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...

Mr. Speaker, the money I was referring to was the payment that was due to the lenders. We expect that we would probably be in the position to have to cover that portion of it and have a recovery plan through chargebacks of some sort. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that a bridge would solve all these issues, but that is a $70 million question that hasn’t been resolved yet. Actually this ferry has been operating longer now than it has in the last 10 years. So it is certainly an indicator that we are feeling the effects of climate change, but that could change overnight. Cold weather could set in. Again, we will look at all the conditions around operating this ferry and do our best to operate as long as we can and keep the Member informed of what we plan to do in terms of our actions. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I’m just wondering if we’re looking at the same picture. The Member did send a picture to my office and there was some water, but there was lots of ice on both sides of the channel. So I guess that I have to ensure that we’re looking at the same image that he’s talking about.

Mr. Speaker, he’s correct; there was a date set for closure. Notice has been given for Saturday. But there has been some consideration, since the weather has warmed up, and we expect that we can squeeze a few more days out of the operations there and we will do our best to continue operations. Mr. Speaker, we...

The bridge project is still on budget and it’s still on schedule. We anticipate that there are going to be some delays as the review of the design required some changes. That’s being done. We expect that to be completed and final revisions by December or January and any further changes to the contracts will be out by March. So we expect that there will be a delay of at least a half a year or more, probably that it will be one year. That shouldn’t reflect in any additional costs.

The cost that is of concern is the first payment that is going to become due in December of 2010 and that’s going to...

Mr. Speaker, our contract with the Deh Cho Bridge, or our agreement is with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation. They provide all the oversight in terms of construction, design and onsite management. We do have staff people who are dedicated to this project and working very closely. We do provide a review of all invoicing. We do provide a review of all changes that are made and things of that nature, so we are quite involved. We have a person strictly dedicated to this project. Thank you.