David Ramsay

Work continues on the realignment of Highway No. 4. With any luck that work will go ahead this year. Thank you.

Certainly, in the grand scheme of things, the Bear River Bridge is an integral piece of the Mackenzie Valley Highway and it will be. Certainly when funding is the way it is, we need to look at other sources of funding, we need to look at partnerships. We need to be very creative when it comes to supplying the transportation infrastructure needs around the territory. Certainly, if there are proposals out there, if there are ideas out there, we are interested in hearing them. We are interested in listening and sitting down with folks to work together to try to accomplish what we can with what we...

Mr. Speaker, we need to move forward, and I spoke earlier of continuing the momentum. I think lobbying the federal government, talking about the Mackenzie Valley Highway at any opportunity that we have publicly, in this forum, at constituency meetings, any chance we get with the federal government or provincial counterparts. Keeping it on the radar, I think, is one of the most important things as we move this forward.

Again, it’s continuing that momentum, I think, that is the most important thing and trying to identify funding that is going to continue to push this project forward. Thank you.

In this consensus system of government, when we do identify further sources of funding, you can rest assured that I will work with the Member, I will work with committee on identifying those priorities, and Highway No. 7 should rank near the top of those priorities. Thank you.

Certainly as we move forward, I’m looking forward to working with the Member and the EDI committee to make this a priority and to come up with a plan so we can address the situation on Highway No. 7. Again, it’s going to take funding and a substantial amount of funding to make that happen. But I do believe if we can work together and put everything on the table, I think we can certainly see this as a priority as we move forward when we do get some additional funding.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s my pleasure to provide Members and Northerners with an update on the Mackenzie Valley to Tuktoyaktuk Project. I’m pleased to reiterate a confirmation from the Caucus of the 17th Legislative Assembly identifying the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway segment as a priority project that will help to strengthen and diversify the Northwest Territories economy.

In the June 2011 budget, the people and Government of the Northwest Territories were pleased to hear Canada include $150 million over five years for the construction of the all-weather highway from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk...

As I mentioned in a previous reply, I think it’s important given our financial picture these days that we look at opportunities to partner with people to achieve our goals of supplying the transportation infrastructure that we need here in our territory. Certainly, I look forward to the discussions with the Member, and the committee and those proponents that are interested in doing work with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Working together, we’ll accomplish much more. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, and, unfortunately, last week I was supposed to meet with Deton’Cho but I got weathered in in Norman Wells. I look forward to that meeting that will happen soon. I look forward to partnerships like that down the road. Thank you.

Certainly we definitely need to continue the effort. Again, working together, working collaboratively, as was shown by the folks in the Sahtu, we can continue to move this project forward.

Again, it’s going to come back to the funding. Yes, we have a $150 million commitment on the Inuvik-Tuk portion of that highway. We need to seek some further commitment from the federal government on other sections of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. We need to continue to push, continue to move the project forward. It’s by talking about it; it’s by working together that we will continue to advance this project...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his question. It was certainly an honour to be in Norman Wells last week to receive the project description report from the Tulita district. It’s very good to see groups getting together to agree that an all-weather Mackenzie Valley Highway is important. The work was very well done and well received.

We are currently waiting for two project description reports that will complement the other three. There are five in total that will be put together and submitted to the regulator. We’re hoping to have the other two project description reports by the...