Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just for clarification, we're waiting to hear back from the City of Yellowknife with regard to what? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We're waiting to hear back from the City of Yellowknife with the plan we presented, and also I forget to mention we're waiting to hear back from the developer of the site because some of the trail may cross or impeded onto his property as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. So just if I may with your indulgence get into a little bit more detail. So who will be building the trail? Who will be maintaining the trail? Who will be building the crosswalk? Who will pay for the crosswalk? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We will be building a RFP to build a trail. We are paying for the crosswalk and the city will be maintaining the trail. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Vanthuyne.
That's great, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Nothing further.
Thank you, Mr. Vanthuyne. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask the Minister on Highway No. 6 reconstruction if at the end of this fiscal year, 2017-2018, if the reconstruction of Highway No. 6 will be completed? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, it will not be completed this year. We'll be going into 2018-2019 to finish that project. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to ask the Minister about the bridge rehab replacement talking about -- I guess I now have an interest in Frank Channel, Hay River to Pine Point and Buffalo River. I want to know what is scheduled for rehabilitation and replacement this year from those three bridges? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll pass this one onto Deputy Minister Neudorf please.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Neudorf.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, this year we started on the Buffalo River Bridge rehab. We are also doing the design and preparing tender documents for the Frank Channel and the Jean Marie River Bridge, and then next year, 2017-2018, we'll complete Buffalo River Bridge and get started on Frank Channel and Jean Marie. We'll begin the design work on the Hay River to Pine Point Bridge as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Neudorf. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that's all the questions I have for now.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to follow up with the Minister on the Highway No. 4 reconstruction, and I appreciate his commitment on behalf of the department to do the work on the stretch of highway near Niven Lake. Half of that's in my riding as well. So just to be clear, that work is scheduled then for 2017-2018 out of the capital budget? Is that where the funding's coming from? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We want to actually proceed with this work and we want to try to actually proceed and have the work done in the next couple of months. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's great news because I know there's been a lot of public concerns expressed about that particular stretch of the highway and given that the hotel is operating and there's a lot of tourists that are going to cross the highway to get into the visitors centre as well. That's great news, but I'm just wondering does the Minister see the -- look I don’t want to slow this work down and I don’t think the department does either, but is there an opportunity to at least present the design to folks like the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre, the folks that have the hotel, some of the residents of Niven subdivision to just get some feedback on it before it goes ahead? Because there's been a lot of public interest in this stretch of highway and I think people will want to see what the design is and at least have the ability to offer some feedback. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The department has already talked to the developer and the visitors centre, so they're well aware of what's moving forward. What the city's been asked to do is to engage the citizens of Yellowknife and particularly the residents of Niven, so that's their responsibility. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Great. Thanks, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that and I think the city does do good public consultation work, so in collaboration with you folks, you know, I have a lot of confidence that there'll be an opportunity then for the folks in Niven Lake in particular to express their ideas about the design and that, so thank you very much. I appreciate that commitment.
I just want to move on if I can, Mr. Chair, to a different matter. I noticed on page 3 that there's this site runway stabilization using EK35 which is a dust suppressant, so it just made me wonder what sort of dust suppressants do we use on the highways? Is it just calcium chloride and water of course, but is there anything else that we use because I know EK35 is just for runways because it's approved by aircraft manufacturers. You don’t want to damage the aircraft stuff, but for the highways, is it just calcium chloride and water? Then I might have another question, if I can. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member is absolutely correct, calcium chloride is what we use on the highways, EK35 is used on runways due to the nature that it doesn't corrode the aircraft. Calcium chloride is significantly cheaper than EK35. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. I know that at least one of the diamond mines has been using some other dust suppressants. Just wondering whether there's been any conversations between the department and the diamond mines in terms of the effectiveness of these other dust suppressants? Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. I'd like everyone to keep in mind this is the capital budget, not O and M, but I'll let the Minister respond.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't believe we had conversations with the diamond mines. But there's been a different amount of studies done with the communities and looking at different options, and at the end of the day calcium chloride's still the cheapest, most viable option. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Yes, I'd encourage the department to talk to the diamond mines about their dust suppression activities. I think it is important that we use this opportunity in Committee of the Whole to ask these sort of questions in spite of some resistance perhaps from the other side. But we're here to talk about these capital expenditures and I'll use that opportunity. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to go back to a comment that was made regarding bridges. Could the Minister please clarify, because I was looking at the business plan, there was some talk about the Jean Marie River Bridge being looked at. Could the Minister please confirm that this is going to be looked at? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the Jean Marie, if you want to talk about that specific bridge, the pre-engineering design and tender will be done in 2016-2017 and construction will be done in 2017-2018. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister for that answer. In regards to that road, and the next bridge is the Trout River Bridge, and I've been on it a couple times and I've seen pylons and access limited to one side. Has the department looked at this as part of the capital plan? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
I'll defer that to Mr. Neudorf. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Neudorf.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We do have quite an extensive bridge management system that we look at all of our bridges on a regular basis and determine their condition; that goes into our management system and it helps us prioritize the improvements that are required. So there's no plan for the Trout River Bridge at this point in time in the capital plan. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
