Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question today is for the Minister of Transportation. He made a presentation on the Deh Cho Bridge. I am concerned with the extra costs of the toll to the public of the Northwest Territories. What is the purpose of the toll? Is it meant to be a maintenance fee? Is it meant to be a repayment fee? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. The Minister of Transportation, Minister Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The tolls were meant to pay for the bridge over the life of the bridge, being 35 years. It will be charged against trucks carrying freight north. There would be no toll on trucks going south but only coming north. That was the idea behind that toll. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, my other concern or same type of concern is those costs being multiplied as the products such as milk is brought up by truck then added to the fuel costs by flying that product farther north. Has the department looked at the spin-off and the multiplier factor of that toll to the cost of the public of the Northwest Territories?
The information that I have seen would indicate that on a B-Train it would be about $250. When you break that down to a four litre jug of milk, it would be a fraction of a cent. Cumulatively, it wouldn’t amount to much, but certainly when stores don’t have to bring in their refrigeration trucks and store lots of goods for the few weeks during the spring breakup, the cost to consumers really shouldn’t be much of a factor. Thank you.
My next question is concerning the completion of the bridge. Are there repercussions to the contractor if it is not completed by the fall of 2012?
We are fully intent on the project being complete in the fall of 2012. I wouldn’t speculate on it happening any other way. I think that is the intent. We are going to try to ensure that the project is complete and traffic is moving across that bridge in the fall of 2012. That is our game plan and we are going to try to stick to that. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Weledeh, Mr. Bromley.
