Norman Yakeleya

Mr. Speaker, the Power Corporation operates in one of the most difficult environments with the cold weather, especially in this day and age. The Power Corporation also has emergency plans and policies. I would gladly look into this issue in terms of determining a type of emergency plan to have in place for long-term power outages in the communities.

I thank the Member from Tu Nedhe for the invitation. I look forward to driving with the Member in the springtime or the summer. I propose that we drive when it’s a convenient time for both of us and when it seems most beneficial to the people of Fort Resolution. I’ll be happy to also meet with the people in Fort Resolution and the contractors and to discuss some of the issues of Highway 6 with the Member once we’ve finished driving that section of the road.

Mr. Speaker, I understand there’s a longstanding need to convene construction and improve the road between Fort Resolution and Pine Point, the one the Member referenced, and the section of highway to Fort Resolution. This section of highway is very close to lake level, and that can be quite unstable, especially during the springtime.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation estimates that the total job would cost up to $56 million. I’m continually looking to see how my department can begin the priority work required to improve the road safety on Highway 6 to ensure Fort Resolution...

Mr. Speaker, the Power Corporation has a very good reliability system here. In all situations the corporation takes it seriously to review its operations, what happened, what went wrong. I’ll be happy to work with the Member and possibly the City of Yellowknife and the other departments he thinks would serve the people of Yellowknife in terms of letting them know, in terms of the power outage, where they can get hold of the appropriate type of people to advise them on the length of the power outages.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member from Nunakput is also…I come from a region that faces challenges like this. I will be happy to look at that specific issue and work with the Member in terms of how we can serve the people of Paulatuk on this issue.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly, once we have arranged our discussions and some final discussions with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, our staff, this government on this side here, then we would produce the concession agreement for the Members here. I cannot say right now as to when those timelines would be stated as we still need to meet with the bridge corporation and work on some of those issues that would see a conclusion to this concession agreement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this morning I was notified and am happy to report to the House that I heard from the president of the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, Mr. Michael Vandell. We were advised the last couple of hours by Transport Canada that their navigable waters to construct the Deh Cho Bridge across the Mackenzie River was approved by the navigable waters protection office of Transport Canada. This is good news for the Northwest Territories. Now the corporation can close the financial arrangements under the public/private partnership and make preparations to begin construction...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ll certainly check my records with the department in terms of what type of decisions were made on this issue here, and certainly look within this government here to see if there’s any plans to move the position back into Fort Simpson. As the Member is well aware, there are other regions also that are looking at present areas in terms of where other regions are making positions and that affects other regions without any type of regional presence by our department.

I’ll certainly get the information for the Member, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I’ll certainly again ask the Member from Twin Lakes that I certainly want to work on this issue. It’s an important issue, I know, for the people in the Mackenzie Delta. It’s something that I’ll bring up with the department in terms of a list of priorities of our infrastructure needs and across the Northwest Territories.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize one of our fine staff members from the Department of Transportation, Mr. Harris Beaulieu.

---Applause