Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe our maintenance budget is sufficient to maintain the road for particularly the wintertime. I think the issue around Highway No. 3 between here and Behchoko is the infrastructure deficit that's out there because of permafrost degradation, and the department is working to address that as we go forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is not based on the amount of traffic; it is based on structural assessments, as I said, for all highways in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We've worked with Northern Adaptation Initiative administered by Transport Canada and we've done a significant amount of research with their help to understand climate change and the impact on our airports and runway system across the Northwest Territories. We've also invested in drainage improvements, as we expect that this will become increasingly more challenging with permafrost degradation, and we will continue to work with them.

The other thing where we do work within the federal government is the Capital Asset Assistance Program, and we're always in discussions with them on how we can...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. All three are believed to have Tlicho involvement, but when we do the evaluation of the three proponents when the bids come in, that will be part of the evaluation process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, strong economies must encourage economic diversity. While our economy relies on the resource sector as its foundation, our government has committed to fostering an economic environment in which small business can grow and thrive. Today I would like to highlight some of the commitments that have been met by the ongoing work of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.

Mr. Speaker, we committed to increasing the number of immigrants working in the NWT and to increase investments by immigrants. Together with the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, we have done...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Four and a half million dollars from BCP and roughly $3 million from various other programs; like I said, the culvert replacement and the chipseal. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

At all our runways, we already have a number of stockpiles of gravel specific to airport runways, so this is already in place. With an effective maintenance plan in place and a drainage management plan in place, this helps extend the life of all the runways in the Northwest Territories. We also have an EK35 program which we put on all the runways, the gravel ones, in the Northwest Territories to help tighten up and stabilize and bind the gravel that's on the runway and keep the dust down.

To specifically answer the question of what we're doing in Nunakput, in the 2018-2019 capital plan we have...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. To give you a high level on it, there is $67 million allocated for this road this year. We are still going through the environmental assessment process. We have to get the permits in place once that is done. Most of the cost is going to be around engineering and construction of this in the first year, depending on who is selected as the proponent to build this section of highway. Some people might escalate the speed of construction of road versus the others, and there are also some soft costs internally tied to it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We can certainly share the resurfacing, distress repairs, and the drainage improvements with the Member for sure, Mr. Chair. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to update the Member, because I know this Oscar Creek bridge has come up a couple of times. In 2017-2018 we're going to do pre-engineered design for a new foundation and access, and tender and award that. Then in 2018-2019 we are going to construct and move the existing bridge to the Mackenzie Valley highway alignment and proceed with that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.