Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I move that this committee strongly recommends that the government place a high priority on the chipsealing and rehabilitation on Highway No. 1 between kilometre 187 and kilometre 216 beginning in the fiscal year 2014-15. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. Again, we’ll just take a second to circulate that motion.
Motion is in order. To the motion. Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think it’s important to state early on here that it’s not asking for any money to be included in the budget, but it only asks that the department place priority on this almost 30 kilometres of chipseal that’s been deteriorating over the years. I didn’t hear any competence in the Minister’s answer that they do plan to do it next year, and I feel that if we leave it past the 2014 season that we’re going to lose almost half of it because it’s all patches, gravel and chipseal. It’s got little painted lines; it’s actually quite tricky to navigate as it is today. To see us lose it all by another year of letting it sit would be a shame. I feel that it would be good expenditures of dollars, because it’s just rehabilitating what’s there in patches and to save the infrastructure that we have there.
For a section of highway that’s listed on the National Transportation Strategy, Highway No. 1, it’s kind of a shame to see it patched up here and there, particularly this fall. On the gravel sections that got exposed, there are holes and it’s almost unsafe. It’s when the weather affects it that badly.
I’m just asking my colleagues to support me in directing the Department of Transportation to make this section part of their priority as we move forward for rehabilitation of chipsealing next fiscal year, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. To the motion. Mr. Nadli.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, too, speak in favour of the motion. I think it was publicly stated through reports that tourism is on the rise, more so and particularly in the Trout River part. There’s been an increased level of interest in terms of people using that facility. At the same time, we have an increase in tourists travelling up north. I believe that section of highway, if at least chipsealed and properly maintained, would be a celebration for tourists that are travelling from down south coming up north. It’s integral in terms of giving people a reprieve of a smooth ride into particularly this part of the North.
I support this motion and I’m sure that this deserves priority. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Nadli. To the motion.
Question.
Question has been called.
---Carried
Committee, again, we are on section 9-10. Continuing on with questions, I have Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My questions to Minister Ramsay are on the planning of the infrastructure of the Mackenzie Valley winter road. It is in regard to the amount of traffic that could be there this coming winter. With the amount that we’ve seen or heard of last year, 2,200 trucks coming up from Wrigley to Tulita and then up to Norman Wells and across to the oilfields, I want to state that I was somewhat disappointed when I read the capital infrastructure and didn’t see any type of infrastructure to protect the people and the safety. There’s going to be a lot of trucks on that road and some of them will be carrying some pretty dangerous chemicals, hauling in and hauling out. The Minister has experienced this and I appreciate the Minister for coming with me last year on the winter road from Fort Good Hope to Fort Simpson. He got a firsthand account of the style of road that we have and the continuous improvement that we do need here. I don’t think we’re quite up to the standards that we want to have for safety.
We were in North Dakota and we did see some pictures of their paved roads where there were grooves in their paved roads because of the amount of trucks that were passing through the county there, and that’s no different than the ice paving project that we have on the winter roads where the grooves are pretty well dug into the road there.
I want to see if the Minister would look again to see if there is any type of funding that would help with some of the road infrastructure as to clearing out some spots, lining up some of the areas that we need to work on. I know there is some bridge work going on there. That was given last year. We certainly appreciate that, but we need some more in regard to some of the areas that are quite tricky to maneuver around some of these spots.
I ask the Minister, other than what he told me earlier on today in regard to safety, we need to put some money into those roads. Again, I’m not quite convinced that because the development is happening in the Sahtu, the Minister mentioned the amount of $90 million and we’re not seeing any type of infrastructure. It doesn’t make sense. I mean, what else do we need to do to put dollars into those winter roads? Right now it doesn’t show anything. That’s where the activity is.
What type of business case is the government operating in terms of putting money into our winter roads to show them that they support development? They might not like that in the region. They might say, well, they’re not showing any type of support for us on the Mackenzie Valley winter road. Maybe development is not looked upon as a favourable economic booster in the GNWT. So maybe we’ll take our time and we might have other thoughts to the hydraulic fracking, because they’re certainly not seeing the type of support we need on the winter road. The Minister will know from the amount of phone calls last year that we took, he understood about the conditions of our winter road. I think we need to really look at this again. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A couple of things. First of all, we do firmly believe in the economic future of the Sahtu region, central Mackenzie Valley and the importance of not only having a winter road down the Mackenzie Valley but also advancing, at every turn, an all-weather road down the Mackenzie Valley. You need to look at the Corridors for Canada III proposal to see that we’re serious about investing in a big way into the Sahtu. We’re looking at the Bear River Bridge, the Oscar Creek Bridge, Bosworth Creek Bridge, and I’ve mentioned it before, but my goal is to envision to have a winter road all the way down the valley, and I think we’re getting close. There is money in Corridors for Canada III to enable us to do that, to have a road from Fort Good Hope, a winter road from Fort Good Hope to the Dempster. We need to keep moving in a positive direction. I really do believe that we are moving in that direction.
Just so the Member knows, we haven’t finished negotiating with industry on what support they’re going to approve the government with to help us maintain and enhance the winter road this coming season. Earlier today I spoke to the Member about some of the enhancements we’ve done in terms of looking at more manpower in the region for enforcement and safety.
We’ve done a lot of work on mapping the route and we’re going to try to ensure that there’s an orientation for drivers going up the winter road. They can get a map. We can ensure that they’re well prepared, especially if they’re new drivers. We’re doing everything we can to ensure that it’s going to be a successful winter season on that winter road. We haven’t got to the stage where we know exactly what we’re going to be getting from industry, and hopefully it is equivalent to what we’ve received in the past, but again, those negotiations aren’t concluded.
We also will be looking at the completion of more bridges this coming winter, and I know the Member and I spent some time on the winter road last winter. We saw those areas of concern, and especially with Bob’s and Strawberry, those are going to be completed this coming season, so that’s going to improve the safety of the road. Again, I mentioned earlier the other crossings. We are continuing to move in the right direction, and again, in this year, in a perfect world we’d have money for everything right now, but we’re working with what we’ve got, the best that we can, and we have a plan for the future and it requires a substantial amount of funding. I mean, everybody talks about the infrastructure deficit that we face here, and we really need to get a plan like Corridors for Canada off the ground so we can continue to invest in our infrastructure so that we can grow the economy here in the NWT.
The Minister outlined several areas that certainly bring interest to me. However, I do have a motion I want to read in this section here, so if I could.
Yes. Go ahead, Mr. Yakeleya.
