Mr. Speaker, the Minister says these things are negative. Mr. Speaker, I disagree with him. It’s reality. He might call them negative. I think it’s reality. And the reality is, Mr. Speaker, this government and every government for the next 35 years is going to have to figure out a way to pay for this Deh Cho Bridge Project. That’s the reality; stark reality, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister, when the Government of the Northwest Territories makes the decision to remove itself from the concession agreement, what exactly does that entail and at what cost to the government? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, some of these challenges have been very negative and some of them have been challenges that were translated as being negative, so I am just reaffirming that. We are at work right now to conclude a lot of different issues that have been out there. There is a lot of review that is taking place. We have stepped in as the project developer. We have stepped in as the delivery agent of this project. We are working to conclude a number of things that are still on the drawing board. That includes some of the outstanding claims and other issues such as dealing with the concession agreement.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister if he has an estimate on what it is going to cost the Government of the Northwest Territories and the taxpayers here to get out of that concession agreement. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it is going to cost us a lot less than what it would cost us to stay in the concession agreement. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement and ask the Minister of Transportation some questions on some of the construction projects on Highway No. 1 and Highway No. 7 just with respect to the reconstruction on Highway No. 7. I think it was kilometre 166, the section that failed last spring. What work is planned for those areas and how much reconstruction will be done between the B.C. border and Fort Liard? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The highway that the Member has referred to, Highway No. 7, has been posing a lot of challenges, as the Member has raised in this House. There have been sections of the road that have failed as a result of spring runoff and rain. It is a road that is at a point in its lifecycle that it needs to be reconstructed. We certainly heard lots from the Member and communities from the Member’s riding.
We have committed to do roughly $4 million worth of work. It is going to require a lot more. It is going to be a requirement of investment ongoing each year, so we have committed $4 million for this year and targeting another $4 million next year, Mr. Speaker. There is, of course, a requirement to deal with some of the more pressure areas that are forcing us to put load limits on the road. There is a real strategy that is going to be redone, because our plans had been focused on another portion of the road that was giving us problems last year. I will provide that information as soon as we have it finalized for the Member. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am just looking for assurances that the work will get done this year. I know that we ran into weather issues last year and weren’t able to complete much of the reconstruction and very little of it, actually. I am looking for reassurances by the Minister that this work will be done early in the year and we don’t end up late into the fall season when there are weather issues. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, once again I have to say that I can reassure the Member that our goal is to do all the work. We have $4 million for Highway No. 7. We have, I think, 64 kilometres to chipseal on Highway No. 1 that leads towards the Member’s riding. We have a new airport to relocate in Trout Lake. We have a road in Jean Marie River and we also have a commitment to do more work on the Nahanni Butte access road. There is a lot of work that has been committed to. We have a plan for this year. Weather permitting, we will get it all done and contracts are out. We are focused on getting it completed. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I am glad that the Minister was able to list some of the other projects in the riding. I am really pleased, certainly, that these projects are moving forward. I just want to get reassurance that it will continue to be moving forward. Mr. Minister mentioned about chipsealing Highway No. 1 and residents of Nahendeh are looking forward to that. I think it was 70 kilometres. Just with that, are there plans also to work on replacing culverts on a further 70 kilometres of Highway No. 1 towards Fort Simpson? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there is a fairly large amount of investment that is going to be done in the Member’s riding of Nahendeh. We can give him a complete plan of work that we anticipate will happen this year along with the negotiations that have to happen as we move forward with our PDR discussions. This presentation was made to Deh Cho First Nations. They have recommended that we work with the community. That is also another area that we have to focus on. We will compile the work. We have it all listed out in different kilometres and different culverts that need to be replaced and I will provide that to the Member. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. That is the kind of working with the communities that I like to see and continue on. When will the Minister or his department begin those consultations or community meetings with the different communities in my riding? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, most of the communities have been contacted. Most of the communities are aware of the work in the immediate proximity. We expect a list of information will be out to the communities before I do my tour of the Member’s riding, which is going to be in a couple of weeks. I am sure there will be more issues being brought up and a lot more investment that is going to be pointed to as they feel required. That information we intend to get out to the people of Nahendeh and will also show that information as we go to the communities as well.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of MACA, Mr. Bob McLeod, in terms of the new electrical rate review recommendations to this Assembly. I understand that with the town of Norman Wells, they were going to see an increase of 30 percent for the next two years by Imperial Oil. I think this announcement was a saving grace for the town of Norman Wells. I want to ask him in terms of future protection under the Public Utilities Board, can the town of Norman Wells turn to the Public Utilities Board for some protection in terms of the Norman Wells oilfield? Imperial Oil is increasing the rates in Norman Wells.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable lead Minister for the Energy Coordinating Committee, Mr. Bob McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In Norman Wells, as the Member knows, the Town of Norman Wells purchases natural gas from Imperial Oil and NTPC purchases natural gas from the Town for electricity generation and it does fall under the purview of the Public Utilities Board. The Public Utilities Board deals with natural gas on a complaints-only basis on the generation of power. The Public Utilities Board makes sure that the rates charged for power or natural gas that generates power is less than the cost of heating fuel. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, would the Minister look into the possibility of directing the Public Utilities Board to regulate the price of gas in Norman Wells to make it closer to the cost of production?
