Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, construction has started on the realignment of Highway No. 4 past Giant Mine. The work is being performed by Det’on Cho Corporation. They are in partnership with a number of local companies they have brought in to partner with them on the realignment project. Det’on Cho/Stantec, Det’on Cho/Nahanni Construction, Aboriginal Engineering, CJ Construction, Tli Cho Landtran, and also NWT Construction. They have a number of partners.
The project came within budget. The negotiations were concluded in early October. Construction is anticipated to carry on until close to Christmas time, at which time there will be a shutdown for a few months and then in the spring it will pick up again. We hope to have construction of the seven-kilometre stretch complete by November 2013.
The Minister anticipated my second question, which was about partnerships. Just on the extent of the project, I know that it will end up sort of close to the Bristol on the road to the airport, but where is it starting, and can the Minister tell us anything about the routing?
I’ll do my best. I have maps that I can provide to Members that better indicates the route. It will be down just from the current entrance to Fred Henne Park. That’s where the highway will start. It will bypass the Giant Mine site and the remediation work, both aboveground and underground, that is taking place there and come out close to the Yellowknife River. So it’s about seven kilometres. It’s going to be an important realignment for a number of reasons. I think it also opens up possibilities not only for the city of Yellowknife, but also with Det’on Cho and maybe some advancement on development.
Thanks again to the Minister. Perhaps that information is on some website that people could have a look at. There is also the question of financing this work. My understanding is that how this project is paid for is that redirection of the funds that GNWT has contributed to meet its obligations for remediation of the Giant Mine site. I wonder if the Minister could outline how those funds are being assigned. I know it’s a bit controversial. Some people think the money that we contributed to Giant Mine should go more directly into remediation, but I’d say at least a good portion of this project should be considered a legitimate response to the need to avoid the underground arsenic.
The money is coming from the GNWT Giant Mine Liability Fund, which was established in 2005. There was $17 million in that budget for the realignment and it’s expected that the project costs will come in under that figure.
Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My last question, just moving a couple clicks down the road there, any update on the Detah road?
In response to the Member during the capital plan review, we haven’t abandoned the Detah road. We do need to identify more funding to complete the work that is required on the Detah road. We’re hopeful that, again, in 2014, that there’s a new infrastructure plan with the federal government that will enable us to conclude the work that’s required on the Detah road.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just in follow-up, I thought of another question. I gave Mr. Ramsay quite a platform there to make his speech about his much anticipated road from Inuvik to Tuk, when I said what makes this borrowing money worthy, this particular project. A lot of the reasoning he gave could be applied to, literally, you could take and you could transpose that whole argument to Wrigley to Norman Wells. You could say the same thing. We’ve got so much activity going on in the Sahtu in the oil and gas. I mean, that’s part of the Mackenzie Highway too. It just happens to be the more southerly portion, not the more northerly portion.
I’d like to ask the Minister, are we just dancing to the tune of the federal government when it comes to the priority that’s being placed on this particular project? Again I ask, how are we going to gauge the support of Northerners, because it still will be a lot of capital, even if it’s borrowed?
Thank you, Mrs. Groenewegen. The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No. It is in our best interest, as well, to see the completion of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, and it is going to start with the section between Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk. Certainly, there are other demands around the territory when it comes to transportation infrastructure that we’ll be hearing loud and clear from… I know I’ve heard from the Member for the Sahtu in his conversations with the leadership in the Sahtu about the advancement of the Mackenzie Valley Highway through the Sahtu, and south from Norman Wells or north from Wrigley or however you want to call it. That certainly will be coming into much more prominence as we move forward and development continues to take place in the Sahtu.
That’s quite an assertion on the part of our Transportation Minister to say it will be that road and we will spend money on that road. It will be. It kind of makes me wonder, you know, where we are in terms of our level of commitment on this. When we started out and it was $150 million from the feds and $50 million from our government, okay, I could see it. But we haven’t even determined what the cost of the road is yet, so how can the Minister say this will be it?
What if the road comes in at $400 million? How can the Minister make such an assertion? How does he know with such certainty?
I’m always optimistic, I guess. That would be my first response.
In response to the Member, we are going to conclude the environmental assessment. That report will come in in January. We’re also going to be getting three separate cost estimates on the project. We need to determine the funding arrangement with the federal government. There are a number of decision points here that have to be made, and they’ll be made with Members of the House, with committee, with Regular Members as we move the project forward. That’s our anticipation, is that we’re going to get that cost estimate. We’ll get the funding arrangement. We’ll know exactly what we’re going to get ourselves into and then the decision will be made.
I like that answer a little bit better, because that was my understanding when we’ve been approving these funds for the geotechnical and costing and all these things we’ve been doing. We understood that as we were approving these dollars, that $2 million, around $2 million a hit, that’s what we thought we were doing. We thought this was kind of exploratory and that if it didn’t go ahead at this time, that was still valuable information that could be used at some time in the future.
The Minister is telling us that, in fact, there are many hurdles and many questions to be answered prior to this government irrevocably committing to this project.
On a project this size, it is inevitable that, up front, you have to do that type of geotechnical analysis, and the work, the engineering has to get done to get you the cost estimates that you require. That is what we see. That is what we’ve been pursuing.
