Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think we’ll all be happy for the community of Colville Lake. I personally had to stand out at the airport and I think it was February when I did a community tour. We’ll be very happy to see this project completed.

Mr. Chairman, if the suggestion the Member is making was viable and feasible, of course we would consider it. Right now, there is a totally different comparison that is being made from Vancouver to Tulita. There is a huge population difference. As the Member has indicated himself, there are companies that are already trying to do it and the demand is not there. There would have to be a chargeback mechanism incorporated into using a ferry.

The ferries in B.C. or any of the coasts that are being referenced here have a charging system in place. Because they have the frequent number of trips and a...

Mr. Chairman, I will have Mr. Neudorf speak to that situation.

Mr. Chairman, the Member is quite anxious, as are a lot of people in the Sahtu and other areas in the NWT, to see a road constructed. However, we’re not quite at that stage yet. In the event that we come to that juncture, we would require a federal investment to do the actual construction. That’s still their responsibility.

We’ve been really working hard to try to get information compiled. We’ve just completed an economic analysis of the benefits that would come from such a road. We are now embarking on doing the project description report. The communities of Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk have...

Mr. Chairman, the Norman Wells Airport also has a development plan. Right now, the space is not an issue. We feel there is enough developed space that it is not a requirement to open up more space issues. It is adequate, as far as we are concerned.

Mr. Chairman, we haven’t considered it and I don’t think it’s something that we’d be very interested in entering into. It’s an area that’s, of course, driven by demand. There are two companies that already provide it. Granted, it’s not on the scheduled service that the Member is asking about. I believe one of the companies has already tried to set up a scheduled service and didn’t feel the demand was there to warrant it, so it’s as needed. We do provide infrastructure for transportation. The service right now for this area that the Member is talking about is provided by private enterprise...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I have with me Mr. Russell Neudorf on my right, who is the deputy minister of Transportation; on my left I have Mr. Daniel Auger, assistant deputy minister of Transportation.

Mr. Chairman, the challenges, of course, in both areas that he’s raised, first of all on the Oscar Creek Bridge, is we need to be comfortable that we have the alignment finalized and we need to be able to do that through the project description report work that’s going to be done. The Member is correct that it will take a while to get that done. With the Bear River Bridge, we certainly agree with the Member’s opinion on how things have developed. We feel it was a project that should have been considered as project ready. We have the design. We have the location. We’ve done all the legwork that...

Mr. Chairman, the concept of airport authority requires the airport authority itself to make the decisions on governance and also it is required that they deal with the revenues and all the operational costs of the authority. It is something we look at. It is something that we have had analysis done on at least the Yellowknife Airport. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the Member’s comments. We haven’t included the Deh Cho Bridge as part of this budget. It will be coming forward in the supp that I expect to be tabled in the next little while. There’s no reference to the bridge in this budget because there is no budget line in it. Thank you.