Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The department has invested just over $6 million for work to improve Highway No. 3. I am going to defer this to Mr. Moore to speak more specifically about the ruts on the road. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Mr. Moore.

Thank you, Mr. Moore. Member for Hay River South.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to move on to Highway No. 7. We talk about tourism, and I think that Highway No. 7 is -- I have not driven it for a while, but I do talk to people who are on it. Sometimes, it's not too bad, and other times, she is pretty rough. I am just wondering what is the long-term plan to get that road up to a certain type of facility that can take the bigger trucks and not be beaten up like it has been? I know that there are some pretty bad washboards. There has been some. When you are driving along there, you are doing 80 kilometres an hour, and all of a sudden, you have got to slow down to about 20. I am just wondering what is being done to deal with that highway. I think, if that highway is in fairly good shape, it would encourage tourism, as well. Thank you.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Between 2019-2020 and 2023-2024, the Department of Infrastructure will invest $15 million to improvements to Highway No. 7, with federal funding under what's called the new Building Canada plan. This is some of the work. The rehab work is focused on kilometres 20 to 38 and areas where there is severe distress and that require immediate attention, mostly to maintain public safety and operation of the highway. This work includes things like culvert replacement, roadway widening, horizontal/vertical curve move. The department is looking at obtaining some of these permits to get started. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Hay River South.

No further questions. Tshank you.

All right. Are there any further questions on the asset management, pages 41 to 43? Seeing none, I will call the activity. Infrastructure, asset management, infrastructure investments, $167,809,000. Does committee agree?

We will now turn to corporate management on page 44, with information items on page 45. Questions, comments? Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to ask a number of questions about the Slave Geological Province Corridor there. I believe we got $40 million from the federal government to advance this, and I see there it's for environmental assessment for Lockhart Lake, the first section of LASR as some people are now calling it, I heard the other day. Can I just get clarification? Do we expect it to cost $40 million to put just the LASR part through environmental assessment? Can I get a breakdown on how that money is going to be spent? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. On August 14, 2019, Transport Canada announced it would provide $30 million under what's called the National Trade Corridors Fund for environmental study and the regulatory process for the planning studies to advance the Slave Geological Province Corridor. The GNWT has committed $10 million to the project, which brings us to a total of $40 million. The project will support the future economy of the Northwest Territories by not only facilitating mineral exploration development in a region with significant resource potential, provide improved access to minerals and metals critical to the green economy of the future, and assisting with reclaiming mines in the region upon closure. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Can I just confirm that? I understand we are going to do the project description report; we are going to do a developers assessment report; and then we are going into environmental assessment. Are we entering environmental assessment just from Highway No. 4 to Lockhart Lake, or are we entering environmental assessment for the entire road, two of the three phases? Can I just get a sense of what we are bringing to the land and water board? Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. There are four project phases, and maybe I will eventually get to the Member's answer. The first phase, which is costing of $40 million, this is the environmental and planning engineering studies. That is the first phase of this project. The second is the construction of the 179-kilometre all-weather road from Lockhart Lake to Lac De Gras, which is estimated about $350 million. The fourth plan is the construction of the 82 all-weather road. This is a big project, you know, something that the government is pursuing, but first we need to do the environmental studies. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Member for Yellowknife North.

Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. I understand, yes, there are the multiple phases. First, we are going to Lockhart. Then, we are going to go to Lac De Gras. Then, we're going to maybe go to Nunavut. Then, maybe Nunavut's going to go to the ocean, and then, maybe they're going to build a port. I understand there are multiple steps. My question is: the $40 million we got, are we going to environmental assessment on just to Lockhart Lake, just that first step of construction, or what are we bringing to environmental assessment? We had this problem with the Mackenzie Valley Highway, but we proposed the entire road into environmental assessment. It got caught up in years, then we dialed it back and said, "No, no. We're just doing these in portions." I'm just looking for what exactly we're bringing to environmental assessment. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Member. Minister.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll get Mr. Loutitt to answer this.