Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the department construction maintains ice bridges at the Mackenzie, Liard, and the Peel River system. We also do the ferries on those three systems, and we also look after the lake crossing at Deline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They are part of the public road system.

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister confirm if the department has a system in place to guarantee that the ice bridges are safe to travel?

Yes, the Department of Infrastructure follows the guidelines for safe ice construction that was developed with expertise from within and outside of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Other jurisdictions actually use our guidelines, and so does private industry.

Mr. Speaker, we heard from my constituents that sometimes these companies down south are having concerns about what happens should a vehicle fall through. Can the Minister advise us: does the GNWT have insurance should a vehicle, whether it is going across or is on a flatbed, fall through ice? Do we have insurance to cover that?

All public roads are insured for liability risk under the government's commercial general liability insurance. When we hire contractors that also do some of this work, they have to have the exact same coverage. The short answer, Mr. Speaker, is yes.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.

Yes, it was about five years ago that the department had this same exact situation come up, and they actually wrote letters to all the manufacturers, stating that this was part of the public road system, supplied them with that and maps of the Northwest Territories and asked them to reach out to all of their call centres and share this with local service providers that they actually contract this to. To the Member's point, I will actually ask the department to do this. We will step in and write the same letters and reassure the manufacturers that this is part of the public system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.