Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I just want to follow up on my Member’s statement and my concern about the construction of the Trout Lake airport. I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation, what work is being planned for construction this summer.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have had some difficulties with getting the construction of that airport complete in Trout Lake. We will continue to work. We’re under a project management regime now, similar to what we started out with in the community of Trout Lake. We look forward to continuing with the embankment work. There have been some delays in the project until next year, but certainly work continues, and it is our belief that the department can continue to work with the community of Trout Lake to maximize the opportunities at the local level.
I’m pleased that there is progress with the construction. The concern from the community, and myself as MLA, has been that when the Department of Transportation management team was previously wanting to do the contract, they were trying to get outside contractors, from outside the community, from outside the region. I want assurance and commitment from the Minister that they will not be doing this again.
The project manager certainly would have to come from outside of the community, but our expectation would be that the project manager would work with the community in trying to identify local labour contractors, and if they are not available in the community of Trout Lake, certainly looking at other communities located in the Member’s riding.
That’s the kind of assurance I’m looking for. It would be nice to get that in writing. I think the most important thing is, when I say work with the community, is that when they’re talking about contracting and opportunities, that there is some type of management team set up with the community members so that they are involved in the project. Currently, the way it’s set up now is that they’re being consulted, but they would like to be actively involved. This is a $7 million contract. How can we continue to involve the community so that we don’t even look outside our region for any contractors whatsoever?
The project manager in Trout Lake has identified a community liaison person who is responsible for finding operators, picking up and dropping off personnel, and general other duties associated with the project. We have a liaison there. We have been working with the community. If the Member is aware of instances where that isn’t happening, or cases where he feels or the community feels that we aren’t working with them, that’s something I’d like for him to bring to my attention and we’ll certainly try to rectify that.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. On behalf of the community and myself, I have certainly brought any deficiencies or inappropriate potential conflicts of outside contractors to the Minister and I will continue to do that. Is there such a policy that will guarantee that communities like Trout Lake, with huge infrastructure projects, will benefit? If we can’t involve the local development corporation because of unforeseen circumstances, that at least they be included in the management team.
We have employed this project management approach in a number of small communities across the Northwest Territories and we haven’t encountered difficulties. We are encountering some difficulties here. I’ve had an opportunity to sit down with the leadership from the community of Trout Lake. We are back there and doing what we can to work with the community. It’s moving forward and our commitment as a department is to work with the community. I just wanted to reiterate that. If the Member or the community feels that’s not happening, I’d be more than happy to address those concerns.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
