Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I am very familiar with this project. We went far above what was required to ensure that the community was involved. We gave a lot of flexibility to the community to become a partner and negotiate a contract. Six million dollars worth of work went to the partnership. We extended time frames. We facilitated discussions with subcontractors. So I think there’s been a lot of work in this area and certainly our department has been involved every step of the way. We are well aware that there are some companies, some sub-trades are not able to negotiate good arrangements.

Mr. Speaker, we...

This is an issue that I think the Member has raised every year from the time he was elected in this position. It is certainly an area that we have worked towards improving. I think that we have spent more than $5 million in a number of key improvements and along the Mackenzie Valley winter road. We have, at his request, looked at putting a number of signs along the winter road so that the traffic could be informed of corners and hills and we also overall wanted to have a stronger presence with our highway enforcement officers and highway patrols and changed our permitting system and have...

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.

I’ll certainly convey that to our officials, that this building better be done by the end of November. I should point out, though, the building is still usable and the community certainly can take advantage of it. We are very aware that they were very frustrated with some of the issues that came forward, but we’re working very hard to get it all addressed, for the most part. Except for the floor, I think everything’s done and we will ensure that it’s completed by the end of November. We will inform the Member that we want to move forward and have an official opening at some point. We already...

Mr. Speaker, the work that was done was under, as the Member indicated, warranty. There are some deficiencies that have been addressed and there are going to be more that are going to be required. They are going to all be covered through the warranty period. Notification has been provided to the subcontractors of the contractors that were involved and we’re dealing with the issue. Thank you.

There is certainly no shortage of will on this side, and I’m sure if I did let it slip, the Member would be quick to remind me. The Aklavik road right now, a project description report for that project is something that we want to see move forward. We want to be able to contact the community quickly. There are programs out there like the Community Adjustment Fund that we feel we can tap into. We’d like to package that up into a proposal with a business case and take it to the next steps. We’d like to move that forward as quickly as possible and we’d be very pleased to include the Member in all...