

We will commence with that after a brief break.

---SHORT RECESS

Minister Beaulieu, for the record, could you please introduce your witnesses?

Thank you, Madam Chair. To my right is Deputy Minister Russell Neudorf, Department of Transportation. To my left is the assistant deputy minister of the Department of Transportation, Daniel Auger; and to my far right, director of corporate services, Jim Martin, Department of Transportation.

Thank you, Minister Beaulieu. I will now go to Members for general comments. Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a few opening comments as I did the other day. I’d just like to express large concern with the Dempster widening. Hopefully, that will happen this summer. I know it is under the Building Canada Fund, which we haven’t gotten to yet, but I’m looking forward to that and the council moving forward.

We have, as I mentioned a while back, the overflow concerns that are happening along the highway. In this day and age there’s technology that’s available that we could put in place that we would not have these minor problems, I mean the huge problems for some people that are affected, like the people near Tsiigehtchic. We need to ensure that our highways are clear of water at all times. A simple little thing like a heat trace line or a generator could really help. We need to make sure that that’s in place.

Also, with the ferry contracts, as I mentioned, the communities in my riding are very interested in

taking over the management as it is right in our backyard here. It only makes sense to do that.

The other thing was the bridge to Willow River. We did purchase it last year and I thank the department for their support in that, working with the community. I look forward to actually having that in place within the next couple of months with support from the department as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister Beaulieu.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just quickly, the plan is, on the first bundle of Building Canada Plan, we’ll first go through a supplementary appropriation. We have earmarked $4.5 million annually in the first bundle. So, it’s the first four years of the plan, although the plan runs nine years.

The overflow situation that we had talked about just recently, the Member thought there were some solutions that were applicable in the Yukon. Maybe the weather might be a little bit different, but possibly if it’s further north on the Dempster and a solution is working, we can look at that. The deputy minister advised last time that it was a solution that worked well in the spring but may not work in the winter. We should, I suppose, find a solution. Previously we thought that between ourselves and the Housing Corporation that we did find a solution by moving the community member to another location, but apparently he’s flooded out of that location also, so it looks like maybe that didn’t work.

We are on the last year of the ferry contract at the Dempster. We’ve had some very preliminary discussions with some people who are involved. Between the leadership of the Gwich’in we are going to determine exactly who it is we are going to be negotiating with. Once that happens, we will talk about the negotiations. There’s also an option of extending that current contract in addition to the option of negotiating the brand new contract.

Of course, on Willow River Bridge, as I indicated previously, the bridge is purchased. Three-quarters of the bridge is in Inuvik, ready to go on the winter road to Aklavik, and the other quarter of the bridge is still down south and has to be hauled all the way to Aklavik as well. Thank you.

On the overflow issue by Tsiigehtchic that we’re talking about, there’s also another thing we can do, but I know it’s all based on cost. The major lake that is the problem is Island Lake. There’s another place where a creek goes down to the Arctic Red River, which is about a mile west. All we needed to do is get the proper permits and get a backhoe in there and trench it out. As I mentioned last year, there’s a huge population of beaver in the areas throughout the Delta especially. That’s an issue. They clog up the creek. For that reason the water builds up and we have those issues along the

highway. That’s another solution we can look at. As I mentioned, the most cost-effective one is using the heat trace lines. Thank you.

We’ll look into that alternative solution the Member brings to our attention.

Thank you, Minister Beaulieu. Any further general comments on the Department of Transportation?

Detail, okay. If we can start at page 449, then, and we will defer this page until the end of our consideration of the detail. Go to page 450, Transportation, revenue summary, information item. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Building Canada Fund dollars, are they reflected on this page or is that something we will fill in later?

Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Minister Beaulieu.