Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think all the Members in the House recognize the cost of building bridges are very extreme and it certainly would be a fiscal challenge for our government to actually finance and provide the resources to build one bridge in the typical fashion required for building a bridge.
We have considered, as part of what would be a Mackenzie Valley Highway, that the bridges along that route would be covered and part of the road, if there was ever federal resources to build that road. We do have, as the Member has indicated, expertise on a lot of the aspects of building bridges. We...
Mr. Chairman, the relationship we have with the MAC Group is through the Gwich’in Tribal Council and the president. They have had some discussions with myself and also with some of our staff and demonstrated an interest in doing some of the project description report work that we’d like to see done that’s within their traditional area. They have indicated to us that they are getting close to some kind of agreement that would see some investment from the federal government and they’ve asked us to stay in touch with them or to see if we’d be interested. I believe our Premier has given them a...
Mr. Chairman, I am certainly glad that the Member has recognized that there is a need for more money in our budget. Of course, once again, it is a matter of where our priorities are. We certainly could have set up our budget a little differently, but there is so much need right across the Territories.
Our goal was to try to target investment on all our road systems. We also had a number of ACAP program projects that we used to improve our airport and we also had the federal government come forward and announce some projects in Nunakput for the air terminals. Mr. Chairman, it is a matter of how...
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There are a number of issues being raised here. First of all, the contract for Blackwater. I am sure the Member heard the disappointment in my voice when I responded to the question and especially the comments made that he was not happy with the government not responding.
Mr. Chairman, at the Member’s request, we did carve out a portion for earth works, so it would be negotiated with the community. We did also extend the deadline for the contract. We also responded to his request for a negotiated contract. We found extra dollars so we could negotiate the contract. The...
Mr. Chairman, it was always understood and it was in the agreement that we would be providing this portion of the toll collection. As to why it wasn’t, I wasn’t actually at the negotiating table, so I couldn’t tell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I can commit to the Member that we can do an analysis of what the cost would be to apply different types of dust suppression and highway top, whether chipseal or Easy Street asphalt, and look at the cost, look at the benefits and look at the possibilities, and share that information with the Member and have a discussion before next year’s budget. We are still at a point where we don’t know what the actual cost and benefit would be from Easy Street. The product is manufactured in Alberta and it’s quite a distance to truck it all the way to the Dempster. So we’d have to see if...
Mr. Chairman, under our responsibilities and under the conditions of the concession agreement, it falls under our responsibility to develop and to design and supply, install, upgrade and manage the whole toll system. There are two components to the toll system. In the capital budget, we have already received approval for the $400,000 for last year. This year, we are looking for an additional $600,000 in this budget. There are two areas that will be considered or will be invested in. This is, first of all, to do with vehicle counts and classification. For the most part, that has already been...
Mr. Chairman, the Member is correct; I think historically we have had some challenges filling some of the positions for engineers and project managers. Our senior staff over the last year or so have really worked hard to improve that. We had the opportunity to hire a number of people in the technical area. I think we’re probably better positioned now with the people that we’ve brought on stream and some of the work being contracted out. So we are in a good position to move forward. We don’t expect it’s going to cause a lot of concern now that we’ve staffed up.
I have to admit, though, that...
Mr. Chairman, this bridge is a project that has been in the works for some time. At one point it was up for consideration for investment, however, the project costs came back with a dollar figure that was more than double what the budget was set at and in 2008 that budget was estimated to be $60 million. It is a project that would probably eliminate one of the bigger obstacles of the opening of the Mackenzie Valley winter road. We have looked at pots of money that we thought we could tap into. We raised it a number of times in meetings with Canada and the reason for raising it, of course, is...
As in every project with every community, there has to be a demonstrated capacity to take on some of the work. The equipment has to be in good shape, whether it’s a CAT or a grader or a truck, and the price has to be fair and the people that are going to operate it have to be experienced enough to ensure their safety. Our department has facilitated, we’ve worked with the community at every step and we’ll continue to do so. If there is a situation here, I’m not sure what the water truck number is referring to, whether it’s a municipal water truck or if they have one of their own, I wasn’t aware...