Michael McLeod

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s a difficult question to answer, as I sit as a member of that committee and so does the Member that’s asking the question. Certainly I think this is a very worthy discussion that needs to take place and I certainly would be pleased to be part of that discussion with the Rural and Remote committee. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I believe I said the payment was due in December for $2.5 million.

Mr. Speaker, once again, we don’t tell our captains what to say when it comes to closure of the ferry services. It is the same as we can’t tell the captains of an airplane when they should fly. Mr. Speaker, that is against federal regulations. We will not interfere politically as to the operations. Weather permitting, ice conditions permitting and safety factors all considered, we will do our best.

Mr. Speaker, at the same time, this may be a very unusually warm winter with the climate change. That channel may stay open all winter. We don’t have the resources to operate all winter. We can...

There are no liens against the Government of the Northwest Territories. There has been a lien placed on ATCON, the company that is doing the piers right now -- that’s Ruskan -- and there is also a lien filed against the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation by Structal, which has been there for some time, I believe. Thank you.

The Member is asking for a very specific price tag. I can inform the House that we have, I believe, it’s a position and a half dedicated to the project and related expenses for these people. Thank you.

We are already engaged with the Construction Association on this issue. I don’t see the relevancy of having the Member attend. I’m sure they would invite him if they thought he should be there. Thank you.

We are quite familiar with what the Yukon has done in this area and the staged-in approach that they had utilized. We’ve had discussions. So the answer is yes.

I’d be glad to bring more money to the table in this program. However, consideration has to be made by all departments and the Department of Finance as we move forward with our priorities. But I will certainly take his advice and have our officials look at what could be improved on and how much money that would take, and bring that forward in the next budget that we bring forward. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we certainly can provide that information to the Member. We have already indicated how the calculations are going to be made, what formula is going to be used and how much our subsidy is. He is asking us for specifics on dollars and cents here, so I would be very reluctant to give him that information from the top of my head. We will calculate it. We will provide it to him in short order. Thank you.

I’m not prepared to be the lead on the Austin road project at this point. The community has a role to play here and ITI has identified the project in the area. There have been some discussions that have taken place and we have been involved, but I am very hesitant to say that we will be the lead.

It’s a municipal piece of infrastructure that is required. We do have a program that can be tapped into for a small amount of money and we’ve also had some discussion with some of the people from Diavik that are very interested in working with the community to help coordinate and pay and give some...