Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Transportation in regard to the issues I raised in regard to road conditions, and more importantly, the Dempster Highway. It seems like they’ve been either very poorly maintained or the budget’s been cut. I’d like to ask the Minister exactly what is the reason that we’re seeing such a high number or the impact on maintaining highways. Has there been a decision in the department either to cut back on maintenance, or has there been a change by way of contracting practices, or is it because the number of roads that we are maintaining and not putting as much money as we need to maintain the roads and also realizing the condition we’re under? I’d like to ask the Minister what has changed that is causing the maintenance of the highways in the Northwest Territories to decline to the point where people are concerned with regard to the conditions of those roads and the public safety aspect of driving those roads and the conditions that they’re in.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Dempster Highway has been a priority for some time, and has been raised in the House by the Member on a number of occasions. We continue to focus on reconstruction of this highway, the Dempster Highway. We’ve done a lot of work on improving the roadway alignments, the roadbed and driving surfaces.
As I responded to this question by this Member on a number of occasions, the road needs to be reconstructed. We are attempting to do that with the resources we have on hand and we’ll continue to focus on that. However, the reconstruction process for this length of highway with the investment we have is probably going to take in excess of another 10 to 12 years. It’s going to be a long process.
If there is concern with maintenance, we certainly can review what our contractors are doing, and if he has any issues with contracts, we’d like to hear from him. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I like what I hear from the Minister, because I think it is time that we did review either the maintenance contracts or the maintenance practices that are being used and what type of equipment is being used or what type of equipment is not being used, and what type of materials are being used to apply to resurface the highway or try to maintain the surface on that highway.
I’d like to ask the Minister how soon can you investigate the condition of the roads and also the contracts that are in place and also the method that’s being used to maintain those highways.
We have people that provide oversight on all our roads on a regular basis. In the case of the Dempster, I think we’ve invested well over $28 million in the life of this government and the previous government. There are a lot of discussions between ourselves, transportation officials of the NWT, and with the Yukon. If there are any concerns, certainly, we’d like to hear further of the specifics. If there is something that needs to be reviewed, we certainly can have our headquarters staff or somebody from the regional office and provide some investigation to look at the situation. But it is monitored on an ongoing basis.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I’d like to ask the Minister, would you consider looking at the type of contracts that are in place either as an hourly-based contract, a monthly contract, and why is it that you’d have these different types of contracts. Is there a possibility of streamlining the contracts so they are being funded to do the job they have to do, and they’re not being simply on an as-and-when basis, and that you’d consider a universal contracting system to maintain the highways of the Northwest Territories using a specific means of paying for the services for those contracts?
Yes, we could do that. That’s something that the Member has some desire to get some results from any potential differences. We’ll review it, and sit down with him and provide that information.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
