Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, that's probably a question for the Minister of Infrastructure, and that Minister doesn't have a briefing binder on the detail here. I can assure the House and the Member that I asked that very same question, and somewhere just around the timing of it in terms of -- and, again, I don't want to misstate certainly here on the floor, but my recollection is that we were just outside of the time of when there would have been warranty and that the nature of what occurred would not be one that would be covered. So, you know, I certainly haven't ruled out as I understand the potential for some degree of an insurance claim and, you know, again, were that to happen it wouldn't be something that we could speak to here. So just to assure that I've asked those questions and, again, we may be in a tight spot. Certainly, we don't want to delay repairing the bridge to sort out some of those issues. That would come at a later date and if we can recoup those costs, all the better. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you for that answer. And I certainly encourage the Minister to pursue whatever means they can to kind of recoup any costs associated with material defects.

The next question is on the Hay River harbour restoration project, I note that that one's not covered by any federal funding but is -- the Hay River harbour is something that I'm sure the feds access through coast guard ships. I'm just curious to what extent does the Minister feel that the federal government, you know, uses this infrastructure and should perhaps be considering -- we should be looking to them to chip in for restoration themselves. Thanks.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, until 1997, the dredging of the Hay River harbour was, in fact, completed by Public Works and Government Services Canada on behalf of Transport Canada. Indeed, the coast guard does rely on the accessible channel and the ability to move their ships and vessels through this very same space. However, for reasons I'm certainly not privy to, between 1997 and 2012, that started to change. The GNWT was relying on funding and started to undertake the work. There was still at that time a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian coast guard and Department of Fisheries and Oceans but then it has somehow fallen off the wayside since 2012, and obviously we were in a situation, particularly with the low water, where this was falling to the GNWT to step up.

I do want to note our federal friends did support our efforts with the contribution towards the work that was underway but obviously, you know, it is not lost on me that the coast guard ships are required in order to make the river navigable and to provide basic safety certainly as well. So we'll certainly hopefully look to opportunities to see what they, through Department of Fisheries and Oceans, coast guard, etcetera, can do to ensure navigable waters through the Northwest Territories. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, no, this is something that I -- it just occurred to me because, you know, I happen to -- we were down there in the fall and I note that the coast guard ship was there, so I'm just looking at this and seeing GNWT's footing the bill, feds are accessing this infrastructure and using it, and indeed it's required for them to carry out their work, so I strongly support the Minister publicly and in kind of going back to the coast guard and reminding them of this firmly and repeatedly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'm going to continue on. Member from the Deh Cho.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In my statement earlier, the Minister said the cost would be $7 million, so here it's $6.5 million. And the other question I have is where is the company that's going to do this repair; where are they from? Where's the company from? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the finance Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm just trying to see if I have their location. The construction company is Surespan Contracting. They're -- I don't believe they're locally-based. This is fairly specialized and technical work. I'd have to get back to the House with respect to where they are located. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from the Deh Cho.

And so the quote you gave me -- well, the number you gave me earlier was $7 million. This one's $6.5 million. Which one's the correct one?

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the estimate we do have and what we are appropriating is $6.5 million. So that is the estimate right now, and hopefully, you know -- yes, you know, total costs, as I understand it, for all things engineering, fabrication, construction, the work that was done to prepare the testing, etcetera, is at $6.8 million, so this $7 million was me rounding up $6.8 million, Mr. Chair, and I should be more specific. $6.8 million in total. This is $6.5 million. This is the amount we don't have. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Deh Cho.

So once this is all said and done, repairs will be completed by -- I'm going to say the second week -- second week or the first week of November? Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the date when we are expecting the part to -- the cables themselves to arrive would be the first week of November, in the region. It will take a total of three months to get all 24 cables replaced. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from the Deh Cho.

Sorry, my -- in our conversation with -- earlier, I assumed that some of those cables were already looked at. Not yet, nothing happened -- nothing has happened yet expect for estimate -- they just estimated it, or?

Thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister of Finance.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, Mr. Chair, I would say a lot more is done than that. I didn't have the exact date of the completion. It was my own error. So where we're at right now, the initial problem was identified back in August, so about a year and some ago. A lot of testing was done immediately in lab-based tests to ensure whether the problem was engineering, construction, design, or otherwise. They were able to identify that it was the metal itself, which is the point at which they went out to the original constructor of the bridge to have those pieces rebuilt or recast. So those 24 anchors were already -- that's already been done. The procurement was done. The construction or the building of those was done. They've been shipped. They're en route. There was a bit of delay in how long it took them to get here and to get along the way here. They're not here yet. They are en route, and they're due in the Northwest Territories first week of November. Once they get here, we had gone out -- rather than waiting and doing the construction piece for the parts first and then doing a separate procurement for construction, we did it simultaneously so that once -- so that the company Surespan that's actually doing the building, they are mobilizing simultaneously. What that means is they will be on site ready to go at the same time that those cables, the large cables arrive, rather than waiting. I have since this afternoon been able to confirm that it is a three-month process to completely install all 24 -- or replace all 24 which does actually take us to the end of January. I think earlier I had said end of this calendar year, but it is more like a three-month time span that we're looking at to completely replace everything. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from the Deh Cho.