Michael McLeod

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...

We would be pleased to continue our consultations with the communities and also the contractors. We plan to continue with our grade improvements, working on the alignment and also with the signs. We have done a lot of work in the area with erosion controls at some of the crossings. We have also looked at doing additional clearing and other improvement work at some of the tighter corners and some of the areas that we need more visibility in terms of sight distances, and places that would allow for vehicles to pull over. We would be more than happy to talk to the contractors as we engage with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. First of all, I’d like to thank the Member for recognizing the benefits that come from large projects, such as Blackwater, to the communities and to companies in the North. Yes, we do follow a policy. It’s the Business Incentive Policy that requires us to have certain content that is listed in the contract that has to be adhered to, and we do monitor the situations and the projects very closely. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, it is very hard to challenge the Member’s comments. There is a liability issue on any of our crossings. It has to be recognized that there is a contribution to the effects of greenhouse gases. Operating these vessels consume a lot of fuel. We have looked at and considered all the bridges within our road system and have looked at trying to be creative and find ways to construct bridges or replace the ferry systems with bridges.

The Deh Cho Bridge Project is a project that was viable because of the traffic volumes and, more specifically, the traffic volumes to the mines. We don’t...

Mr. Chairman, the commitment still stands. The detail that we are looking for hasn’t been compiled to a point where we’d be able to share it with the Member. We are looking at ways and trying to be very creative. The engineering work is being done. We are looking at ways to stabilize the base. We’re looking at the cost factor and we’ve got to recognize that there was a change in leadership over this past while that kind of slowed things down. I say that because there had been some discussion as to their own priorities and we also had some discussion with a partner or our stakeholder and they...

Mr. Chairman, the work that needs to be done in terms of PDR is roughly $8 million. We need an additional $7 million and we have identified a million dollars in this budget. If the Member is actually asking about the capital estimate to do an actual Mackenzie Valley all-weather road, we’re probably looking anywhere from $1.8 billion to $2 billion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Once again, the Member raises a lot of issues that are of concern in his riding. The issue of access road to gravel sources has become very popular or at least a common voiced concern here in this House and at a lot of our meetings. Right now we don’t have a program that allows for investment in roads to gravel sources. It is something that this government hasn’t had. I think the responsibility was devolved over to the municipalities through the New Deal program some years ago. We do have an Access Road Program that has a budget of $300,000 that communities access for...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I guess there are a couple of options out there. The community has done a very good job of doing a study that brought the information forward that brought us to this stage where we will probably need a project description report done on the route and the environmental side of it, and also look at the economics of it. Of course, a large stockpile by all stakeholders for gravel needs for the next five years is probably the cheapest way to go, but the community has been very determined that they need a gravel source and we’ve been very cooperative with them. The next step...