Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was listening to the honourable Member for Nahendeh talk about Highway No. 7 and I was just envious of him because he’s talking about a highway that I hope someday the Sahtu people can have that opportunity to join among their fellow colleagues when they talk about highways. We want a highway.
My question to the Minister of Transportation is: Once the project description reports are completed… We’re waiting for two more and then they will go into one package to the federal regulators or the regulators who are responsible for the issuing out these permits and the other things that they are responsible for. I want to ask the Minister when is he expected to bring these PDRs to the next phase and will the communities then receive some financial help to help them move through the regulatory system. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for his question. It was certainly an honour to be in Norman Wells last week to receive the project description report from the Tulita district. It’s very good to see groups getting together to agree that an all-weather Mackenzie Valley Highway is important. The work was very well done and well received.
We are currently waiting for two project description reports that will complement the other three. There are five in total that will be put together and submitted to the regulator. We’re hoping to have the other two project description reports by the end of this year. Once those are done, it will move into that regulatory phase.
Again, I think, moving forward, the important thing is that we’re going to have to identify further sources of funding to continue the momentum on moving the work forward.
Again, I look forward to working with the Member and groups up and down the Mackenzie Valley to ensure that that happens. Thank you.
I know the people in the Tulita district were very happy to see Mr. Ramsay in Norman Wells to receive the project description report that they completed and they’re looking forward to the couple of other ones that need to be completed.
I want to ask Mr. Ramsay what we need to do to start now getting the attention of the federal government. They’ve given the Government of the Northwest Territories $150 million to start to work on the northern portion of the highway, Inuvik to Tuk. What do we need to do now to start banging on the doors, to tell Mr. Harper, the Prime Minister, that we need to start putting some money aside?
They are a majority government. They can do it. What do we need to do to get it done? Do we need to bring Mrs. McCauley down with us to start pounding the drums at Mr. Harper’s door?
Mr. Speaker, we need to move forward, and I spoke earlier of continuing the momentum. I think lobbying the federal government, talking about the Mackenzie Valley Highway at any opportunity that we have publicly, in this forum, at constituency meetings, any chance we get with the federal government or provincial counterparts. Keeping it on the radar, I think, is one of the most important things as we move this forward.
Again, it’s continuing that momentum, I think, that is the most important thing and trying to identify funding that is going to continue to push this project forward. Thank you.
Can the Minister examine a strategy as to the type of lobbying tactics we can do with the Aboriginal governments, with partnerships, to begin looking at how the department then can take every opportunity with the partnerships to go down to Ottawa or have the opportunity to speak to the federal Ministers or their counterparts?
The Tuktoyaktuk committee did a fantastic job. They got $150 million. We need that type of strategy also within the Sahtu or any other portion of the Gwich’in and a little part of the Nahendeh. We need to follow into the Inuvik Beaufort-Delta area. It may take years. We need to put a strategy together and start pounding on the doors to let the government know that this part of the highway needs attention and we need money now.
Certainly we definitely need to continue the effort. Again, working together, working collaboratively, as was shown by the folks in the Sahtu, we can continue to move this project forward.
Again, it’s going to come back to the funding. Yes, we have a $150 million commitment on the Inuvik-Tuk portion of that highway. We need to seek some further commitment from the federal government on other sections of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. We need to continue to push, continue to move the project forward. It’s by talking about it; it’s by working together that we will continue to advance this project. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Part of the infrastructure is the Bear River Bridge. Is the Minister hoping to look at other options on how to fund the crucial infrastructure on the highway?
As I said, there is close to $600 million that is going to be spent in the Sahtu on oil and gas exploration. Can the Minister entertain suggestions/proposals as to how we get this crucial piece of infrastructure built in the Sahtu that would serve the people in the Sahtu and the oil companies, but also it will help the federal government? They are taking out millions, hundreds of millions from the Norman Wells oilfield. They should be able to contribute to a simple infrastructure, and shame on the government for not putting any funds up to look at this infrastructure. Can the Minister help out there?
Certainly, in the grand scheme of things, the Bear River Bridge is an integral piece of the Mackenzie Valley Highway and it will be. Certainly when funding is the way it is, we need to look at other sources of funding, we need to look at partnerships. We need to be very creative when it comes to supplying the transportation infrastructure needs around the territory. Certainly, if there are proposals out there, if there are ideas out there, we are interested in hearing them. We are interested in listening and sitting down with folks to work together to try to accomplish what we can with what we have. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.
