Michael McLeod

Mr. Chairman, the $4 million is a carry-over from last year’s projects that were held back as a result of recognized deficiencies, and that’s what we’re going to be using to bring it forward into this new contract to address the deficiencies.

Mr. Chairman, the project was pegged at $165 million and there is and has been provision because of the $15 million cost overrun, as per our concession agreement, required that that money be recovered through the tolls. That’s what we’re obligated to do.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m assuming by the “tap” the Member means the ability to draw down on the construction funding. We were formally notified by the lenders on March 1st that we would not be able to draw down any further dollars. We informed the Members of the standing committee on March 2nd.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the previous contractor had security in the project and the security has been deemed still good. Going forward with the new contractor we have performance bonds for this company also.

I believe that was the response that I provided earlier on the regulations that are being worked on. We haven’t concluded those. It’s something that we have to have in place before the operation of the bridge comes into play. We expect to have the drafting and everything concluded by the summer before that, and it’s been my practice that we provide the information to the Members so that they are well aware of what we are going to be bringing forward and we’ll commit to doing that. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m not sure if that’s something we want to start reading off. Do we have that with us? We have the background information. We have looked at their experience, their references and the different individuals that are involved in the project, including the ones, the engineering and the staff that will be working directly for this project, and are quite comfortable that they have the qualifications. We have a package for almost all the companies that are working for us or are signed on as part of this project. We can provide that to the Members.

Mr. Chairman, the project is indeed self-liquidating to a certain extent. Fifty percent of the annual costs will be paid through tolls. There is a portion that we are already paying in terms of operating the ice bridge and the ferry, which we believe now is in excess of $3 million that can be put towards the project and of course there’s a contribution that was committed to by this government. So there is probably three-quarters of the project being financed through existing payments or existing costs and new revenues. Thank you.

The act requires us to keep a detailed accounting of all the revenues that arise from this project and all the expenditures, so that’s something we will be obligated to follow. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, most of the information regarding the deficiencies are all relatively minor. We certainly can assure the Members that we’ll do a complete assessment. That is being done right now as we speak with the new companies that we have involved. They certainly are not going to go out and accept a project that has deficiencies that are serious in nature. We’ve also talked to the companies that have been on the project as a result of some concerns that have been brought forward in the last couple of days. They have reassured us that all repairs that needed to be done were completed and...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That’s a hypothetical question, but at this point we would expect that we would treat it as if it was a cost overrun and it would be recovered and recouped as traffic volumes went up. Thank you.