Robert Hawkins

Thank you, and I appreciate the answer from the Minister. Interestingly enough, through my research and, of course, some of the response for the Minister, it highlights minus 10 or warmer is basically the time, I’ll say the opportunity to use road salt, because if you use it when it’s colder than minus 10 it doesn’t work. So would the Minister of Transportation be willing to re-evaluate the Department of Transportation’s usage of road salt in the Northwest Territories because of the possible negative effects that are happening? I shouldn’t say possible, these are known negative effects that...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In my Member’s statement today I talked about road salt and certainly I tried to highlight some of the impacts of road salt usage in the Northwest Territories. I want to thank the Minister of Transportation. He has provided me with some raw data on what is used annually here since 2006-07 on road salt.

As I said in my Member’s statement today, in the last six years, it has increased over 200 percent. What type of monitoring of the impacts of road salt usage is happening by his department to ensure that we are not creating problems with the environment such as the rivers...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We all know that road salt is damaging to our vehicles but it’s also providing much harm to our natural world. Research in Canada and the United States shows that road salt is affecting drinking water sources and aquatic life. Levels of contamination to water and sediment near Pickering, Ontario, exceed provincial water quality standards as much as 250 percent due to the amount of salt applied to the roads in winter.

Road salt is increasingly being used here in the North along Ingraham Trail. From the details provided by the Minister of DOT, it shows in the last six...

I guess if that is the way he wants to answer the question, but the obvious question is yet again his earlier answer was yes, you drive to the conditions of the road. Does the Minister of Transportation note that there is a concern about the buffalo licking salt off the highways on our roads? Does that not pose a problem with the Department of Transportation or, at the very least, a concern? Thank you.

I just want to follow up with some of the issues Member Groenewegen raised, and I don’t disagree with some of the concerns she highlighted. My question, of course, evidently will be directed to the Minister of Transportation.

Is it not part of the law to drive with due care and attention to the conditions of the road? I wonder if the Minister could answer that particular question. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Not to sound combative, but just because we’ve done it for 20 years this way doesn’t mean we couldn’t do it better or another way tomorrow. We’ve all been using the same beaver pelt hats where they use mercury on them in order to be safe. So, I’ll take the Minister’s point, though, and if he could provide that to the standing committee as well as all Members, that would be very useful for us, especially the companion of the Environment Canada study that has been looking at the lakes along the highways here. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in answering the Minister’s question, I will say yes.

Mr. Speaker, Environment Canada, as I am aware, has done a fair bit of research along Highway No. 3 to study the impact of road salt. Is the reason why the Department of Transportation wouldn’t typically monitor the amount of road salt considering the amount we use? At the same time, why do we use road salt? Why don’t we just go with gravel, which is a product naturally found here so we wouldn’t be introducing anything new and doing any harm to our environment? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I, too, would like to recognize the very special, kind-hearted Anthony W.J. Whitford. He’s a kind friend, a mentor of mine, and like Mr. Dolynny pointed out, he set that place on fire once he grabbed that microphone. His community volunteerism and participation is certainly well known, not only in the Northwest Territories, but as legislators, quite often when we travel, the first person they want to know about is: Do you know a guy named Tony? Boy, oh boy, he’s made an impact not only in the North but I’d say worldwide. We’re glad to have him.

I appreciate the very clear and succinct answer from the Minister over there. Of course, in that particular case, just for clarity for the public following the issue, if the posted limit is 90 kilometres an hour and the snow causes you to drive slower due to safety, would it not seem reasonable to be driving to the conditions of the road at that time? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 7, oral questions, on the agenda today. Thank you.

---Unanimous consent granted