Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Deh Cho Bridge Act, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The answer is yes. We are bringing legislation forward for introduction during this session.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Monday, May 16, 2011, I will move that Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Deh Cho Bridge Act, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to provide Members with an update on the Deh Cho Bridge.

Mr. Speaker, in the past six months two major reports have been released: The Levelton Report and the Auditor General’s report. The Levelton Report was a review of the Deh Cho Bridge phase 1 substructure design and construction. The report confirms that once work to address some minor deficiencies is complete, the phase 1 works are structurally sound. The Department of Transportation has developed an action plan that is addressing all of the issues identified in the report.

The Auditor General’s report...

As the Minister I can’t only focus on a certain part of the Northwest Territories. I have other responsibilities. I would not be doing justice if I didn’t speak about long-term stable funding for infrastructure, and Mr. Menicoche would be very disappointed if I didn’t raise Highway No. 7, Highway No. 6, other highways, the Bear River Bridge, the Peel River Bridge and those initiatives that need attention. I think we have to be able to address all the different needs across the Territories, and at the same time focusing on some of the areas that have moved forward.

It’s been very exciting in the...

I think the Members of this House did a very good job over the last while about raising the profile of our infrastructure needs across the Territories. We have a motion in this House indicating that the Mackenzie Valley Highway is very important to us, and we want to see that flagged as one of our top priorities. Our government has put together a Federal Engagement Strategy that lays out a number of areas where we’d like to see investment. The Mackenzie Valley Highway is very high on this list. We’ve shared that information with the federal government. We’ve had private meetings with the...

We’re very eager to travel to Ottawa. There are a lot of issues we want to talk about. There is still an application from the Northwest Territories to the Green Fund. The City of Yellowknife had a submission on behalf of the Northland Trailer Court. There was a hydro line applied for that we haven’t received any response. There are many issues that we need to tackle. There are issues about infrastructure, ongoing stable funding for long-term investment, and there’s also the Mackenzie Valley Highway, and more specifically now, the $150 million that was flagged in the last budget. We want to...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The news for the $150 million was very exciting indeed. I think it took a lot of work, and of course the work wasn’t only carried out by myself. We had the mayors of Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik very involved with presenting the case and building up the arguments why this road needed to be done. We had the Inuvialuit government onside. Of course, the MLAs raised the profile of this issue many times in this House. We had our Premier meeting with the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers across the floor here, or on this side of the House, that met with the different Cabinet...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Our capital budget for last year was at an historic high of $292 million. We are planning to carry or requesting to carry $72 million of that amount over.

We successfully delivered $220 million worth of projects last year. Of the $72 million which is a carry-over, $25 million of it is for the Deh Cho Bridge. So that would actually, if you removed that portion it, would be around $46 million that we’re carrying over.

There is no connection between the Deh Cho Bridge and the amount DOT is carrying over. The Deh Cho Bridge has consumed time due to the audits that we’ve had...

The community of Norman Wells has not reached that stage where they have put a price tag, nor have they reached the point where they are deciding, or in a position to decide, whether they are going to go with propane or heating fuel. There is a lot of discussion that has to take place. There are some proposals on the table with a price tag on it. There are other factors that have to be considered. The proposal that has been presented to the community does not include the residents, does not include some of the commercial buildings. There has to be further analysis and we’d have to decide on...