Thank you, Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And this is a new thing then that's been happening more recently? In the past, it was constructed by other contractors, is that correct? Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm going to ask Mr. Brennan to just speak a little bit more about what was done in the past versus what's done now. I'm really happy to know that currently we are working with the Tlicho government and doing this work together. In terms of what is done in the past, I'll get Mr. Brennan to speak a little further to that. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Mr. Brennan.
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. So, yeah, so I think that the in the past, we always had a contract with the Tlicho Investment Corporation and Construction Corporation for the construction of the roads, and they used a significant number of subcontractors. This year they are doing it on their own although more recently, and because of the challenges that were faced this year with the environmental concerns of, again, warm temperatures, they did bring in a subcontractor late to help get ahead of the game. So the Tlicho are building the majority of the roads and the communities are also involved as well, both from Gameti and Wekweeti, working from their communities south basically. So the communities have always done a little part as well so. But, yes, the Tlicho are doing the majority of the work this year. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I think that's good. I mean, we definitely want to be increasing capacity within Indigenous organizations to do the work, and I'm glad to hear that it's not just being subbed out and hopefully will lead to some of the longer term jobs that my colleague was mentioning. I guess I just want to say that I have heard some issues around safety that did not have to do with climate change, and I just want that to be noted that it is out there and perhaps the Minister needs to get a better look at that or be aware of that.
My next, though, is around the highway operations. I do note that there is a 3 million no, that's not quite right, 3 million, is it probably under $3 million increase there. But I'm just curious to know given the way that the supply chain issues and everything is going, but more so here around maybe the lack of staff and employment, are we anticipating any issues with maintaining the highways and operating them and any sort of future costs given that we've seen, you know, some flooding issues around I can't remember the name Sweet Creek, is that it down in south of Hay River and such. So can the Minister speak to whether or not we're going to even see more cost increases there? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, you know, with climate change being so real up here in the North, you know, it's affecting us way more than it is across Canada, we are seeing things that are just things we've never seen before. I mean, one example is the you know, one of our barges were not able to make it into our one community as a result of climate change. And so, I mean, there are a number of factors. You know, we do we do think about things like that when we're looking at our budgets because, you know, it's really hard to predict what's going to happen anywhere in the territories. And, you know, finding extra money for this is always a struggle. And if I can ask Mr. Brennan if he wants to add anything further to the Member's question. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Brennan.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah, I think just adding a little bit more to what the Minister said, staffing wise on highway operations, I don't think we have any concerns. We have the North Slave and South Slave operate their own forces, and we're always able to find qualified individuals to do that work. And in the Deh Cho and the Beaufort Delta, have contracted service and we have you know, we have plenty of good talent in those regions as well. In terms of cost increases, we're seeing the same inflationary pressures that we see across the board. The price of asphalt, oil, as the Minister noted earlier, is impacting the amount of chip seal done. It's also impacting the amount of maintenance that we can do. Cost of aggregate is going up, same as everything else. So, yeah, we are starting to see those impacts, and we'll go through the business planning process to seek increases for budgets as we need to. So thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Two things there, just because the Minister opened the door. If you send the barge in earlier in the season, you aren't going to run into problems trying to send it in in October. So I won't get into that with you today. However, is so given what the ADM said, is this three or under $3 million increase here, is that actually anticipated inflationary pressures, forced growth per se, or is it going to be something where we would have to come back? Is this sort of a real actual one or does it have that contingency built in already? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, if I could ask the Member to clarify which line that she's referring to. Under our highway operations, we have three different areas, item 6, 7, and 8. So I want to be able to provide an answer if I know specifically what line the Member's speaking to.
