David Ramsay

Yes, thank you, Mr. Chairman. As the Member described, there is a variety of reasons why that would happen. There were some issues with the work at Bob’s Creek and Strawberry. We continue to work with Pehdzeh Ki Contractors on completing that work and there was a lot of activity, as the Member knows, in the Sahtu. Last winter there was a lot of competition for equipment and workers, and I think that led to some of the work being pushed back or delayed and would result in some of the numbers that we see here in terms of carry-overs.

I guess the positive side to this is there is a lot of work...

Mr. Speaker, later today, at the appropriate time, I will be tabling the NWT Economic Opportunities Strategy Advisory Panel’s “What We Heard” report.

This report summarizes more than 80 engagements with our territory’s residents, private sector, governments and other stakeholders on the opportunities and challenges that they see for the NWT economy.

The advisory panel’s report documents what people had to say, it includes informed observations based on the perspectives and expertise of individual panel members, and it provides 90 recommendations to guide the drafting of the final Economic...

Mr. Chair, again, we will get that number for the Member on what the initial budget was. I carry over almost $3.4 million.

Getting back to the Detah access road, we had an opportunity to meet with the Yellowknives Dene and the Akaitcho leadership just last week. One of the issues we talked about was the Detah access road and the importance to get that project complete. I gave the chiefs the assurance that we are going to continue to work to try to get some additional capital dollars from the federal government. When we do, certainly the completion of the work on the Detah access road will be a...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If the Member could just repeat the beginning part of his question, I’d see if I have that number.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following three documents, entitled “Agricultural Products Marketing Council, 2012/2013 Annual Report;” “NWT Tourism 2013-2014 Marketing Plan;” and “What We Heard and Recommendations: Report of the NWT Economic Opportunities Strategy Advisory Panel.” Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are up to approximately 20 percent of the entire length of Highway No. 7 that we will have some calcification of calcium chloride. Again, we will sit down with industry, and I know the folks we have on the ground in the region are always talking to industry and community leaders down there about working together and trying to come up with solutions. We will continue to do that and hopefully we can have more of Highway No. 7 have that application of calcium chloride for the safety of the travelling public. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the entire length of Highway No. 7 it’s 254 kilometres long. There are going to be nine sections, about 53 kilometres in total that will have the application of calcium chloride and the dust control applied to it. We believe that will greatly enhance safety.

We’re working with industry on a plan for the access road to Liard, and I know the Member mentioned 250 trucks. There’s a possibility of two wells being drilled near the community and it could, in fact, be upward of 700 truckloads going into the community or near the community of Fort Liard. So we’re working on a...

That’s an issue that I can take back to the department, but predominantly tourists and folks that arrive in the Northwest Territories in RVs would be seniors. So we will take a look at that and I thank the Member for raising that concern. I do believe there are senior discounts on season-long passes. As to campground, a nightly rate, and there’s a discount for seniors, again, it may vary by park, but I’d be more than happy to get that information back to the Member. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Those rates would vary from campground to campground and region to region. We have our campgrounds operated by contractors. We also have seasonal passes that are available to the public and to tourists that travel into the Northwest Territories. The rates would vary somewhat from region to region. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank the Member for bringing the issue up. It was part of the government’s decision to look at decentralizing some positions. In this case, ITI had the Business Incentive Policy shop. It included four positions. We are currently out to competition for the manager’s position. The Member is correct; we didn’t have any of the four people that were in those… Actually, there are three out of the four positions that were staffed at the time and they decided to not relocate. We have moved the office there and our intention is to staff the office in Hay River. This is just...