Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the gong show the Member speaks of is only in some people’s eyes. I am very interested to see why he’s concerned about my being positive on this project would be a concern.

Mr. Speaker, this project was brought forward with a design in place with a caveat that further testing had to be done. That was done and approved. There needed to be some changes. The designer of the original bridge was no longer in place and a new team came into place and indicated that there could be some changes made that would result in savings and we proceeded on that basis. Things...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’m pleased to rise today to provide Members and the public with information on the progress made to date on the Deh Cho Bridge Project.

The Deh Cho Bridge Project is being undertaken as a public-private partnership with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, which is owned by the Dene and Metis of the community of Fort Providence. In years to come I expect the Deh Cho Bridge will be a symbol of what can be accomplished through community partnerships.

This project has had its share of challenges, but these challenges have been effectively addressed as they have arisen. As a...

My own opinion on this, of course, is that it would take a coordinated approach between the two communities. I know, and have heard from the K'atlodeeche people, and there’s been a number of requests at public meetings to try to see if there is any merit in having a piece of infrastructure built between the two communities. We have not seen any coordinated effort between the two communities to come forth jointly, and I think we’d have to involve other departments to see if we can find the resources to assist or submit some type of proposal that would identify the cost and type of...

Mr. Speaker, I believe, and I’d have to check with my colleague from MACA, but I believe the municipality did a costing and an assessment of putting a bridge between the two communities. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the cost is borne by the two communities, cost-shared. Thank you.

The Member is talking about a community in my riding, so I guess I’d have to say it’s been posed a number of times directly to me as the MLA for that community. I don’t believe the Department of Transportation has ever done an assessment of what it costs to build a bridge between the two communities. It’s viewed as a municipal piece of infrastructure at this point. I’d have to confirm that, of course, but I have not seen any information aside from the discussion we had some time ago when I was first elected as an MLA to the Deh Cho, that I’ve seen some documents I believe were put together by...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to take the opportunity today to thank all the Pages that have been working with us this week. I was very happy to have two Pages from Fort Providence. Bradley Thom and Joseph Antoine have been working here very hard for us and seeing the sights of Yellowknife. They are both from the Deh Gah School in Fort Providence, my home town. They are both 13 years old, Mr. Speaker, and they keep very busy while in the community.

Bradley has just returned from a cultural camp. He has done a bit of hunting and learning some aboriginal and cultural skills. He certainly...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation recently released the 2008 NWT Traffic Collision Facts report. The 2008 collision report presents statistics that we should all take seriously.

Each year, Mr. Speaker, through our Drive Alive travel safety awareness program and other initiatives, the Department of Transportation works hard to provide residents with the information that they need to travel safely on the NWT’s roads, trails and waterways. Nevertheless, people are injured or die needlessly each year because they failed to make simple choices that would have...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the discussion that’s going on in the House here. There is some debate on for and against rules or laws and legislation in the area of distractive driving and some Members have made it very clear that this is an issue that requires attention.

We all know there are many ways that attention can be taken away from focusing on the road ahead of you and that even a second of distraction can lead to loss of control of your vehicle or even worse. I guess the discussion and concern here is do we need more awareness on that issue or do we need more rules. Mr. Speaker...

Mr. Speaker, the Food Mail Program is probably long overdue for an overhaul and I think many Members in this House have recognized that. We’ve had some discussions over the years as to possible changes. Our desire was to see this review finally came to reality in the last couple of years. In 2008 there was a review through the federal government with an assignment with a number of consultants to do an evaluation and, more recently, there were further reviews that are ongoing that we are hoping will make the necessary changes.

At the request of the Members of this House, we did talk to INAC and...