Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide Members and the public an update on the current status of the future Mackenzie Valley Highway to Tuktoyaktuk. Since I last updated this Assembly on the future highway, we have made great progress.

With the funding agreement between the Government of the Northwest Territories and the federal government announced this past January, we have been hard at work securing agreement with aboriginal groups along the proposed alignment. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to note that we have now successfully signed MOUs with the Town of Inuvik, the Hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, the...

We’re quite familiar with the COR program, but at this point we’re not prepared to move forward. We don’t feel it will allow all communities to be involved, especially small contractors in the more remote communities. We are working with the NWT Construction Association, the Safety Association also and they are rolling it out to their membership and getting feedback, we are working with them on drafting proper wording and it’s not something we’re prepared to do at this point.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have not decided whether we’re going to incorporate the COR program into our tenders. At this point, the Northern Construction Safety Association has been working on a rollout schedule for their members. They have endorsed it and we’re kind of providing support in that area. Thank you.

We do take into consideration if there is an issue that has been unforeseen or an issue that comes about that is beyond our control. However, that has to be raised by the proponent and brought to our attention, and the rationale has to be drafted accordingly. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the policy to hold back a percentage of the contract is something that’s right across the government in all our contract practices. That’s to ensure that we have a product that’s free of deficiencies prior to releasing all funds. Thank you.

The EIRB process is something that’s outside of our jurisdiction at this point. We don’t control the process, however, we hope that the final reports or approvals for the Tuk-Inuvik section of the highway will be ready sometime next summer.

We have been talking with the Yellowknives Dene since 2007 and I’ve indicated to the Member that the schedule is for the construction to start in 2011 and open to traffic in 2012, with the final surface completion in 2013.

I don’t believe there’s a snag in the process. This is part of due course. We are working towards reducing the options to one that will be accepted by all parties. There is, right now, a variance of opinion, of course, on the three routes. The Member has stated his arguments for his preference, however, the responses that we’re getting are fairly even. We’re getting about 30 percent on every option in front of us. There are more meetings that need to be conducted and we need to start doing the engineering and work on the route that’s going to be selected and start construction in due course...

Mr. Speaker, the Local Government Administrators of the Northwest Territories, or LGANT, held their 2010 LGANT AGM and Professional Development Conference last week here in Yellowknife. Mr. Speaker, the mission of LGANT is to strive for and promote excellence and professionalism in the field of local government administration through education and career development programs and to create awareness of a community officer’s role in the community.

Through their Words for Excellence Program, Susan Christie, the SAO of the Hamlet of Fort Providence, has been awarded the Outstanding Local Government...

Mr. Speaker, I’m saying that once we’re comfortable that all the companies and all the communities will have the same abilities through this program, we will provide further consideration.