Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That line item is just for existing winter roads. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.
Mr. Chairman, the budget has not changed from 2016-2017, but we have eliminated a long winter road and that from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk, so does this mean that they are going to decrease the budget at some point to make up for that, or is it that this budget will now go into a surplus with the elimination of the one winter road? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Ms. Robertson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There was a reduction in the winter roads budget in 2017-2018 in the amount of $411 for the discontinuation of the Tuktoyaktuk winter road. Thank you.
Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I could see that being, yes, I guess, okay for the timing. I am not 100 per cent sure that fits the timing, but, anyway, I will move on. If it made absolute sense economically to build a winter road into a community, and the community, of course, I am referring to is Lutselk'e. Lutselk'e has always indicated that they would like to see a winter road go in there. I know that it is difficult, probably, to maintain a winter road that wouldn't remain much longer than a month, more like three weeks before the ice starts to change. Would the Minister agree to at least take a look at that possibility for this coming winter road season, whatever needs to be done, like ice profiling, whatever, to see if it is possible to open a winter road to Lutselk'e for a short period of time, an opportunity for the people of Lutselk'e who otherwise do not have that opportunity? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. One of the reasons and the biggest concern we haven't ever looked at doing this, the last time the department has looked at it, is the major safety concerns out there with the pressure ridges. Changing conditions and climate changes have probably made that road, if we did put a road out there, very unpredictable and very costly to operate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chairman, I know that. I have travelled on that road many times, but I think there is a window. I think that the traditional knowledge will tell the department that there is a short window where that can happen. Apparently, the ice is solid enough to travel on for three weeks to a month before the ridges start to appear. It's very specific to one area near a place called Etthan Island. So I am just asking the Minister if the Minister would be prepared to look at that possibility this coming winter. It may only be one time out of four years that it is possible, but I do believe it is possible at some point, for a short period. I am asking the Minister here now, for the record, if he would look at that possible ice road to Lutselk'e this coming winter road season. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, one thing I know for certain: we will not have the money to be able to do this, but what we might be able to do is go back and pull out whatever information we had previous to the department having a look at it and have a look at the situation and pull that information together with what we have and then we can have a look at it. I know coming in this next fiscal year we will not be able to do that, at all, but we will pull the information together that we presently have and have a look at maybe seeing what the cost analysis would be on doing that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you. I think that's good. I am happy if the department agrees to look at it this year, with the understanding that there is only money in there to maintain the existing winter roads. I understand that this is an ask maybe that is kind of out of the blue, but I know that we have talked about it before. I think I have actually talked to Minister Schumann about this a few years back, a couple years ago. When there was a possibility of trying to get some equipment into or materials in for the renovation of the Lutselk'e Dene School, I thought that would be an opportunity and it would be economically feasible to do it at that point, but now I am asking if there are other projects.
I think there's a possibility that there could be a renovation to the health centre in Lutselk'e. I know that's on the books. If the department would work with other sections of their own department that are responsible for the construction of the health centre in Lutselk'e, then maybe the timing could be right. That would be beneficial to not only the government, because it would reduce the cost and it would probably get started earlier in the year with the construction, and also it would help the community to bring some items into the community, an opportunity to bring some items that otherwise they would almost pay pretty well double to get it shipped down to Hay River and onto a barge. That's another possibility looking at what's coming with Infrastructure to maybe give the department an opportunity to put money in there that's specific to a project that will also benefit the community. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. First, a couple of things. That's not a commitment that I'm making right now as part of the budget process to do this information. That's something I want to work with the Member on and we'll have a look at this. I'm going to need a couple of things from the Member. I'm going to need the names of, we can talk to people about getting some TK information from them to help us assist for that.
The other point I want to make about the comments there is that we put a cat train trail there. That is totally different than a public road to be open to the public. That would certainly be a different cost of things, but that's something that he and I can talk about outside the Assembly. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Nothing further from Mr. Beaulieu. Next, Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Similar to my colleague here, I brought this up under Member's statements. As I mentioned, Tsiigehtchic is interested in connecting the territory from north to south here, possibly, I'm not sure if it will go under community access but probably take up the whole thing. To put an ice road or, it's probably cheaper to do the ice road than actually over land from Campbell Lake to Fort Good Hope. I'm sure you'd see how busy it would get here in Yellowknife and Hay River if people from Inuvik were able to drive down. There were just a lot of opportunities there. I don't see why this government wouldn't support that. I'd just like to know if the Minister would. We actually had a Minister that was going to make this happen in the last Assembly, but we just ran short of time, and you know, it just seemed to fall off the books, but you know, it's a great idea and hopefully this Minister will pick up on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Member for throwing me under the bus there. That's nice.
