Floyd Roland

Mr. Chairman, the motion calls for the elimination of this one project. We have to remind ourselves of the fire season. The further north you go, there may still be some snow, but in the southern parts of the Territory the environment does dry out sooner. If we start dealing with this later on in the season — in fact, we will be in full summer season, and we put crews in place the 1st of May — this area can be considered as an ounce of prevention, in a sense. If we are unable to properly see where lightning strikes are hitting in the Northwest Territories, it delays the reaction time for those...

I have to go to the Minister Responsible for ENR for detail on that project.

This budget item deals with the bridge program that has been partnered with the federal government and G.N.W.T. Department of Transportation and has been in progress for a number of years. It addresses crossings of the creeks and rivers up in the Sahtu area, so it doesn’t include the ice roads up in the Beaufort-Delta.

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I guess if nothing else, we have to acknowledge the Member’s passion to ensure that her questions get asked on a regular basis from the 15th Assembly into the 16th Assembly.

The fiscal plans for this project were known. We can provide a chronology of these things that happened. We could even look at Hansard when questions were asked by the same two Members about this specific project: of the parameters, of the additional money the Government of the Northwest Territories is willing to put into this project that is over and above the ferry contract, the ice-road crossing. That’s been...

Mr. Chairman, this project has been on the books for some time. Work has been done with the school board along with the department. When the fire happened, there was insurance money, but the Government of the Northwest Territories topped that up significantly to get additional portables put into that facility. By doing that, it has given them more breathing room for the number of students in that facility.

When we looked at our overall capital plan and its existing situation, we had to go back to our departments to request that they review their plans to see what could be deferred or re–cash...

Mr. Chairman, we do realize, as the Government of the Northwest Territories, that further steps need to be taken in reducing the footprint we leave in this land that we live in, with the recognition that much of our communities need this because of supplies and a limited amount of time to get supplies into the communities. The majority is either home heating oil or vehicles that are running in the community that require this amount to be stored for meeting the year-round shipment.

As we move forward as a government to look at other initiatives — whether it’s heating our businesses or buildings...

Mr. Speaker, the total amount of the project that is being financed by the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation doesn’t fall onto our books because as the project is established, it is the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation that is seeking the money and going to lenders. We are a part of it, yes. As has been said in this House, as has been laid out from the start through a number of factors — that is, the toll structure — it is also a part of the fact that we’re taking money on an annual basis that we put into the ice-road crossing and the ferry crossing

As well, as was made known months before the last election...

Mr. Chairman, I’ll give you some background to this, and then I’ll pass it on to Minister Lafferty for some additional information.

Yes, Mr, Chairman.