Wally Schumann

Hay River South

Statements in Debates

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The data we have on permafrost degradation indicates this road is continuing to settle and will probably be continuing to settle for the foreseeable future. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. On my left is Jayleen Robertson, assistant deputy minister; and on my right, is Mr. Paul Guy, deputy minister of Infrastructure.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 83)

Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have talked quite a bit about the O and M on this road. On a P3 project, though, that is part of the proponent's bid. Whoever the successful proponent is is going to have to build and construct this road, guarantee it for 25 years, and look after the O and M and capital costs of all the maintenance of that road going on for 25 years. It has nothing to do with us. It is just part of their bid package. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 82)

Highway patrol meets and regularly trains with other enforcement agencies. The department participated in a blitz together on a regular basis with these other agencies. In particular, recently we just did a bison awareness check stop both with ENR and the RCMP to check both commercial and public traffic on the highway, and we will continue to look at opportunities to collaborate with all enforcement agencies in the future.

As I said, we will continue to do our inspections on the winter road this coming season around the heavy truck traffic in particular to make sure people are well aware of the...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 82)

Again, we met with the joint venture group and their insurance providers to complete a discussion around the incidents that happened last year. There were a couple of trucks that went off the road. There were a number of fires that took place. The department does not have an accident investigator, as many of us know in this House, but we do have our guys that go out there and do the dangerous goods checks, secure of cargo on the loads, check the log books, those sorts of things.

I can update the House that we followed up with the joint venture operators who investigated the accidents last...

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 82)

I'm not aware of a requirement to replace any pier on the Deh Cho Bridge. This bridge has been functioning well since it opened in 2012, and as far as I'm concerned there's no need for that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 82)

The cost of this preventative work is actually covered by various bridge capital projects. It's ongoing preventative bridge maintenance across our system, and it's there to extend the life of our bridge assets.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 82)

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize Charles Thornton, Ph.D., P.E., from Easton, Maryland; Larry Grimms from Haymarket, Virginia; Darrell Beaulieu, president and CEO of Denendeh Investments; Margaret Gorman, chief operating officer, Denendeh Investments; and Dave Ramsay, director of Denendeh Investments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 82)

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled "Tabled Document 456-18(2), NWT Oil and Gas Annual Report 2016" and "Tabled Document 457-18(2), Northwest Territories Geological Survey Strategic Plan 2017-2022." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Debates of , 18th Assembly, 2nd Session (day 82)

We are always committed to improving our communications, as I said in this House on a number of occasions, to update residents and tourists in particular on this section of road in the wintertime, which is, as I've mentioned in the House, how the numbers are increasing in the use of this road, winter operators and general public who also use this highway. We will continue to work on our communications plan.

We have our digital signage that's out at the entrance of Highway No. 4; that will be placed there again once the season gets going. We have Twitter. We use radio. We use our website to give...