Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I touched on the Jean Marie access road earlier in my Member’s statement, so I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation some questions about the access road at Jean Marie.
Are there any plans in this fiscal year in the maintenance budget to do some specific work on that access road to Jean Marie? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Over the years, after the Jean Marie access road was made passable through all seasons, an additional $1.5 million has been spent on that road to try to upgrade it. The department is going to continue to work on that road and continue to try to improve the road so that it is passable 365 days a year. Thank you.
Thank you very much. I’m really glad to hear that and maybe the Minister can specifically tell me what strategy that’s in, because it is a seasonal access road right now, meaning it does get soggy and people do get stuck. So the community would like assurance that they will get it upgraded to a highway status, passable year-round. Once again, would the Minister confirm that?
The money that will be used to continue to upgrade the road is from the regular maintenance budget. We could look specifically into the access road budget, as well, this coming year since that is all done by proposal. We would look at the Jean Marie road through the DOT Access Road Program as well. But there is no plan that I’m aware of in the immediate future to upgrade it to the regular highway standards that we have on Highway No. 1, for example.
I think the Minister meant Yellowknife standards where it’s chipsealed, as well, all their access roads. Just with that, it’s a priority of the community. It’s always been. I’ve been in this Legislature raising it time and time again.
Is the Minister aware of any other capital dollars aside from this operations and maintenance budget that is going towards the Jean Marie access road?
No, I’m not aware of anything that has been approved through the capital budget, but the DOT Access Road Program, although it’s an O and M budget, is used to do the upgrades on open access roads and upgrades to access roads, so we will be targeting that program to improve this road. Then we can also have discussions with the Member over the longer term. If he sees this road becoming a highway standard, then it’s something that we would have to bring back to the House because it would probably be a substantial cost.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps if the Minister can check firstly on the capital and then what specifically is in the O and M budget for the Jean Marie access road and get that back to me there.
I would be pleased to provide that information to the Member within the next couple of days.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
