Agreed.
Thank you, committee. The next section we have is on page 9-13 through 9-15. Road licensing and safety. On page 9-14 is the financial section. Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Chairman, the issue that I want to bring up on this part is with the winter roads within the Sahtu in terms of the amount of traffic that potentially could happen this winter, and past winter in terms of the conditions of the roads and the amount of signs that were supposed to be there. Sometimes these signs have a habit of falling off the trees or on the ground. I want to ask the Minister regarding securing more safety devices so this issue is upgraded to more of a standard of road safety measurements of our highways in the North here and give some more attention to the ones in the region that I represent. Can the Minister tell me how he is going to do this under this budget here?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister McLeod.
Mr. Chairman, the investment in the Sahtu has been considerable in the last while. We have done a lot of work. We completed the bypass roads in Tulita. In Norman Wells, we did the approaches at Elliot Creek, Hannah Creek, and Donnelly Creek. We did grade repairs at Casey’s Gulch. We did grade improvement at Gibson’s, Christina, Francis, Jungle Ridge and Canyon Creek. We did a lot of road widening. All these contribute to the safety of the travelling public on the winter roads. We have also heard from the Member’s residents/constituents that were concerned about the signage. We have committed to have the signs enhanced and more signs put up. We are talking to the company that is doing some exploration in the area and have asked them to entertain a partnership arrangement to enhance the road system. We are hoping that they will come back with positive answers or positive commitment.
In this budget we still plan to continue to do great improvements of $1 million. So, Mr. Chairman, there is a lot of work that has been done in terms of improving the safety issues and more that will happen. Thank you.
Certainly the Sahtu has, as Mr. Minister has indicated and listed off, quite an impressive list of projects, and rightly so; it should be. That is the type of attitude we want from this government in terms of the safety of the public. Not just in parts of the Northwest Territories, we also have to look in areas of the whole North where we need to have safety. The Minister himself drove on the winter road, he knows the amount of signs that should be up there, in terms of his inventory, and the Minister knows the conditions of our roads having once been called by myself a goat road and I hope we have moved up to a different level of standards in the Sahtu.
The Minister has also indicated the number of safety measures that could be put in the Sahtu. I look forward to them. I tell you that these roads could be dangerous as more and more people are travelling on these roads, more and more young drivers, and because our operators in the Sahtu have done such an excellent job in terms of maintaining our winter roads, some of our young drivers are going pretty fast on them. There are sharp corners, there are some big hills that need to be cut down, there are some areas that still need to be worked on, so I expect this government to live up to the standards of roads and ensure the safety of my people.
I have been on that winter road, I was in a vehicle, I did get hit by one of the big trucks on a narrow road. There are people on this road, they are my people, young children and old people, and so safety is something that is very important to us.
I wanted to ensure the Minister knows that putting these signs up means something. I am glad there is some work being done on it, no doubt about it. It is long past due and it is about time that some attention is being given to the Sahtu winter roads. I look forward to seeing what type of plans he has in terms of enhancing safety in the Sahtu region.
The communities in the Sahtu have voiced a lot of concern about safety issues and great improvements to this road for quite a while and there has been attention paid. We have been investing some dollars over the last at least dozen years to improve the road system and I think we are starting to see the results of that.
There have been a lot of bridges built. We have committed and have embarked on putting up signs. There is going to be roughly 98 to 100 signs that will be placed at five-kilometre intervals between Wrigley and Fort Good Hope. There will be over 400 signs, warning signs, over 150 hazard marker signs at the bridges and there is going to be 21 directional signs. We are also going to be putting up signs, or have put up signs, that will identify the creeks and there will be other information signs that will be put up. Mr. Chairman, we are putting a total of 700 signs up in and on the winter road system.
We are doing a lot of work to realign different parts of the road, including Bosworth Creek. We will do more grade improvements at Bogg Canyon and also erosion control at Tulita bypass and other areas. We will do grade work to improve the site distance. We also have the ability now to provide highway patrol in the Sahtu and we expect that will have an effect as there is going to be a stronger presence in the region.
So there is a lot of work and we know the condition impacts all of its users. We know the condition impacts all of the communities and we will continue to provide improvements to the Mackenzie Valley winter road and also to the community of Deline that is in the Member’s riding. That, along with Colville Lake, will receive investment in this budget. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister McLeod. Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Committee, we are on page 9-14, Department of Transportation, activity summary, road licensing and safety, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $698,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. That completes the detail on the department. I would like to now turn to page 9-2 for the departmental summary. So for the Department of Transportation, department summary, infrastructure investment summary, total infrastructure investment summary, $62.703 million. Agreed?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. That concludes our assignment here and I would like to call on... Excuse me. Just to put the cap on this, committee, is committee agreed that this completes the Department of Transportation?
Agreed.
Thank you, committee. I would like to thank the department, the Minister and his witness, Mr. Neudorf, and ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to escort Mr. Neudorf from the Chamber and call on Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you Mr. Chairman. I move that we report progress.
---Carried
I will now rise and report progress.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 66-16(5), NWT Capital Estimates 2011-2012, and would like to report progress. Mr. Speaker, I move that the report of Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. A motion is on the floor. Do you have a seconder? The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
---Carried
Orders of the day for Tuesday, October 19, 2010, at 1:30 p.m.:
Prayer
Ministers’ Statements
Members’ Statements
Returns to Oral Questions
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Acknowledgements
Oral Questions
Written Questions
Returns to Written Questions
Replies to Opening Address
Petitions
Reports of Standing and Special Committees
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
Tabling of Documents
Notices of Motion
Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
Motions
First Reading of Bills
Second Reading of Bills
Bill 12, An Act to Amend the Liquor Act
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Tabled Document 4-16(5), Executive Summary of the Report of the Joint Review Panel for the Mackenzie Gas Project
Tabled Document 30-16(5), 2010 Review of Members’ Compensation and Benefits
Tabled Document 38-16(5), Supplementary Health Benefits - What We Heard
Tabled Document 62-16(5), Northern Voices, Northern Waters: NWT Water Stewardship Strategy
Tabled Document 66-16(5), NWT Capital Estimates 2011-2012
Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Social Assistance Act
Bill 8, Social Work Profession Act
Bill 9, An Act to Amend the Tourism Act
Report of Committee of the Whole
Third Reading of Bills
Orders of the Day
Thank you, Mr. Clerk. Accordingly, this House stands adjourned until Tuesday, October 19, 2010, at 1:30 p.m.
---ADJOURNMENT
The House adjourned at 5:10 p.m.
