Tom Beaulieu

Mr. Speaker, the department doesn’t mismanage projects. I don’t believe that this is one that was mismanaged. I will check into the allegations made here by the Member. I’m sure that everything is done according to the regulations, according to the standards. There are certainly a lot of regulations surrounding any sort of electrical work. We will ensure that is done within that. I don’t believe there is mismanagement.

I can advise the Members if there are any issues out there, but I don’t believe there are. It’s difficult for me to respond to a question when the Member is assuming that things...

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, I don’t have the details of the contract that the Member speaks of. It would be difficult for me to determine or indicate whether or not all the work has been signed off as good work by the department. My understanding is that these individuals that were doing the work are professionals. I know that the staff that are inspecting the work are professionals. My assumption is that if the staff is signing off on work on the Deh Cho Bridge, then the work is done to proper standard. Thank you.

Yes, I will commit to that.

Thank you. One of the piers that was repaired on the Deh Cho Bridge, we have confirmed that there were three issues with the pier underneath the water. What had happened was that after the repair work was done, we had taken photos of the repair work. Unfortunately, we only obtained two photos of the three areas. We’re going back down when the season is right to look at that pier. That’s my understanding of the pier and the rock that is around the pier. There is some work that needs to be done. There’s some holdback on it.

I’m not aware that we are requesting $4 million to complete work. If...

This has been a very likely project. As the Member knows, it was back in 2009 that we got the money from the federal government for the Building Canada Plan so that we are able to complete this project. With all of the issues that were pertaining to the airport itself, we have been concentrating on that. The information on the actual terminal itself, I don’t have with me, but I would be pleased to provide that information to the Member. But I can assure the Member that the department is serious about completing the project. The project has gone on for a significant time and we’ll be working...

As I indicated, there was an issue with the material and the quality of the material and the quantity, so what we are doing is we are bringing in some crush material and we’re going to blend the material to complete the airport. It would be all of the work that would be required to have the airport at a finished stage. As I indicated, we have completed the change order and the work should have started four days ago, actually. That’s what the change order indicates.

Certainly, we are looking at that. The clinic itself is a good building. Whether or not it will be used for health, it most likely would be feasible for the government to retain as office space, but for this purpose and at this moment we are looking at the possibility of housing the individuals that are moving from H.H. Williams outside of the refurbished clinic as well.

We do try to buy fuel, heating fuel, motor fuel and gasoline at the lowest possible price. We do make a call on the price of gasoline. We do buy mid-grade gasoline. It’s very important to the communities to have gasoline that doesn’t de-grade. If we buy low-grade gasoline, which is four cents a litre cheaper, the communities also realize that sometimes when we buy a lower grade gasoline there have been issues with snowmobiles and boat motors and so on. When people are out on the land, it’s essential that they have good gas, so we do pay four cents a litre more for that, but we do try to get...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The plan is to chipseal the highway. I’m very familiar with the product the Member speaks of. There was no discussion between the government and the industry that would provide Easy Street on that highway at this time. I think we are in a contract that says that we will be chipsealing the highway. If the company decides that they would put a different application on there within the same dollar amount, then perhaps the government and industry could sit down together and discuss that possibility. But moving forward, our intention is to chipseal at this time.

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. The biggest contributor to the increase of heating fuel has been the wholesale cost of fuel. The wholesale cost of fuel over a 12-month period from early 2013 to early 2014 was 20 cents a litre. That is the price increase of the wholesale price when we purchased it Edmonton, and somehow that contributed to, for example, an increase of 17 cents a litre in Yellowknife.