Deh Cho

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 6)

I’m glad there are still some fans out there that support the concept of P3. I still think it is a mechanism and tool for us to look at ways we can approach some of our infrastructure that doesn’t involve the federal government coming forward to fully fund a project. We need to do that. We have to take stock of how things have transpired over the last while with the Deh Cho Bridge.

We have certainly a number of bridges out there that would need to be built over the next while. The Liard, and the Peel and the Bear are all part of that, Bosworth Creek. We need funding for those projects, and I...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 6)

Mr. Speaker, I would welcome the opportunity to attend a visit to communities in the Member’s riding given that we are investing so heavily in his riding that we have the opportunity to share that information and to also discuss other issues that the Member has been raising over the last while and have a chance to talk to the leadership. So I would certainly accept the invitation and make arrangements to travel with the Member to his riding. Thank you.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 6)

Mr. Speaker, I can certainly commit to that. I think there is still a lot of time to do a proper consultation. We have done a lot of work in that area. There is a lot of discussion that has been happening with the different people in the community. It is our policy to make sure everybody is involved, including the MLAs. We will provide that information. We will make sure we have an actual date so that the Member is aware of it. We will make sure that there is no slippage on this project. Thank you.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 6)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am trying to remember if the Member asked this once or twice before. Mr. Speaker, I could actually go to our staff and get some firm dates of when we are anticipating the contract to start. The contract went out for tender last year, I believe. We have a contractor that was awarded the contract, except timing of the season and weather do not permit or was not favourable to move that forward, so we expect that would happen as soon as the weather warms up and the conditions are favourable; early in the summer season or late spring I would anticipate. Thank you.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 6)

Mr. Speaker, I don’t have a date for the Member. There is a review team that is looking at the different proposed sites. Depending where the hospital will be located, it may require further relocation. For example, if the site where the ENR facilities are at currently, if that is the area that is going to be chosen, then it will require either a co-location or movement of some of the facilities off that base site. That hasn’t been decided yet.

I think we expect to have some reports fairly quickly in the next couple of weeks. We are waiting for that information. We would need to have it in a...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 6)

I’m familiar with where the Paradise...

---Laughter

...the problem is and I will certainly stop and take a look at it. In fact, the next time I’m in the area I will go there with some of our officials and take a look at it personally.

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 5)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. In response to the comments, some of them being very serious allegations that there has been discrepancies that are not being dealt with, I certainly, as the Premier indicated, would appreciate if that information would be brought to my attention. I would believe that some of the pictures that he’s looking at, some of it we have in our own possession. There is no doubt some deficiencies that we are dealing with, some have been dealt with and some are scheduled to be resolved over the next little while and a scour rock is a deficiency that’s been noted, it hasn’t been paid...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 5)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for that opportunity. There certainly have been challenges with this project right from the get-go. There have been issues with contractors, challenges with the design that didn’t meet the code. The challenges have been ongoing and I’m not sure if this is what we expected in terms of scenarios. It’s certainly not the one we wanted to be in. However, having said that, we have right now a $15 million cost overrun that we have to accommodate and repay. Now we have to take on this onto our borrowing that will potentially have an impact on our borrowing limit.

I’m quite...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 5)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The expectation will be that there is going to be a requirement for payment on the debt, which is interest plus principal and there’s also going to be O and M costs and that will roughly be around $8 million indexed on an annual basis. The equity payment to the Bridge Corporation is not something we have resolved yet, so we can’t give a firm number and the reason we don’t have up to date, today’s traffic volumes, is because we don’t have the 2010 information yet and that hasn’t been compiled. So it will be quite difficult to provide the information that the Member is...

Debates of , 16th Assembly, 5th Session (day 5)

I suppose it’s possible to go through that exercise. Right now our calculations are based on the base amount of commercial traffic that comes through regardless of what the industry is requiring, especially the mines, which is fairly stable. We recognize that it’s probably down this year. We also measure the mine traffic which, again, fluctuates on a year-to-year basis, and we understand that number is down this year too.

Mr. Speaker, at the same time to try to incorporate a project that has not yet been brought forward for final approval or recognition is difficult. We also are in a difficult...