Mr. Speaker, the agreements that are in place require us to monitor it. It is tied to the price of heating oil. We monitor it on that basis. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Would the Minister consider going beyond the monitoring of heating oil to regulate the Public Utilities Board to regulate the price of gas in Norman Wells to make it closer to the cost of production?
Thank you. I think we have an opportunity now that we are looking to implement changes to the electricity rate structure and we will certainly be involving the Public Utilities Board as we go through that process. So we would endeavour to review that in light of the fact that Norman Wells natural gas supply is depleting very rapidly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ll ask the Minister if he would pursue better pricing with the federal government so that we can improve the cost of living in Norman Wells.
Thank you. We do have the opportunity, as well, to look at the thermal rates, whether Norman Wells could be included as part of the thermal rate communities, that’s another option. But as far as the federal government and their one-third ownership of the Norman Wells production, that’s something that we’ll take under advisement. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask questions of the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources about caribou management of the Bathurst herd. I’d like to start with the withdrawal of a question from the Supreme Court on the ability of GNWT to fully restrict the caribou hunting by aboriginal people in certain areas.
Obviously, I think it’s clear to the Minister the biggest issue is with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, and they clearly did not want this question withdrawn from the courts. So I’m wondering why indeed Cabinet decided to withdraw this question from the courts. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Premier, Mr. Roland.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The question that was put forward to the courts and subsequently, as Members are aware, that we’ve withdrawn that question. It was after a meeting with aboriginal leadership across the Territories that we took that into consideration and the work that we do with the regional leadership. In the discussions with the leadership across the Northwest Territories it was felt that the better avenue was to sit down together and work through this arrangement, and that’s what we’ve done. Thank you.
Thank you. Once again, I appreciate those remarks from the Premier. I hope that there was some communication with the Yellowknives Dene on this and some agreement before that decision was made, but it does beg the question: what is the government doing now to work with the Yellowknives Dene on the caribou management issue to ensure that a quality, fully supported caribou management plan is in place by this fall? Thank you.
Thank you. Since that information is detailed ongoing discussions with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, I’ll have that redirected to Minister Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Roland. The honourable Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are currently fully engaged, of course, in the Wek’eezhii process. At the same time, we recognize the need to have a parallel process with the Akaitcho and the Yellowknives. There have been meetings this week and every week preceding this week as well with our very senior ADM, with the chief or a dozen elders. Today is basically their elders’ summit to talk about the steps ahead to come up with an arrangement that we can have in place for this coming hunting season, as well as map out the plan forward for a longer term as we plan for the Bathurst herd and it will be linked and integrated into the Wek’eezhii process so that we have an overall coordinated caribou plan for the Bathurst herd. Thank you.
Thank you. That’s easy to say, but obviously it wasn’t easy, it was impossible to deliver in the past, it wasn’t delivered. What exceptional effort is the department putting in to getting this done in a way that will actually achieve the goals the Minister just mentioned? Thank you.
Thank you. We have, firstly, there’s been an enormous amount of work put into this whole issue. There is a significant incentive, the ban is in place and will stay in place until we have something to replace it with. So the plan is -- and the parties are all aware of this -- that we want to apply ourselves to come up with an agreement. There have been very strong signals, not only signals, but so far the cooperation of the Yellowknives and we intend to keep working with them along with the Wek’eezhii and the Northwest Territories Metis to come up with a plan. While it may be an interim arrangement because a long-term plan is going to take some time, I’m convinced and I’m committed to getting an interim arrangement for the Bathurst herd for this coming hunting season. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Your final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Again, I appreciate the comments from the Minister. I hope that he is successful in that commitment. It is a big challenge and we do not want... Obviously, nobody wants to end up where we were here recently. Caribou don’t benefit and neither does anybody else. Will the plan that’s being developed here take into consideration both the numbers we know and the poor condition and low survival of calves that seems to be indicated with the most recent information as a result of looking at the hunted animals in that range? Thank you.
Thank you. Yes, we’re going to take all those factors into consideration as there will be more work done this summer on the Bluenose East, we’re going to try to do some work on the Ahiak, we’re going to do as well some work on the Bathurst. So we intend that all that information has to be added to the mix. We’re going to build in the traditional knowledge that has been part of this process so far, work with the communities as well to come up with the best information, and, once again, the indications are that there is strong commitment by all the parties to come up with a plan so that we’re ready for this coming hunting season and that the ban can be replaced by a management plan that has been signed off by the aboriginal governments. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions for the Minister of Transportation as a follow-up to my statement earlier today. I mentioned a report that the department was working on and I understand that the department’s report has been finished and I think it has also gone to committee. I’d like to know from the Minister whether or not that’s accurate and if that’s the case, will this report be made available to the public and how soon. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. I missed the Minister you were directing your question to, Ms. Bisaro. Can you clarify that?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Minister of Transportation, please.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is an issue that’s been raised by a number of Members in this House. We have committed to do some work in the area of what other jurisdictions are doing, what are some of the situations that we are facing here in the NWT. We’ve compiled some information and we have provided it to committee and we’ve written a letter to committee that requests to have some time to discuss this and get their comments and feedback. This will be a very public issue that will have a lot of discussion and we anticipate as we go forward all this information will be made public. Thank you.
