Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Beaulieu.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The main money that we hope to spend on the Mackenzie Valley Highway is in a separate proposal to Canada under the national Infrastructure Fund. We are also seeking some money from CanNor, which is another pot of money that’s outside of the O and M that we’re discussing here today.

If I heard the Minister correctly, then, the funding for the Mackenzie Valley Highway is totally outside of this budget. I’m wondering about the Building Canada Plan. Is any of the Building

Canada Plan money intended for the Mackenzie Valley Highway? Thank you.

Madam Chair, there’s one outstanding proposal from the Sahtu referred to as Canyon Creek proposal. That is something that could possibly end up in the Building Canada Fund, Corridors for Canada III. In that proposal, if they build a Canyon Creek Road, then Canyon Creek Road would be on the same alignment as the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

I didn’t hear any reference to the Building Canada Plan, so can I just get confirmation that the Building Canada Plan money is not going into the Mackenzie Valley Highway? Thank you.

Madam Chair, there will be three or four bundles on the overall plan, Building Canada Plan. In the first bundle, it will be discussed in this session. There is no money in that bundle for the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Thanks to the Minister. Three or four bundles… Does a bundle equate to a fiscal year, or is this three or four bundles in the ‘15-16 fiscal year? Thanks.

Madam Chair, the bundles are more than one fiscal year, but I’ll have the deputy minister respond so we can provide a little more detail on how the bundles work.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Neudorf.

Thank you, Mr. Neudorf. Ms. Bisaro.

I’m trying to get at how the Mackenzie Valley Highway is going to be financed. There’s no money in this next bundle of Building Canada Plan money, but is it conceivable that there will be money for the Mackenzie Valley Highway coming from the Building Canada Plan sometime in the next period of years in these bundles as they come forward? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Beaulieu.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Building Canada Plan that we have been

working with that we’re getting very close to rolling out does not include any expenditures to the Mackenzie Valley Highway. The national Infrastructure Fund, which is also under the umbrella of the Building Canada Plan, is again a different pot of money coming from the federal government. That is where we have our proposal. We’re trying to draw down some of that money. That is a $700 million proposal that we put in front of the federal government all to go towards the Mackenzie Valley Highway.

Thanks to the Minister. My other question in this area has to do with the highway, the roadway from the intersection at the Explorer Hotel and the now extinct gas station and then heading out towards Niven Lake. It’s been discussed for quite some time. By quite some time I mean quite a few years. There’s a great concern for the people that live in Niven Lake and walk to work and downtown that it’s reasonably unsafe. There’s concern over tourists who are walking from downtown to the Visitors Centre. There’s no place for people to cross from one side of the road to the other.

My understanding is that the GNWT has been working with the City of Yellowknife to try and figure out, first of all, ownership of the roadway but also to figure out how to effect a decent pedestrian crossing, a safe pedestrian crossing somewhere between Niven Lake and the four-way downtown, whether it be a crossing at Niven Lake itself or whether it be a crossing here at the Assembly out at the highway.

My understanding is that, in discussions with the city, there was some research on the road that needed to be done. The road needs to be upgraded to a certain standard before the city will take it over. There was some research that needed to be done before the upgrading could be done. Can I get an indication from the department whether or not that research has been done and where we are at in the transfer of ownership of this piece of road? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Neudorf.

Thank you, Mr. Neudorf. Ms. Bisaro.

Thanks, Madam Chair. I appreciate the information from the deputy minister, but the effort’s been ongoing for a very long time. Is there any end in sight? Obviously, the answer to my question about the research is that no, it hasn’t been done. It’s in the throes of being done through this test section, but is there any kind of a time frame that the Minister or the department can give me as to when we will get to some point of being able to turn this piece of road over? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Beaulieu.

Madam Chair, we do not have a time frame as to when this solution will come about.

I have to reiterate that this is an accident waiting to happen. I appreciate the work that has been done that Mr. Neudorf pointed out. It definitely is safer than it used to be, but there is, at this point, no safe place for pedestrians to cross. I think it is something that this government needs to take a stronger position in, I guess. I would encourage the Minister to see if there isn’t some money to be found in the ’15-16 budget that could do whatever work is required to turn this over sooner rather than later. The fact that there’s no timeline is very concerning to me.

So, if there is no timeline that he can give me at this point, can I get it narrowed down to a matter of years, if that’s what we’re talking about? How many years is it going to take to get this done? Thank you.

The solution would most likely be a capital solution, and we will work with the city and see if there is a possibility that we could bring something forward in the next capital plan. We know that almost any solution would be an expensive solution. Any time you have people crossing a highway, walking across a highway, it‘s not a safe thing to be doing. So, it‘s a solution that will likely be costly if we want to safely cross a highway.

Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Ms. Bisaro, your time has expired. I‘m going to next go to Mr. Bromley.