Debates of November 29, 2007 (day 5)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in a lot of the statements I give, or some of the statements I give, I speak to the fact that, you know, we may have lost someone. I do that, Mr. Speaker, to put a human face on to some of the decisions, or lack of decisions, that we make, and the consequences. Sometimes, unfortunately, the consequences are not as we would like them to be. I use that just to point out the fact that we do have some problems with some of the programs that we deliver and there is a human cost to it. The reason I bring that up, Mr. Speaker, that being said, I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation, earlier this summer there was a culvert collapse at Caribou Creek and luckily with that one there was no human cost to it; there may have been, there could have been, but there was none and that’s fortunate. I’d like to ask the Minister, has he received a report as to why this culvert collapsed? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Yakeleya.

Return To Question 65-16(1): Culvert Collapse At Caribou Creek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the collapse in the Caribou Creek -- it’s on the Dempster Highway -- is a culvert that has been put in some years and throughout the existence of our culverts and bridges, there’s a continuing lifecycle and inspections and this is one infrastructure that came…Time ran out, I guess, on the integrity of the structure and it's lucky that nobody was injured when we had the collapse of the culvert.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Supplementary To Question 65-16(1): Culvert Collapse At Caribou Creek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister if regular inspections are done on the condition and the age of these culverts. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Yakeleya.

Further Return To Question 65-16(1): Culvert Collapse At Caribou Creek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I had indicated earlier in my questions to other Members, that safety is a priority for the department and through the department’s maintenance and operation lifecycles that inspections are made on all our facilities in the Northwest Territories throughout; well-checked, well-operated…(inaudible)…in terms of all of our facilities and existing infrastructures. Yes, these inspections were carried out in accordance with our department’s safety policy.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Supplementary To Question 65-16(1): Culvert Collapse At Caribou Creek

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The priority is to have these infrastructures inspected. Our priority is the safety of the people and I’d like to ask the Minister if he knows when the last time this culvert was inspected and what were the results of that inspection? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Yakeleya.

Further Return To Question 65-16(1): Culvert Collapse At Caribou Creek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The bridge was inspected…Sorry; the culvert was inspected in 2007. As with any infrastructure, it’s kind of hard to crystal ball if something is going happen within a certain time frame. I believe that our department did look at all our culverts and bridges and sometimes, for unknown circumstances, events are beyond our control and things do happen. This time it happened to be the Caribou Creek culvert.

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Supplementary, Mr. McLeod.

Supplementary To Question 65-16(1): Culvert Collapse At Caribou Creek

Mr. Speaker, the condition of culverts and the inspection should not be beyond our control. It’s something that we should be able to control. I would like to ask the Minister, obviously the culvert was inspected and was deemed to be safe; but it collapsed. I’d like to ask the Minister, at the end of the day someone was responsible for inspecting and passing this culvert as being safe. Has his department looked at who is responsible for this and if any actions were taken? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Mr. Yakeleya.

Further Return To Question 65-16(1): Culvert Collapse At Caribou Creek

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the members of the public that the department does due diligence in terms of inspecting all of our facilities, all our highways. For example, yesterday, because of the low water in the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence, we were unable to operate our ferry because there are things that are beyond the department’s control. Ultimately, I am responsible, as the Minister of Transportation, and I certainly treat our operations as very professional and in that we have read good reports. This culvert was inspected. We’re looking at future plans in terms of how we’re going to do our work on other inspections and, Mr. Speaker, I believe that everything was followed according to plan in terms of our safety of our operations for the travelling public of the North.