Minister, we don't have that much detail in our budget. So we just have highway operations. So Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay, well, in that case I'm just going to pick one of my lines. The 1.35 $1.3 million is amortization increase for some of the GNWT assets. We have about 364 for mobile equipment fuel forced growth. We also have about $589,000 for regional highway operation for the dust control under forced growth. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. And if you want to send that list, you can give it to us. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. This Minister's great for always, like, triggering other questions for me. So my next one sort of is around that dust control. I do know that one of the things we did here about the Whati road was that it was quite dusty. And I do appreciate that the department did appear to respond fairly quickly after our visit and get some dust control measures on the road. That being said, I again wonder if we're going to be seeing over time an increased need for dust control and other measures. So where does it become a point where, I guess or is it being looked at when doing the dust control no longer seems to be worthwhile, and then we would be looking at, like, chip sealing? Around Whati, are we looking for that around this specific road, are we waiting to see if the mine goes ahead before we make those types of decisions? What would sort of trigger the chip sealing of a road like that? Thank you.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And I will turn it over to Gary in case I trigger any further questions here. It'll just be yes, no answers, and that that's the case. Mr. Brennan.
Thank you. Mr. Brennan.
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. So for the Whati road, that there is actually a road that was a P3 project. So we current have a current agreement with the contractor to maintain the road in its current state for 25 years. So there's no plans to chip seal that road for the life of that agreement. Currently no plans. So thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So within that P3 agreement, though, is there the opportunity should there be a required upgrade to the road given the advancement of any of the mining activity in the area? Is there flexibility within the agreement to allow for road upgrades and sort of how does that work given that there is a third party entity here. Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I'm going to say yes, only if we revise the agreement. So, I mean, there is opportunity going forward to look at the agreement, and if it is required, that is something we can look at. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for Great Slave.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think I'm good. I'll let the Minister off the hook for the rest of the minute and a half. Thanks.
Are there any more questions under regional operations? Member for Hay River South.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Hopefully this is the right place to ask this, but. My medical for my driver's license expires next month. I'm just wondering if I can get an extension? No.
Actually, I want to talk about and I'm hoping it's the right place is the EVL books for log books.
That would be in programs and services. programs and services. Programs and services that would have been in. Ask in the House tomorrow. Did you have any questions under regional operations?
(audio) they are for weights. I know that Deline was probably a little bit behind there, and I'm just wondering if fuel is getting into communities, how the roads are holding up as well up the valley? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. You know, Deline is one of the communities that we need fuel going in. I know we didn't have enough weight restriction on the road so there was a delay. I'm going to see if Mr. Brennan has any further updates as, you know, the community was quite concerned about getting the fuel, and I'm in speaking with the leadership as well. But, I mean, we are working to try and get the right amount of fuel to get them through. But if I can see if Gary wants to speak or Mr. Brennan wants to speak any further. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Brennan.
Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. So for Deline specifically, I do believe the weight was just increased I want to say to 40 or 48,000 kgs. We're currently 76 percent complete on gasoline and 51 percent on diesel for Deline for this year. So we have no concerns about fuel delivery in Deline this year. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you. Member for Hay River South.
Thank you. Yeah, and the rest of the roads, like, for Good Hope and Colville as well, what are they what condition are they in and are they getting in their supplies? Thank you.
Thank you. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, in Colville Lake, we have about we're about 93 percent with the fuel for gasoline in the community, and we're about 78 percent to get our diesel into the community as one example. Thank you.
Thank you. Member for are there any further questions under regional operations? Seeing none, please turn to page 274.
Infrastructure, regional operations, operations expenditure summary, 20232024 Main Estimates, $248,478,000. Does committee agree?
Agreed.
Thank you. Committee, there are additional information items on page 276 to 287. Questions. Member for Frame Lake
Thanks, Madam Chair. Now we're coming to my favourite part of the Infrastructure budget. I've been patiently waiting hours. Marine Transportation Services Revolving Fund, and it's on page 281. Oh, she's going to rats.
We stopped the clock. Sergeantatarms, can you please switch out the witnesses.
Welcome back, Ms. St. Denis. All right. Member for Frame Lake.
Thanks, Madam Chair. I love revolving funds. So MTS, can someone tell me where in the budget, you know, we the barges didn't get into some of the Nunakput communities. Where in the budget do I find that expenditure 20222023 to airlift fuel into those communities, and how much was it? Thanks, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Member. Minister.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, the Member is correct. It was quite, you know, expensive as a result of us not getting the barges in. We did commit to, you know, do the best we can do ensure we get the supplies back to the community members. I believe the number was about $3 million. I just want to just turn it over to Ms. Lee to just perhaps speak a little bit more about where we're at. That was the number I was given a while ago. So if I can, thank you, Madam Chair.
