Michael McLeod

Mr. Chairman, this facility is a little different and the discussions with my staff indicate that the payback would be a little bit longer. We anticipate it will be around seven years to have this payback. We think it’s still a good investment and worthy of moving forward with.

Mr. Chairman, we did have some discussions with the federal government with the former Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Chuck Strahl, and identified I think it’s five projects that we expected we’d have challenges in getting completed. Most of these projects were substantially completed. We needed to have a little more time and we did submit a list to the Minister and received approval for all five. I believe there were two projects that were under the management of the Department of Transportation and three under municipal arrangements. I could provide a list to the Member, if he so requires...

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...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue of natural gas supply in the municipality of Norman Wells has been a concern raised by the community for quite a few years now, as far back as the 14th Assembly. It became a very serious concern as Imperial Oil had indicated during the life of the 15th Assembly that they would be shutting down their supply. After a lot of discussion, which included ourselves and the Premier of the day, the company decided that they would supply another four years. So we’re on the second year of that commitment and we’re continuing to look at the long-term solutions with the...

The investment for Highway No. 7 is in place. It’s been approved in our capital. We have roughly $6 million, or around $5.5 million, earmarked for Highway No. 7.

Highway No. 7 has some serious challenges as the type of construction that was utilized by the federal government back when it was constructed and because of the place it is in its lifecycle, it does require significant investment. We have identified five areas that have really become deteriorated. We have assigned engineers and we have assigned staff and have contract crews focused on this area of work.

In all reality, the road has to...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Shale Creek is located in Nahendeh outside of Fort Simpson. The contract is being done by a combination of companies under Fort Simpson Dene Council. The contract company is called Ti K’endeh and I believe it’s a Wrigley and Fort Simpson partnership arrangement.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think I just answered that in my last response. I’ll respond again. The combined services building is substantially complete. We anticipate we’re going to have an official opening by sometime maybe in August. These dollars are to address some of the ongoing work and to rectify some of the deficiencies. The carry-over is required to meet our commitment. It’s not new money, it’s not additional money, it’s dollars that were identified that were not expended in last year’s budget. This is separate dollars not earmarked for the alternate energy system, it’s to complete...

Mr. Chairman, there are two questions I think being posed here. First of all on the dollars identified here for a little over $1 million as to what it would be for, the building and the site works are substantially complete for this facility. We anticipate we’re going to have an official opening sometime before the end of the summer and more than likely it would be sometime in August. However, there are some deficiencies that cause this to have a carry-over and there’s still other associated work that needs to be addressed.

This carry-over is required to meet our commitment and rectify some of...

Mr. Chairman, the Member is correct that the bulk of the dollars earmarked for investment along the Dettah access road has been carried over. We’ve been working with the development corporation out of the community, which is the economic arm of the Yellowknives Dene First Nations. I think we’ve developed a very good working relationship. They’ve done some very good quality work for us. They’re still relatively new at this type of work.

Some of the work that had been done and needed as a guideline and work that would allow us to move forward wasn’t quite done on time. The quarry work that was...