Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t think anybody is going to argue that a driver’s performance is severely undermined while talking on the cell phone or texting. I don’t think anybody is going to argue that driving around in your Lexus, drinking coffee, chewing gum and trying to stop your two kids from fighting in the back is considered a hazard.
Mr. Speaker, the Member pointed out in his Member’s statement that I, as a Minister, was amusing or flirting with legislation. I would suggest the Member make a date in the standing committee that we are working with, to find out where this piece of...
Thank you. I just returned from a federal/provincial/territorial conference in Halifax and we did discuss a number of issues related to Transportation, including a strategic plan for all of Canada, including the Northwest Territories. We have a number of our officials that are leading the research and development of planning in this area and we certainly have all agreed that the future is going to be a lot different from the environment that we’ve dealt with in the past and our infrastructure is going to have to adapt to that. We had agreement from the new federal infrastructure Minister to...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We recently visited the communities in the Member’s riding and the concerns he’s raising today were brought forward by a number of residents of Nahendeh. Of course, the condition of Highway No. 7 has been a concern for this government and all the people that travel it. It’s a piece of infrastructure that we inherited some time ago from the federal government. It was constructed during the Hire North days and the construction code for roads were a little different than they are today.
We recognize that it needs some attention. It is a concern. It’s an aging piece of...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to provide Members and the public with an update on the Deh Cho Bridge Project. I want to say that I am very much looking forward to the day that the bridge opens to traffic in a year and a half.
Mr. Speaker, in just 18 months we will be able to drive across the Mackenzie River 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. No longer will the residents of the North Slave be cut off during spring breakup. No longer will commercial vehicles sit and idle, waiting for passage on the ferry. No longer will low water and ice in the river disrupt service. No longer will...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It’s not very often in this House we get so many MLAs say nice things about one person.
---Laughter
Mr. Speaker, I have also had the honour and the privilege of serving with Tony and working in this House in his position at Sergeant-at-Arms, and then when he became an MLA, and then a Speaker.
For me it was always interesting to talk to Tony because he’s actually a walking history book. I wanted to talk about issues about Highway No. 3 when we were in the Members’ Lounge and then he started talking about when he was building it and driving a Cat and pushing down trees when...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document entitled Minister of Transportation’s Report to the Legislative Assembly for 2009 on the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act (1990). Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I believe I was the one that informed the Member of this clause that’s in our policies. It is public information already. I’m not sure how much more public she would like to make it, but if that’s not what she’s asking, I’d sure like to sit down with her and seek clarity on her quest.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an issue that’s been raised by a number of Members in this House. We have committed to do some work in the area of what other jurisdictions are doing, what are some of the situations that we are facing here in the NWT. We’ve compiled some information and we have provided it to committee and we’ve written a letter to committee that requests to have some time to discuss this and get their comments and feedback. This will be a very public issue that will have a lot of discussion and we anticipate as we go forward all this information will be made public. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there is a fairly large amount of investment that is going to be done in the Member’s riding of Nahendeh. We can give him a complete plan of work that we anticipate will happen this year along with the negotiations that have to happen as we move forward with our PDR discussions. This presentation was made to Deh Cho First Nations. They have recommended that we work with the community. That is also another area that we have to focus on. We will compile the work. We have it all listed out in different kilometres and different culverts that need to be replaced and I will provide that...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The highway that the Member has referred to, Highway No. 7, has been posing a lot of challenges, as the Member has raised in this House. There have been sections of the road that have failed as a result of spring runoff and rain. It is a road that is at a point in its lifecycle that it needs to be reconstructed. We certainly heard lots from the Member and communities from the Member’s riding.
We have committed to do roughly $4 million worth of work. It is going to require a lot more. It is going to be a requirement of investment ongoing each year, so we have committed $4...