Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my statement on the winter road preparations for this coming season in the Sahtu -- and I just remind the House it's an annual resupply. And so my first question to the Minister of Infrastructure, when can the Minister of Infrastructure be available to meet the project contractors/participants to engage in preparation discussions similar to last year? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from the Sahtu. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would expect -- I expect that the project officers in the department, officials there, are already doing that. They've certainly been expected to do that for some time. We know that there's going to be more traffic on those winter roads this season just as there was last season when there was less barges. With no barges, fully expecting that road to be busy. So those meetings are already underway. Mr. Speaker, it was -- certainly, it was helpful for me to meet with some of those involved last year just to get a real picture of it, to have that opportunity, and I'm certainly happy to do that again and can work with the MLA for the region and for perhaps from the Nahendeh region since folks are coming through that area as well. We want to make sure we're maximizing everyone's ability to get as much through that winter road as possible. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that reply. In addition to my statement of cargo and fuel and essential services going into the Sahtu, we've got another developer that's going to be coming there to the Sahtu to do some activity around the Colville Lake area. I'm not too sure if the Minister's aware of that, but that'll be additional traffic.
My next question: Will the Minister confirm this preseason/prejob meeting, if that can be held in Norman Wells? This will give us -- I plan to attend -- and other opportunities for other engagements. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can confirm on behalf of the department that someone's going to be there. There's no question that some senior representatives from the department can go. I want to just double check my own calendar. I've got commitments already to -- a couple of other regions where I've been waiting to get to. So certainly best efforts on my part. I'm always happy to go back. I've been to Norman Wells here a couple of times already in this government. Happy to go back. If I can't be there in person, I'll certainly make sure that I'm available in some other means. But I also wouldn't want to delay having that in-person there in the region based on my calendar. So someone will be available to make sure we're there and, as I say, I'll make my best efforts. But it was a helpful meeting we had last year. Going to need to do more this year, and so I want to emphasize we all want to work together and have a task force that's moving this ahead. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks to the Minister for that willingness to participate. I feel comfortable already that we'll have a safe discussion.
My next question: Will the Minister support more resources as similar actions taken last year during our January discussion to ensure that we have a suitable, durable road surface for the heavy truck traffic? Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, absolutely we will have to prioritize that work again. Just by way of some example of what we did last year, we were widening the road that gave the ability for trucks to be going but also didn't impede smaller traffic with folks who may be doing their own personal resupply, had more signage, increased patrols, increased checkpoints, which was not only a safety issue; it helps increase the flow of traffic and make the flow of traffic better. And we've also had some increased maintenance, increased improvements. Again, everything we can do to keep the road in a state that people can continue to pass. Mr. Speaker, that worked well last time. We had positive feedback. We'll take any constructive feedback on that as well if folks have it available so we can continue to make it even better this year. Thank you.
thank you, Minister of Infrastructure. Final supplementary. Member from the Sahtu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thanks for the final supplementary. I feel very assured here. The winter before, it took our department and traffic to go five hours for 90 miles, 90 kilometers. So you can do the calculations on the speed limit. Last year was excellent.
My last question there, Mr. Speaker, is this industry is challenged by a shortage of drivers, particularly experienced winter road drivers. What act of measures or efforts the Department of Infrastructure is doing to support that industry? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This certainly is a challenge. It's a challenge across industry. But given the situation we're in, we are trying to bring in more licensed drivers. Some of that backlog, I will say, you know, a bit of a plug for folks who are looking to get their licenses as new drivers, if they want to take a driver's course first, that might reduce the number of repeat customers that we have over at the DMV. But with respect to those that are looking to be professional drivers, that's a different category. They're struggling with the same issue in that we have the same limited number of people doing the licensing exams. I can say knowing what's coming, knowing the pressures that we're in for supply, we are opening up additional appointments here from the end of this month and into next month. Doing that by ensuring that we're maximizing folks within our department with these skill sets and looking to bring to ensure that all of the positions are filled and try to do everything we can to fill those positions quickly so that we can address the existing backlog to get more drivers licensed and move supplies where we need to. Thank you.
Oral questions. Member from Yellowknife North.
