I agree, bridges are good, although fairly expensive. There has been some investigation on the Peel area, there is some technical research that has been done, we just need to be able to look at for the long term how we can accommodate that request. Thank you.
Just a final point. I would just like to ask the Minister and the department that they keep monitoring this, because it is becoming a public safety issue where we actually had to shut down operations. People have gotten stuck on different sides of the river, especially the travelling public. Because of public safety they had to shut the operation down. I think a lot of people don’t realize that. Again, we do have to ensure that safety comes first. So I would just like to ask the Minister and the department to keep an eye on this one and hopefully they can report back next with some ideas and maybe they can do a little more research on it. Like I say, a bridge is probably the best solution to the problem.
If the situation is as the Member describes, then certainly we will take a closer look. It has not been brought to our attention that the water levels are getting higher than normal. We are aware, however, that there have been issues with high water and every time the water raises above a certain level it causes problems and, of course, the captain of the vessel is the one that makes the deciding call on whether to cross or not. We need to look at the situation and if there is anything that we need to do in terms of adaptation to respond to a climate change issue, we certainly will have to do that.
As I indicated, we had looked at a couple of options and we certainly will take a closer look now that the Member has raised it. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Next the chair will recognize Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The one comment I have is from the Minister. Is there any type of further discussion with the operations in regards to marine support services in regards to the development of the Alberta tar sands. We talked about this marine barge or boat coming down the Mackenzie River, I don’t quite know the name right now of this company, it is NTCL and some company that are doing work in the Alberta tar sands that they want to bring some huge, humongous boats down the Mackenzie River. Has there been any type of discussions? It has been fairly quiet so maybe it is a good thing. I am not too sure. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is correct; it has been fairly quiet. There hasn’t been a whole lot of discussion in the last several months. I think our opinion is that it is as a result of the economic downturn and I think as things pick up down the road we will resume discussions to see if this thing is workable. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Thanks, committee. We are on marine, operations expenditure summary, $7.808 million.
Agreed.
Page 11-26, marine, active positions. Agreed?
Agreed.
Pages 11-28 and 11-29, Community Access Program, operations expenditure summary, $1.008 million. Agreed?
Agreed.
Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Community Access Program, in terms of the program funding going out to the communities, it looks like it is fairly wide range of criteria to access these dollars for these projects here. I just want to look at the gravel resources here. I am just making my case now and probably in the next couple of months in terms of the gravel source for Tulita. They are looking for a gravel source. This would be similar to the scenario of the Tuktoyaktuk-Inuvik road in terms of their access to the gravel source, which happens to be on the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway. The same thing with Tulita to Norman Wells. I am just maybe giving a heads up or saying I am going to make a gravel case. Something I wanted to let the Minister know that some of the residents of Tulita and Norman Wells were talking about, especially the leaders in Tulita, let’s get to a gravel source that happens to be on the same proposed route of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. So just giving the Minister a heads up.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The budget that we are referring to we have talked about a little bit already and as a result of the Rural and Remote committee that suggested we increase the budget and also change the criteria, we have done that, we have allowed for marine and we have also allowed for gravel. However, the criteria is more specifically geared towards a gravel haul than the construction of a road. Mr. Chairman, this is a million dollar budget to respond to all the applications that come from the communities and it is really not sufficient to expect that we would build a gravel road, of any length anyway, to any source. However, it’s set up so that we can help communities if they need to do a winter gravel haul and help them with some of the costs to offset some of the costs. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Thanks, committee. We’re on page 11-29, Community Access Program, operations expenditure summary, $1.008 million.
Agreed.
Page 11-30, Community Access Program, grants and contributions, contributions, $980,000.
Agreed.
Over to pages 11-32 and 11-33, road licensing and safety. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have one question here and I understand that we now have mobile issuing stations for drivers’ licences, issuing licences in remote communities or small communities outside of the offices here in Yellowknife. I just would like to know if that program is still ongoing and if it is ongoing how successful has it been. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Minister.
Mr. Chairman, the intention of this program was to have the ability for our officers to go outside of the weigh scales and do other things rather than being in a position to do a lot of the administrative stuff that was causing concern and it also allowed for a mobile permitting system. It’s working quite well. We’re quite pleased of the results. There was a couple of small glitches as we introduced the program. However, it’s very successful and, yes, it is ongoing.
Thanks to the Minister. Just one quick question, I guess. Relative to the frequency of visits to communities, particularly for people looking to take drivers testing and get drivers’ licences issued, how often would these mobile issuing stations make the rounds, so to speak? Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, this program is demand driven and usually the community leadership will request the visit of our officers to assist them in processing the documentation.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. The chair would like to recognize our visitors in the gallery. It’s always nice to have visitors. Welcome to the proceedings this afternoon. We’re on page 11-33, road licensing and safety, operations expenditure summary, $4.452 million.
Agreed.
Page 11-34, road licensing and safety, active positions.
Agreed.
Page 11-36, work performed on behalf of others.
Agreed.
Page 11-37, work performed on behalf of others. Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. A question here with regard to the funding for the Prelude Lake access road. There is an indication of some funding for that particular road for the residents and other people who live out there and/or use that space. There was a bit of an issue I think at one point sometime this past winter, a year ago now, that there were other roads which people thought should be maintained by the department. So I guess my question to the Minister is, this funding identified in the budget, does it only cover the Prelude Lake access road or does it cover some of the other roads that people who live out on the Ingraham Trail, some of the roads into their homes, does it cover some of those access roads as well? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Minister.
Mr. Chairman, these dollars identified here are only for the Prelude Lake access road. Thank you.
I guess to the Minister, then, was there ever any money for other access roads other than the Prelude Lake access road? Thank you.
Mr. Chairman, yes, we do provide the service to other roads. I should point out, though, that this money comes from a different department. ITI provides this money to us with the direction to provide maintenance on this road. If it was to expand that, we would, of course, require more dollars and right now this is the direction we have and the agreement we have. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister, and thanks, committee. Are we agreed with work performed on behalf of others, page 11-37?
Thanks, committee. We’ll now turn to page 11-7 and that is the operations expenditure summary for the Department of Transportation, $104.511 million.
Agreed.
Thanks, committee. Does committee agree that consideration of Department of Transportation’s main estimates is concluded?
Agreed.
Agreed. Thank you. I’d like to thank you, Mr. Minister, and thank your staff as well. We’ll please have the Sergeant-at-Arms escort your witnesses out. Thank you. At this moment in time, it’s a good time to call a short break for supper. Thank you.
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I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. Minister McLeod, I’m assuming you would like to call your witnesses. Sorry, before I do that, we’re starting a new department here, committee, Industry, Tourism and Investment. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
So I would like to ask the Minister responsible for the department if he has opening comments.
Yes, I do, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Bob McLeod. Go ahead.
