Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The plan is to launch the ferry tomorrow, Thursday; at the very latest, early Friday. Thank you.

The information I have right now is that the service will begin on Sunday. As I indicated, we would like to try to get the ferry running on Saturday so that we can accommodate people wanting to go to watch the two graduates from Tsiigehtchic. We recognize that that’s something that the community wants to see, so we are working hard to try to make that happen. Thank you.

The water is subsiding and the slipways are ready. Equipment is now working to improve the landings, so yes the landings are ready. We are expecting the service of hauling vehicles to actually start on Sunday. We are trying to speed it up to try to coincide with people wanting to travel over to Inuvik for the graduation. We have put a bit of a rush on it, so the department tells me that they are hoping to resume service, but safety is very important. There is some welding that has occurred while the ferry was on land, so we have to ensure that those things are taken care of before we are able...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Return to Written Question 25-17(5), I wish to table the following two documents, entitled “Report on Staff Retention Policy for 2011-2012 and 2012-2013,” and “Report on Staff Retention Policy for 2013-2014 and 2014-2015.”

When we put the ferry into the water and start to run the ferry across the Mackenzie River, we have to ensure that there are no issues. We don’t anticipate issues; we just need to do a test before we actually let the public onto the ferry. There is no real holdup. It is going as we initially scheduled for the ferry to operate. Generally on average the ferry has started on June 1st. We’re hoping that we’re able to at least meet that day this season as well. Thank you.

The gravel is something we have worked on every year. I think last year we were okay. We had a bit of a surplus of gravel. If the gravel sources are down, then, we do have a granular program. I think probably the community has one and we would do one with the Department of Transportation as well. So we will continue to do that. We will also agree with the latest numbers that we have they’re reasonable and the DOT will reimburse the community if they spend the money to haul the bridge in from Inuvik and also from Nelson, I believe, because there’s still one piece of the bridge down there. Thank...

I don’t have the BIP evaluations here with me today; however, I have confidence that the individuals who are tendering and the procurement are doing appropriate BIP evaluation. I’m assuming after the BIP was applied that the company that got the job had the lowest number. Thank you.

It is likely that they have the plow trucks assembled here in the Northwest Territories. I guess my point is that the plow truck itself is not approved as an NWT-manufactured product. It’s not registered as an NWT-manufactured product. So when they build a plow truck, they go through a regular tender process and then they compete. Wherever it is considered to be northern, then they would get the Business Incentive Policy applied, which would benefit them and give them that advantage in that category, but not necessarily getting the job just outright as a northern manufacturer. Thank you.

We’re getting into the funding of this road because we’re hoping that the road is completed all the way to the gravel source. So we’ll continue to work with the community and fund what we can on the road annually. We have a limited amount of funds and we have quite a number of projects throughout the North under accessing this Access Road Program, but on this road here we’ve begun to fund it. We’re looking at it. The community is starting to see that we’re serious about getting that bridge in and start building the road to the gravel source at Willow River. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are working with the community from our regional office in Inuvik. Our superintendent has had contact with the community that’s going to be installing the bridge, hauling the bridge from Inuvik and I think another piece of the bridge from the South. Also, this concept of them spending the money now and then requesting that it be preapproved from the following season is something that we’re looking at seriously. We have a budget now, one to do the entire bridge from them and then one for work that is immediate. So it looks very reasonable from what I can see and we’re...