Deputy Premier
Statements in Debates
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on my left I have Bill MacKay, the deputy minister of Finance. And on my right, Dave Heffernan, the government's chief information officer.
No, thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I understand that the design for the facility is already complete and that it's, in fact, the procurement process is already as well complete and has been awarded. I would want to double check that with the Minister of health but that is my understanding, is that the process is actually quite a ways along and so they're not going to go back to redo the design and the construction bid and the procurement process. I know there were some concerns raised this summer when there was a lot of effort being made in order to ensure that we were supporting the community...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to speak to this question. I think there has been a lot of concern and rumor and frustration on this but in fact, as I said, it's -- we're really only just barely over a year since the issue was identified, and what they've done is gone back to the original constructor of the bridge. Rather than try to find someone new to fit themselves in, they've gone back to them to recast these pieces again. They had to, in fact -- well, to recast the entire 24 bars. So that's now been done. It's been happening by this other company. At the same time...
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the estimate we do have and what we are appropriating is $6.5 million. So that is the estimate right now, and hopefully, you know -- yes, you know, total costs, as I understand it, for all things engineering, fabrication, construction, the work that was done to prepare the testing, etcetera, is at $6.8 million, so this $7 million was me rounding up $6.8 million, Mr. Chair, and I should be more specific. $6.8 million in total. This is $6.5 million. This is the amount we don't have. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Right now we're showing 2026-2027 as the fiscal year when the project will be fully complete. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I'm not going to make that commitment here today. Again, I'm live to the challenges of transportation infrastructure in the North and the fact that we are challenged with our transportation infrastructure in the North, but doing a feasibility study at this point, given the challenges that we're having and given that we're right now trying to get the Mackenzie Valley Highway done, it may well be that we're in a situation where we want to get one thing done and then we can move on to looking at the next. But at this point, that's not a project that is on the near horizon. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, until 1997, the dredging of the Hay River harbour was, in fact, completed by Public Works and Government Services Canada on behalf of Transport Canada. Indeed, the coast guard does rely on the accessible channel and the ability to move their ships and vessels through this very same space. However, for reasons I'm certainly not privy to, between 1997 and 2012, that started to change. The GNWT was relying on funding and started to undertake the work. There was still at that time a memorandum of understanding with the Canadian coast guard and Department of...
Sorry, Mr. Chair. I realize I didn't quite finish my thought before I finished speaking. It's into next fiscal year. So the 2025.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I don't know the per kilometer cost of the winter road offhand. I certainly can get that. There's different costs for some of the different roads as well, so I'll make sure that I'm getting the one for that stretch, and I'll commit to get that back to the Member here quickly. Thank you.