Michael McLeod

Mr. Chairman, the Member’s correct; it’s a 50-50 cost share.

The reason the program was not continued was MACA decided no longer to fund it. They had other use for their dollars. I think they put it directly into the communities.

In response to the Member’s question whether we can actually put the application for dust suppressant through this program, the answer would be no. It’s not for actual construction. It’s for research and development.

The discussions are concluded, the signing off has not been done, and I’m quite reluctant to throw the names and company titles out into the public until we have that kind of discussion in house. We have looked at this project from every angle. We have had people that are outside of our government, outside of the bridge project itself look at our numbers. We are confident that we’ve captured all the different costs or pieces that are out there in terms of what it’s going to take to conclude this project. We’ve looked at the claims, we’ve looked at the interest, we’ve looked at everything that...

I’m not able to provide that publicly at this juncture. There is a company that we have decided to use. I’m not sure if all the agreements have been signed. I’d like to confirm that prior to providing that information. I can provide that to him today in confidence, if he’d like. Along with this company we will be utilizing at least one person from our own sources that has already been working for us for some time and is quite familiar with the project. I can provide the information, I’m just reluctant to give out information that hasn’t been finalized and put out in the public yet.

I’m not sure if the Member expects me to change my answer, but I just responded to that very same question a few minutes ago. It’s a result of timing. When we had information on the change of design concluded far enough, we did have engagement with our previous contractor. Those didn’t result. We recognized that we were not going to be able to conclude those discussions and, therefore, terminated our relationship and entered into discussions with a company that was familiar with the project and that was willing to move forward with this whole project and provide budgets and figures that we...

Transport Canada does have rules related to alcohol consumption and aircraft operations that pilots must comply with. Whether or not we can also apply rules from the level of the territorial government or Department of Transportation NWT would be something I’d have to explore and see if there’s any mechanism that we could put in place that would give comfort to the Members of this House and to the general public that there is some screening or involvement that the pilots are not... I take it it’s more than just pilots in this case, but I would have to look at it. I’d have to talk to somebody...

Mr. Speaker, we wouldn’t want any Member to assume we have hidden costs. We do have a tracking of all our expenditures. We could provide that information. We would have to see how far along it is in terms of presentation. We could also provide the breakout of what is being planned for the dollars that we are going to be requesting through the supplementary appropriation. I have no problem to commit to that. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, yes, the Member has laid out a number of issues that we have been challenged with. The design was, of course, one issue that we had to wrestle with. We had a contractor that had to be replaced. We also had a developer that had fairly limited capacity. Those are issues that we tried, for the most part, over the last while, to improve with adding resources. We have changed budgets. We have added more people that we thought we could lend to this project. We also brought in different firms that would work with the different areas in terms of enhancing this project. We felt that we...

Thank you. I apologize to the Member if he hadn’t heard that we have concluded the design. We’ve said it on a number of occasions and we’ll say it again: The superstructure has been concluded. There is still some electrical work and toll collection portion along with the catwalk that has to be finalized. We expect that will be another two weeks. There’s enough there to move forward for shop drawings and a negotiated contract with the company.

Mr. Speaker, I have to state that we’ve taken every avenue to make information public. The Member is quite aware that I have made every effort to ensure...

Mr. Speaker, obviously, I disagree with the Member. I know he doesn’t care about how long it would take. We would have to translate that into what it would cost, added cost to what’s already built in to this supp that we have yet to bring forward. We would expect a good portion of what the $15 million ask is, is already interest and cost of delaying the project. We would have to add that amount to another year of delay and that would be quite significant, Mr. Speaker, over and above the $15 million. Thank you.