This is page numbers 6559 – 6620 of the Hansard for the 17th Assembly, 5th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was know.

Topics

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

It was deemed that it was not efficient to continue to run the sweeper. We go through the Department of Public Works and

Services, we go through the regular disposal process with the sweeper.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

So, what is the normal disposal process?

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Like all of the other assets, we would see if the other departments had any use for the asset. If none of the other departments had a use for the asset, the asset could be offered to other organizations, non-profit organizations or other community governments. With no use there, then it would probably be sold in an auction or sold and shipped down to wherever it was purchased.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

I know it is another descriptor here in terms of product listing, runway drainage improvement in Hay River. Can you maybe give me an update here, what is the scope of this project and why the need for it? Thank you.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Studies in 2014 suggested there is a subsurface drainage problem that leads to ongoing repairs of the Hay River runway. Replacement and extending the underground drainage system adjacent and parallel to both sides of the runway provide enhanced protection to the runway and adjacent infrastructure. The drainage system is expected to last 20 years.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Is this a repeat problem that we are having in Hay River or is this a one-time event? I am just trying to get the scope. Has this been a repetitive issue with that runway? Thank you.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

There is a recurring issue for repairing dips on Hay River Airport every five years. We are thinking that this is a solution to resolve it and end the issue.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

So, if we are doing this every so many years, I am assuming this could become a problematic issue. So we are thinking that by just repairing the drainage that we are going to avoid the so-called dips and valleys of this runway. Are there no alternative solutions other than drainage? Is it because it needs to be built up? Does it need a geotextile fabric? Do we need to use another aggregate coating for this runway? Is this just a piecemeal or bandage approach? Is this a permanent fix? Thank you.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

We believe it is a drainage problem. At one point we were looking at the possibility that it may be a permafrost issue, but we have determined that it is a drainage problem and we’re convinced that this fix here is going to resolve the issue for at least 20 years, as I indicated.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

We know this runway is roughly 1,830 metres in length. If we’re going to be doing this drainage program, which I think it sounds like a fairly large undertaking, is there any consideration of actually increasing the length of this runway to maybe allow for larger planes to land in Hay River? Thank you.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Mr. Chairman, we have no plans to extend the runway in Hay River. Most of the aircraft that are landing there are much smaller than what the airport can handle. You can land 737s at the Hay River Airport, so there is no plan to extend that airport runway at this time.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Next on the list I have Mr. Menicoche.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to direct your attention to Trout Lake. I know that people are very happy with a much longer runway, but I think there was some remedial work that was done to the slumpage in the springtime, so maybe the Minister could comment on i

t. I don’t see any capital for ’16-17. Does that mean

that the airport settled just great and we’ll have many years of operational life of the current airport? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Minister Beaulieu.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. New airports, new construction comes with some issues that we usually sort out in the first couple of years. There is nothing that we’re anticipating that can’t be handled with the equipment that is there, with

the grader. We know that we didn’t have the

money immediately to build the airport terminal building, but we now have the money and we’ll be proceeding with the construction of the ATB.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

September 30th, 2015

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

So, just in terms of integrity of the new airport, it sounds like it all settled out. Certainly residents are very happy to see the new airport terminal building was certainly in the bidding process and look forward to the construction to protect the travelling public during the upcoming winter months. Maybe the Minister can let me know when that’s slated for completion. Just with that, then I have one other thing with regard to the Trout Lake Airport. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

The tenders on that have closed. We’re going to award soon. It’s going in on the winter road and we’re going to do the construction as soon as possible after that.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Just with the much larger airport, the Minister was in Trout Lake and one of the needs is a snow blower as opposed to using the graders. That’s one of the requests, is to move towards a snow blower for the community of Trout Lake for their much larger airport. They really feel that they’ll maintain the airport a lot better with a snow blower.

I’d just like to ask, is it on any short-term plan for the community of Trout Lake? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Mr. Chairman, last winter we had provided maintenance at the airport with a grader. We’re going to continue that this coming winter. We thought that it performed well. Snow

blowers are an expensive piece of machinery, difficult to maintain and difficult to operate. So, we’re going to continue with this and see how it performs, and then we’ll evaluate. We don’t have a snow blower scheduled for Trout Lake, but we will continue to use equipment we have and continue to evaluate.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Kevin A. Menicoche

Kevin A. Menicoche Nahendeh

Yes, I certainly realize the cost of a brand new snow blower, but I think there may be other ones in the Department of Transportation in other communities or other regions that could be perhaps repurposed to the community of Trout Lake. So I would just ask the Minister to keep that in mind as they evaluate their equipment and the equipment needs. I did speak in the House about it before and I thought there was a solution of an older, not very old, but an older snow blower in another community that could have been purposed over to Trout Lake. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Tom Beaulieu

Tom Beaulieu Tu Nedhe

Mr. Chairman, we will continue to monitor the airport with what we have, and it may come to a point if we are unable to maintain the airport with what we have, we may have to bring something else in. At this point I can commit to monitoring it and making sure that we’re in touch with the community, and if the community keeps advising us

that things are running okay, then we’ll

leave it as is. If it becomes an issue,

then we’ll have

to deal with it.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Committee, we’re on page 82, airports, infrastructure investments, $1.201 million.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Some Hon. Members

Agreed.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

The Chair

The Chair Robert Bouchard

Agreed. Page 84, highways, infrastructure investments, $69.340 million. Mr. Dolynny.

Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters

Daryl Dolynny

Daryl Dolynny Range Lake

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess first and foremost there is a number of highway projects here today listed in front of us here, which is good to see. I guess to bring it to a specific question here, all of the construction projects that are listed on the project listing, are those RFP projects or are those negotiated contract projects? Thank you.