Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Transportation works with organizations like the Students Against Drunk Driving and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. We offer some financial support to the Students Against Drunk Driving and we’ve developed a High Risk Drivers Program that we do in consultation with these citizen-based organizations. We consider these organizations to be very important and attribute a lot of the downturn in impaired driving and injuries related to impaired driving to organizations such as MADD and SADD. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member also spoke about the winter road maintenance and what happens when there is heavier snowfall and so on and it blocks off the roads more than would be anticipated. We build those types of things into our contract, and on the other side, if the season went very well and it was colder than anticipated, then the highway could be extended beyond our contract. We tried to run some of the contracts and the ones down here to about March 31st, and they usually end within that fiscal year. If the road is extended well into April, as sometimes happens further up north...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To my left is deputy minister, Department of Transportation, Russell Neudorf. To my right, assistant deputy minister, Department of Transportation, Daniel Auger.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is my pleasure to present the Department of Transportation’s proposed main estimates for the 2014-2015 fiscal year for consideration.

The primary business of the department is to operate the NWT public transportation system and provide for the safe, secure, accessible and reliable movement of people and goods between communities. The activities undertaken by the department also protect the infrastructure investments already made in our transportation system. The department’s work is balanced with meeting the increasing needs of communities and industry that are reliant...

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.

As the Member indicated, the Harassment Free and Respectful Workplace Policy would be a good place to start. Also, I referred to some of the labour relations training that would be a requirement for managers. Once those requirements are set down for various managers in the GNWT, that will educate the managers in this area. That is another place where we can see some results for perhaps bullying and harassment together. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The GNWT across the board does have policies in the workplace against bullying, but I don’t have the information on the specific programs that are run, but there are programs that the GNWT looks at to prevent bullying in the workplace. Thank you.

Again, I don’t believe that the department does provide monetary support to the Students Against Drunk Driving or Mothers Against Drunk Driving. These organizations are funded by the general population through donations, but I could look into the situation and see what type of other supports the department can and does provide to both Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Students Against Drunk Driving. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Department of Transportation is developing a High Risk Drivers Program, focusing on drivers that continue to engage in dangerous behaviours despite various interventions. We are now working with a couple of programs that are intended to put on more severity on individuals that are caught; for example, for repeat offenders of impaired driving and so on. We are looking at demerits, monetary penalties and suspensions and so on, and trying to address the issue. But just developing the High Risk Drivers Program is where we’re trying to focus in on this type of issue...