Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This has been an issue that has been on the drawing board for some time. We have moved forward fairly quickly in the area of Tuk and Inuvik with a project description report, a report that we had anticipated was going to take several years and ended up taking a little over a year. That’s been submitted for review. We are, and have been, raising it with the federal government. We, as early as last week, met with the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of INAC and this was raised as something we wanted to talk further about. Also, while attending the National Council...
I’m sure I don’t have to explain the process to consult with the Members in this House. The Member is quite aware of that. We have been consulting and talking to stakeholders and different groups over the last number of years. We plan to continue doing that and do further discussion. We’d like to narrow down the options to one and start engineering and environmental reviews that need to be determined in some of the outcomes. That’s going to be done in short order. I just have to ask the Member to be a little bit patient, I guess. He’s anxious to get going, but the work is moving forward and we...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; the consideration for realignment was introduced, I think, in 2007 and we’ve been working towards moving that forward. Of course, we can only move as fast as the process will allow us. Our plans now are to move forward over these next couple of months to do further consultation. We still plan to have the construction of realignment commencing the fall of 2011. We’d like to see the traffic starting to flow sometime in 2012. There is still some discussion that needs to take place and the timing and opportunity has to be worked out with the Giant...
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.
Mr. Speaker, there are a couple of questions there. The question on the Auditor General’s report is something that we have been working on with the Auditor General. We provided material over the last while to the Auditor General. The indications are that the report will come out this spring. Thank you.
We expect all the steel to be coming in batches over the winter and construction should be starting in earnest on the superstructure right away. We plan to have all the material for the superstructure on site by the spring of this coming year. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it’s my pleasure to rise today to give Members an update on the Drive Alive travel safety program.
Drive Alive is a partnership-based initiative that promotes safety on the roads, trails and waterways of the Northwest Territories. By promoting action that will reduce the number of collisions, serious injuries and fatalities in the Northwest Territories, we are helping to deliver on the government’s commitment to building our future as well as this Assembly’s priority to build sustainable, vibrant and safer communities.
Over the next few weeks we will be unveiling initiatives under...
Mr. Speaker, I don’t have an exact date. The report, as I indicated the last time the Member asked questions, is under review and we’re doing reconciliation. As soon as that’s done and concluded, we can provide it to the Members. Thank you.