Mr. Speaker, in follow-up to my Member’s statement, I will have questions for the Minister of Transportation. I heard him talking about economic development today with his other hat, and I have concerns about how open for business we are here in the Northwest Territories.
My first question is: What is the department doing to recognize the configuration of a tri-drive truck that we currently do not recognize but Alberta does, the jurisdiction right adjacent to us?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We’ve got a balancing job to do here in the Northwest Territories. With all the gravel and chipseal surfaces here in the Northwest Territories, it’s important that we protect the integrity of those road bases from harm. Some of these larger trucks may, in fact, be damaging our road surfaces here in the Northwest Territories. We’ve done some research and we’ve listened to the concerns of Members, and we are going to be moving forward with a two-year trial period changing regulations on tri-drive configurations here in the Northwest Territories. We expect that these changes will come about in the next month and we look forward to watching how our roads are impacted as a result of this change, but we’re certainly listening. We understand that trucking companies want to bring those types of configured vehicles into the Northwest Territories and we are going to look at changing regulations so we can allow that to happen over a two-year trial period.
That’s great to hear; and my friends in the trucking industry will probably be happy to hear that as well.
My next question is all the inconsistencies I was speaking of today in the two jurisdictions, whether it has to do with licence plates, whether it has to do with wide load signs, whether it has to do with truck qualifications, whether a pick-up is 4,500 kgs and the class of driver’s licence you require for that. What is the department doing to try to get the jurisdiction, considering it’s mainly with Alberta, but because we are so adjacent and that’s where the majority of our stuff comes from, what is this department doing to meld or mirror our legislation between us and Alberta and make it consistent for the trucking industry so they feel like we’re helping them out?
It’s, in many cases, in our best interest to look at harmonizing regulations with other jurisdictions, but as I mentioned earlier, the Northwest Territories has roads that are gravel, chipseal. Sometimes the regulations that may work in southern Canada aren’t going to be able to work here in the Northwest Territories, but I do believe, if the Member has some examples, I know he’s spoken about a class 3 driver’s licence for the one-ton pick-up hauling a trailer, if there are others the Member speaks of.
Perhaps what I could suggest is a meeting with the EDI committee that the Member is on and we can go over the regulations that they have concerns with. We’ll get department officials there and we can try to chart a course forward, because we do want to listen to the concerns of Members and the public as well.
As a Member of the EDI committee, I’d be interested in that, and I will follow that up with my colleagues and see if we can get a briefing on that. Obviously, my concerns are definitely the fact that there is that inconsistency in the class 3 driver’s licence because there are businesses out there that are dependent upon unskilled labourers that only have a class 5 driver’s licence. Now they’re having to get a class 3 driver’s licence, which is more expensive and not conducive to doing business in the Northwest Territories.
Will the department look at this regulation of pick-ups requiring class 3 drivers’ licences, and if it can be changed to meet and mirror the Alberta legislation?
I know we are looking at that situation the Member outlined for us. As soon as we get some work done on that, I will be able to get that back to the Member as soon as possible.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
That’s all, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
