Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today as this is formally the second time we have heard from the Department of Transportation on a shared cost estimate proposal with the federal government on the northern portion of the Mackenzie Valley Highway system. It appears, once again, that we have been given a glass-half-empty program that appears now to have been formally fast-tracked to the feds for review.
I have said on more than one occasion in this House that I support this project only if the math was sound and a full risk matrix was on the table. It is clear that the project glass is, again, half empty. Questions still remain unanswered, yet it appears that the department is hastily, once again, taking an untested number to the federal government for a decision on cost-sharing and playing guesswork with the public purse.
Can the Minister of Transportation indicate how certain the department can be with only 85 percent of the design work for the highway being completed? What contingencies does the department have to address the unknown variables for the remaining 15 percent of the design/build and the cost estimate that was given recently to the federal government?
Thank you, Mr. Dolynny. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member knows that we haven’t gotten the approvals back from the federal government, and the Member also is well aware of the fact that the Department of Transportation appeared before the Standing Committee on Priorities and Planning two weeks ago, and provided a thorough update on what the risks were and where the project numbers were at.
I do appreciate the Minister’s reply, but this is why we’re still asking the same questions. The public has yet to have seen these.
It appears that the Department of Transportation almost forgot about the $12 million that has been advanced to this project in preparation for such a cost estimate for the federal government. Can the Minister of Transportation indicate if this $12 million is included in the $299 million cost estimate? If not, why?
The briefing to the standing committee was a confidential briefing because we haven’t got the formal approvals from the federal government. There is a reason the briefing was confidential. We’re hoping to get the approvals in quick order so that we can make some decisions so that Members can ask some questions. Right now, the questions the Member is asking are hypothetical.
I think the question is not hypothetical. The question is whether or not the $299 million is including this $12 million. Again, this was opened up in your statement yesterday in the Minister’s own words.
I just didn’t want to, and I don’t want to, divulge confirmation information that was provided to the committee two weeks ago. In answering the Member’s question, those discussions are still currently underway. We are trying to sort those out. We’re working with the Inuvialuit on getting answers to those questions, and when we do have those questions fully answered and we have a package from the federal government, we’ll be back in front of committee and ready, willing and able to answer all the questions the Members have. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Dolynny.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’re hearing again, from the Minister’s own words, we have a lot of unanswered questions. How do we come up with the $299 million? It’s beyond me.
We all know that this government has had its hurdles in dealing with cost overruns on many of our large-scale projects of the past. The Auditor General of Canada has confirmed this. Can the Minister of Transportation indicate to this House what will happen to our cost-sharing agreement with our federal counterparts should the price of this road project exceed $299 million? Are taxpayers left holding the bag? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
First off, we haven’t made any decisions on the project. We’re still a ways off on making those decisions. Secondly, that is a very hypothetical question. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
