Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Within a two-year period, your second offence would be a 24-hour suspension. A third offense in that same period would be a seven-day suspension and a fourth offence would be a 30-day suspension. The individual, because they are not impaired, would be allowed to drive their vehicle home.

I don’t have the list of all of the contractors that were paid. Anybody that was paid from this $13.6 million that was given to us by the Government of New Brunswick, all of the payments that were made from that account were something that would be supported by the Government of New Brunswick. We would have to provide the appropriate documentation to indicate that that was a valid payment and there was a contract between two companies, there was a contract that was left over, that where there was documentation, and based on documentation, we made the payment. It was then approved by the...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I do.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to take this opportunity to recognize a student action group from Yellowknife’s St. Patrick High School called Students Against Drinking and Distracted Driving.

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Originally, the focus of the student organization was on impaired driving. Now students are also working to prevent destructive decisions, with a focus on making impaired driving and distracted driving socially unacceptable. The students are here in the gallery today to support Bill 60, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act, No. 2. The bill includes several provisions...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my immediate right is Russell Neudorf, deputy minister of Transportation. To my far right, Steve Loutitt, director of road licensing and safety, Department of Transportation. To my left, Cherie Jarock, legislation division, Department of Justice.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my immediate right is deputy minister of Transportation, Russell Neudorf. To my far right is director of airports, Delia Chesworth; and to my left, legislative counsel, Thomas Druyan.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m pleased to introduce the proposed amendments in this bill, which will help facilitate the daily administration and operation of the bridge near Fort Providence, the Deh Cho Bridge, and improve upon the enforcement of the Deh Cho Bridge Act and the regulations.

After two years of operating the bridge, the department has identified areas to improve and expand upon inspection and investigation authorities held by our highway transport officers. These proposed amendments will give our HTOs the authority to adequately enforce the act, regulations and bridge tolling...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m pleased to introduce Bill 61, An Act to Amend the Public Airports Act, which proposes to address six areas in legislation aimed at improving how we operate airports throughout the NWT and to clarify sections of the Public Airports Act.

The bill proposes to increase the duration of leases on Commissioner’s public airports land from 20 years to 30 years so tenants will be able to amortize leasehold improvements over longer periods. Such extensions will provide consistency with maximum amortization periods typically offered by lending agencies.

The bill proposes...

We’re not paying it because we don’t have the proper documentation indicating that there was a contract between Rowe’s Construction and we’re not paying it because the money that we got was not for this. The money that we got from the New Brunswick government was to pay for the deficiencies of the bridge, not to cover unfinished business by ATCON that wasn’t paid out. We don’t have any written authorization from ATCON. We don’t have any documentation. There is really nothing there other than the discussions that Mr. Rowe has been having with DOT, and based on that we are continuing to work on...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We would look at that. Right now we’re moving forward with the three demerit points, a suspension of fines, and the main purpose of the act is to stop distracted driving. It’s not to punish people, it’s to stop distracted driving. So, if we had no distracted driving, the act would be a good act.

What we’re doing is we’re putting forward a bill that we think is going to do that at this point. If it doesn’t work, then we’re prepared to look at other options as well.

For the abandoned vehicles, I’ll ask Mr. Loutitt to take that. Thank you.