David Ramsay

Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Again, I wanted to get back to, and I hate to have the Minister of Transportation and his staff think I’m being petty or I’m getting into too much detail on this project, but, you know, excuse me, but if we dump $1.5 million worth of rock into the Mackenzie River that we shouldn’t have dumped in the river, I think somebody should be concerned about it and I hope they appreciate my concern.

You know, if those piers aren’t protected, eventually it is going to be an issue of safety for those piers and for the travelling public. So I don’t bring these up, I’m not just making...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions today for the Minister of Transportation. Again it gets back to the Deh Cho Bridge Project and the financial side of things. I want to ask the Minister of Transportation when exactly did the lenders turn the tap off on the project.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I suppose this is one scenario that we should be asking for the 10-year period rather than the five-year period, but that’s just to me delaying the inevitable. This is a situation that this government has gotten itself into and I think we have the responsibility or should have the responsibility to try to get ourselves out of it the best that we can and not saddle a future government with the debt.

My belief is we probably should take a look at the infrastructure spending next year on our capital projects and we should look at rolling that up and putting that money into...

Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.

---Unanimous consent granted.

And this project has never been normal from the word go and I’m raising these issues out of the… You know, it potentially could be a public safety issue and it could potentially cost this government more money to fix deficiencies if they’re not corrected now. It will cost us more money down the road to correct these things.

On the scour rock, I’m just wondering, is the plan to go down under the water and see what’s left of that scour rock, and if we are going to get under the water, are we going to inspect the pier footings and the workmanship of those piers under the water? Thank you.

Thank you. I’m wondering if the Minister could let potential residents of the Northwest Territories, those that are P2 -- they’re not aboriginal -- long-term residents of the Northwest Territories that want to have access to mine training today, where do they go and who do they look to for the training that’s required to get a job at one of our mines. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ve got a few questions for the Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment. I wanted to ask him a little bit about mine training in the Northwest Territories. Mr. Speaker, the concern has been brought to me by constituents about the lack of available mine training for P2s. Now, we certainly have the Mine Training Society and opportunities for P1s to get access to training for jobs that are producing diamond mines, but, Mr. Speaker, there seems to be a lack of any available training for P2s, long-term residents of the Northwest Territories. I’d like to...

It wouldn’t be the first time that I ask questions in this House for the benefit of the public. I do already certainly have an understanding of what’s at play, but again I think the public has the right to know. I’d like to ask the Minister of Finance what the status is of our relationship with the lenders on this project.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve had many questions over the past six years related to the Deh Cho Bridge Project. Today I want to direct my questions to the Minister of Finance. I mentioned it previously, and I mentioned it again today, that this project certainly has the ability to cripple our government’s finances not just in the immediate future but well into the future. I would like to ask the Minister how exactly the Department of Finance is working with the Minister of Transportation and the Department of Transportation on trying to get a handle on what the real impact of this project is...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I’m going to again discuss the Deh Cho Bridge Project. I’d like to thank the government for providing the technical briefing to the media yesterday, although I still don’t understand why it had to be held downtown in a boardroom when we have a dedicated meeting room here at the Legislature, and it should have been held with the Minister of Transportation and the Minister of Finance there to answer questions.

Mr. Speaker, this was a technical briefing introducing some new members of the project management team to the media. The briefing lacked any clear and concise...