Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We initiated a planning study several years ago that reviewed all our airports across the North which has resulted in some recommendations to extend a number of airports to 4,000 feet. The planning study was based on the type of aircraft that utilize the facilities in the communities. We have addressed all the communities that were identified in the planning study.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Tuk access road funding came through the Building Canada Program and it’s allowed them to build a road to source 177. We’re still waiting to see from the federal government where investment is going to be in infrastructure for the next couple of years. We anticipate we’re going to have that discussion as things progress. We still also are not aware of what the federal government is planning to do with the stimulus program.

We do, however, have some commitment for investment on this access road to the gravel source with the community of Aklavik, and we’ve done a lot...

Yes, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, the investment in the Sahtu has been considerable in the last while. We have done a lot of work. We completed the bypass roads in Tulita. In Norman Wells, we did the approaches at Elliot Creek, Hannah Creek, and Donnelly Creek. We did grade repairs at Casey’s Gulch. We did grade improvement at Gibson’s, Christina, Francis, Jungle Ridge and Canyon Creek. We did a lot of road widening. All these contribute to the safety of the travelling public on the winter roads. We have also heard from the Member’s residents/constituents that were concerned about the signage. We have committed...

Mr. Chairman, as we indicated earlier, we haven’t firmed up our work plan for the long term as we’re still waiting for some information and some testing that’s being done, and to get the engineering reports back. It would be fairly easy, I guess, to look at portions of the road that are reconstructed to chipseal, but I am a little hesitant as there is so much need for this Highway No. 7 that if we did take some money out of the construction costs to chipseal, then, of course, that would leave us with a little less to do reconstruction. So that’s going to be determined. The reality, of course...

Mr. Speaker, the Member is aware that there is a plan to service the debt. We need an average of at least 6,400 trucks to cross the bridge through the toll system and that would allow us to break even. Anything over that would allow us to have revenue or a profit. Anything under that would force us into a deficit situation.

There’s going to be years when the traffic volumes are up, there’s going to be years when the traffic volumes are down. For this coming year, we expect the traffic volume is going to be around 7,500 trucks or 8,000 and that’s not counting any other new developments such as...

Mr. Chairman, I don’t believe we have any product that ends up in the landfills. We recycle a lot of the stuff that is part of the reconstruction, and the material that is dug up, we put in as part of fill. We don’t, however, use it again in form of new chipseal. I am not sure of the technologies there to do that. I can’t speak for where the chipseal that was ripped up from the Legislative Assembly parking lot went, but I can say, with comfort, that most of the material we tear up, we recycle.

The Highway No. 5 investment is something that is needed. I am not sure if the Member is aware, but we...

Mr. Chairman, that is still to be determined at this point.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, there is no indication that we are going to see an increase in costs. I think the budget remaining for the bridge is around $60 million. Thank you

Mr. Chairman, yes, we monitor what’s going on in other jurisdictions and we do have discussions with our jurisdictions as to what their best practices are. We have also experimented with several companies on trying to find a better way to make the products last. The reality, of course, is the actual concrete mix is probably 10 times the cost of chipseal and we could replace the chipseal for many, many years at a lower cost than what it costs to apply the other products, and that would really restrict our budget.

We only have a limited amount of investment in the area of hard topping the roads...