Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the department construction maintains ice bridges at the Mackenzie, Liard, and the Peel River system. We also do the ferries on those three systems, and we also look after the lake crossing at Deline. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They are part of the public road system.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Thebacha, that Bill 35, Supply Chain Management Professional Designation Act, be read for the second time. This bill prohibits a person from using certain designations and abbreviations until the person is a designated professional in the field of supply chain management. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to give notice that, on Thursday, February 21, 2019, I will move that Bill 36, An Act to Amend the Petroleum Resources Act, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I know it's Valentine's Day, but let's take it a little bit easier here. I just want to reassure this House that we are investing $22.5 million on the Dempster over the next five years, $22.5 million. Safety is the number one priority of our department, and we will work with all Members in this House to ensure the highways in the Northwest Territories are as safe for the travelling public as possible, and if there are any concerns, please come to me. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'd like to inform this House that we're actually going to spend another $22.5 million on Highway 8 for reconstruction and rehabilitation between 2019 and 2024, which is a significant investment in that Member's riding. What I can say about this guardrail in this section of highway is that I can have our staff go out there and have a look at this and meet with the community members and have a look at it, if we can do a safety audit on what's happening there and get back to the Member.

Yes, it was about five years ago that the department had this same exact situation come up, and they actually wrote letters to all the manufacturers, stating that this was part of the public road system, supplied them with that and maps of the Northwest Territories and asked them to reach out to all of their call centres and share this with local service providers that they actually contract this to. To the Member's point, I will actually ask the department to do this. We will step in and write the same letters and reassure the manufacturers that this is part of the public system. Thank you...

Yes, the Department of Infrastructure follows the guidelines for safe ice construction that was developed with expertise from within and outside of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Other jurisdictions actually use our guidelines, and so does private industry.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize a couple of Pages from Hay River South, Jon Tatti and Shaelyn Mabbitt. Thank you.

As far as I know, the Disaster Mitigation Fund is one of them. I don't think the federal government has come out with round two of the Clean Water and Waste Water Program yet, but I don't know if that would even be able to meet the expense that this would be, because this is in excess of millions of dollars. I think it needs $28 million, if I remember the number correctly, to replace this line.

As I have said, the Minister of MACA was going to look into other opportunities, what the city could do. One of the things that was discussed briefly is the YK Dene is tied to this situation, if there...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I can one-up that. Myself and the Minister of MACA actually met with the SAO and the mayor of Yellowknife and had this discussion. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.