Like any other project, it requires an environmental assessment. That’s a requirement of the federal government before we can enter into a funding arrangement with the federal government. These are necessary steps that the Government of the Northwest Territories is following and we will be making a decision, based on those cost estimates, during the February/March sitting of the House.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Item 8, written questions. Item 9, returns to written questions. Item 10, replies to opening address. Item 11, petitions. Item 12, reports of standing and special committees. Item 13, reports of committees on the review of bills. Mr. Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker I wish to report to the Assembly that the Standing Committee on Social Programs has reviewed Bill 5, Legal Aid Act, and Bill 7, An Act to Amend the Judicature Act, and wish to report that Bills 5 and 7 are now ready for consideration in Committee of the Whole as amended and reprinted.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be tabling a standard WSCC 2013 employer assessment rate notice that was mailed out to all businesses in the NWT.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I give notice that on Friday, November 2, 2012, I will move the following motion: Now therefore I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Deh Cho, that this Legislative Assembly strongly urges the Government of Canada to establish a search and rescue base in a central location north of the 60th parallel.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Item 16, notices of motion for first reading of bills. Item 17, motions. Item 18, first reading of bills. Item 19, second reading of bills. Item 20, consideration in Committee of the Whole of bills and other matters: Tabled Document 83-17(3), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2012-2013; and Tabled Document 84-17(3), Supplementary Estimates (Operations Expenditures), No. 2, 2012-2013, with Mrs. Groenewegen in the chair.
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole to order. We have two items before us today. What is the wish of the committee? Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The committee wishes to consider Tabled Document 83-17(3), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2012-2013.
Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Agreed. We’ll do that after a short break.
---SHORT RECESS
I’d like to call Committee of the Whole back to order. The document before you today, committee members, that we will be dealing with is Tabled Document 83-17(3), Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2012-2013. I would like to ask the Minister if he would like to make opening comments. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I am here to present Supplementary Estimates (Infrastructure Expenditures), No. 2, 2012-2013. This document provides for a decrease of $1.26 million for capital investment expenditures in the 2012-2013 fiscal year.
Major items in this supplementary estimates include:
$300,000 for the Department of Public Works and Services for investments under the NWT Energy Plan for energy upgrades to the Grandfather Ayah School in Deline;
$375,000 for the Department of Justice to complete the renovations of Courtroom No. 1 at the Yellowknife Courthouse;
a transfer of $3.9 million from infrastructure expenditures of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to operations expenditures for the Department of Public Works and Services for the demolition of the Sir Alexander Mackenzie and Samuel Hearne schools in Inuvik;
$2 million for the Department of Transportation to complete the environmental assessment process, refine cost estimates, and continue project management activities related to the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway Project.
I am prepared to review the details of the supplementary estimates document.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. Would you like to bring witnesses into the Chamber?
Yes, Madam Chair.
Does committee agree?
Agreed.
I’ll ask the Sergeant-at-Arms to please escort the witnesses to the witness table.
For the record, Mr. Miltenberger, could you please introduce your witnesses?
Thank you, Madam Chair. I have with me Mr. Michael Aumond, deputy minister of Finance; Mr. Russ Neudorf, deputy minister of Transportation; and Mr. Sandy Kalgutkar, deputy secretary to the FMB.
Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. General comments. Do Members have any general comments? I guess there are no general comments. We’ll proceed, then, to the detail.
If I could refer Members to page 5 of the document, Public Works and Services, capital investment expenditures, asset management, not previously authorized, $300,000, total department, not previously authorized, $300,000. Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I believe this is the project in Deline, if I am correct. I know there are some very good energy efficiency upgrades focused with this proposed expenditure. I’m wondering what the future might hold in terms of switching to biomass. Obviously, the long-term operational costs, really, are to be had in the biggest way through replacing fossil fuel costs with renewable energy costs. I know the department, the government is well aware of this and doing these sorts of conversions in a number of areas throughout the NWT. Have we done such a thing in Deline yet, and what’s the potential for doing that? What are the conditions that are needed to maybe consider that as the next step after this efficiency upgrade?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. Mr. Miltenberger.
Thank you, Madam Chair. The Member’s assessment is correct. The first step of the process is to improve the building envelope, the windows, the infiltration of air, the ventilation system, efficient lighting. Once that is done, then Public Works has indicated they will be considering this school for biomass heating.
Thanks for the Minister’s comments. With regard to that, do we have any projects in Deline yet of such conversions, or would this be a first? I’m just wondering what the availability of biomass is. For example, do we know that yet in Deline, the viability of it and so on?
I don’t believe there’s any biomass projects yet in Deline. One of the considerations would have to be to do the costing of the shipping in of the biomass, and compare that all-in economic cost to that of the diesel. I still think it would demonstrate a savings, but I don’t believe there are existing biomass projects in Deline in government infrastructure.
Thanks to the Minister for those comments. That’s really all the questions I had.
Just on that, obviously, it’s sometimes worth paying a little more for a ground-breaking project towards reducing overall costs for subsequent projects so it might be worth a bit of an investment, or at least a full-cost accounting approach when we do that analysis. That’s all the questions I had.