As the Member knows, he asked this question in the House, and we have the Mackenzie Valley highway ask to go up to Wrigley to Norman Wells, which is a significant ask of over $700 million. To even look at putting in an ice road or winter road from Tsiigehtchic to Fort Good Hope is something that we cannot afford at this time, and it's not a priority of this government. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's not defined what the Mackenzie Valley highway is, so if you ask anybody up in the Beaufort Delta, it's actually connecting north to south from Inuvik to Wrigley. It's a shame that, in the last few years, we focused on Norman Wells to Wrigley. I'm sure it is to get buy-in from the federal government, but if you ask anybody else, they want to see that road going right to Inuvik. That way, the whole territory could be connected, much like the Yukon. It's a shame that we have to drive through the Yukon, through BC, just to come to the southern part of the NWT.
If funds were available, would the Minister be looking to possibly do this in the coming winter? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, I can probably reassure the Member the money's probably not going to be there because of the pressure on the system.
I'd love to see the Mackenzie Valley road all the way from Wrigley to Tsiigehtchic myself. This has been an ongoing project since the 1970s. I think we're possibly, possibly, closer than ever to maybe securing some funding from the federal government on this initiative through the National Trades and Corridor fund. Hopefully, we're going to hear on that by the beginning of April on the first $2 billion of that ask. Our application is incremental on six phases going forward. To be able to put in an application to go all the way to Tsiigehtchic probably would have been in the billion dollar range, itself, too. We're under a lot of pressure, as a government through our mandate, to try to secure funding for this road. I'm hopeful that we're going to at least get something for the first part of this. It's going to be done in stages. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Under marine operations, I see the budget has gone down. Is that because the extended operations for the Louis Cardinal is not happening again this year? What's the cause of the reduction? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I think Mr. Blake asked a very complicated question. Ms. Robertson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The marine operations budget, going from 2017-2018 main estimates to the 2018-2019 main estimates stays the same at $6,087,000, but you will see the reduction from the actuals to the 2017-2018 main estimates reflecting the reduction of the winter ferry. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Blake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, just the numbers don't add up because when I ask questions about keeping the ferry going, I'm given a number around $2.4 million, so it doesn't seem to add up to me. It's more like $1.6 or $1.5 and a bit. Yes, I'll have to go after this again in the fall, I guess. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Blake. Would you like the Minister to answer? Ms. Robertson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The winter operations that was done until 2016-2017 cost the department $1.8 million annually, and that was reduced in the 2017-2018 budget. What you see on page 255 are the actuals for 2016-2017. You can see they're a little higher than we were actually budgeted that year. That's the difference between the $1.6 versus the $1.8 reduction in that year. Thank you.
Thank you. Anything further, Mr. Blake? Nothing further from Mr. Blake. Nothing further. Infrastructure, regional operations. Oh, Mr. Nakimayak.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wonder if this is the page to ask about roadside turnouts on the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway on highway operations.
Thank you. Minister, could you confirm?
Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Nakimayak.
Earlier on during this sitting, I mentioned about the lack of signage on the Inuvik ITH and I'm just wondering what the department is doing to mitigate that issue. I know there's a lot of bad weather this winter and a lot of blizzards and it's causing some vehicles to be stuck and things like that.
More importantly, the roadside turnouts, if the Minister can talk about that and what time those are going to be installed on the ITH? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As I have stated in the House, the road meets Transport Canada regulations right now, but in the springtime, we are going to be assessing what we are doing for driver comfort and be adding signage based on that going forward; so there will be some additional signage put up this coming spring. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Nakimayak.
Yes, one more thing. I know we did a celebration for the opening ceremonies in November, November 15th, and there is something scheduled, I believe, in July. I am just wondering if there are any funds in this budget to help with the costs of the celebrations of the ITH in July. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. No, there is no money through Infrastructure for that funding, but the Minister of ITI, I think, is helping out on that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Nakimayak.
Nothing further. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister tell us, then: is there an allocation in the budget here for O and M related to the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk highway, and how much is it? Thanks.
Thank you. Minister.
