Norman Yakeleya

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.

Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I also say, you know, we can have bad roads and existing roads, but some regions have no roads. So I’d like to look at that also in terms of how we do our investments of highway strategies in the Northwest Territories. Certainly, we’ll continue to improve what we have in the Northwest Territories in terms of a highway. There will be some areas that we need to do some reconstruction. We need to do some dust control. We need to do some further maintenance on some of the paved roads. Certainly, providing that we get the support from the House here and working with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the members of the public that the department does due diligence in terms of inspecting all of our facilities, all our highways. For example, yesterday, because of the low water in the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence, we were unable to operate our ferry because there are things that are beyond the department’s control. Ultimately, I am responsible, as the Minister of Transportation, and I certainly treat our operations as very professional and in that we have read good reports. This culvert was inspected. We’re looking at future...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I had indicated earlier in my questions to other Members, that safety is a priority for the department and through the department’s maintenance and operation lifecycles that inspections are made on all our facilities in the Northwest Territories throughout; well-checked, well-operated…(inaudible)…in terms of all of our facilities and existing infrastructures. Yes, these inspections were carried out in accordance with our department’s safety policy.

Mr. Speaker, I’m going to gladly take up the Member’s offer. I’m planning, actually, to see if I can drive all the highways in the Northwest Territories. I also plan to sit down with the Member and have a discussion about the future work that may happen in Pine Point. I look forward to working with committee on advancing some of the infrastructure needs with this government here. Certainly, the committee Members would be most important to my department in these types of discussions we have on infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the Member for Tu Nedhe that my officials will continue monitoring all the infrastructure of highways, marinas, airport facilities in the North, and that Highway No. 6 is one of the areas that we are paying close attention to. The challenge, of course, is to find the funding to improve our existing highways and respond to the demands of all our needs in the Northwest Territories. I look forward to discussing transportation funding priorities with the committees when we have that time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what I can commit to the Member is that I would like to drive the Dempster Highway to see it first hand the issues and challenges into the issues here. Because, you know, safety of the travellers is our most important goal here with the department. I would take, again, his suggestion in terms of reviewing the Member’s suggestion. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, our staff and our contractors are doing an exceptional job in terms of maintaining our infrastructure, especially on the highways. Mr. Speaker, I welcome the suggestion from the Member here in terms of part of our view in terms of priorities and infrastructure within the Department of Transportation is to look at areas where we can ensure and commit investment in terms of improving our highway systems like the Member is suggesting; looking at the chipsealing of the Dempster Highway. I would take that as a suggestion in terms of when we look at long-term...