Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to follow up on some of the questions raised by Mr. Bouchard. I was thinking about this recently, and I think the timing couldn’t have been better. He brought up the concern about the Deh Cho Bridge and, certainly, the tolls. As far as the tolls are concerned, a number of people in the Yellowknife and surrounding area are concerned about how the tolls are transferred to the general public. In essence, they’re afraid that there could be an opportunity for a cash grab.
In the context that a toll may run anywhere from $250 to even $300, what type of public consultation, if any, or what type of public information is being transmitted to the general public to demonstrate what the actual tolls are and how they may be seen on the everyday goods that people buy?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have that information on our website. We have had numerous discussions with transportation companies here in the Northwest Territories and in the South, in advance of the tolls being charged on the Deh Cho Bridge. For a breakdown of those meetings and discussions, I would be more than happy to get the Member and committee some detailed meeting times and organizations that we’ve met with.
I’d certainly take the information, but I think, in essence, it’s the public that’s more concerned. Not everyone has the time or energy or even interest to go to the GNWT website, let alone Transportation’s website. That’s not meant to be an insult; people are busy. The reality is that people are concerned about these tolls that are going to be coming forward and are they going to be excessively carrying the costs of the tolls. In other words, are the everyday moms and pops carrying the cost of paying for the bridge in an unfair manner? The one example provided is if it’s $250 per truckload going across that bridge, the reality is it’s only a couple of cents per item. People are afraid that it’s going to be several dollars per item every time they go to the store. How is the GNWT communicating the actual costs that will go down to the consumer?
Our belief as a government and department is that the cost will be offset because companies will have to stockpile goods. They will not have to store goods. There will not be the need for refrigerated units. There will be no need to fly things over during freeze-up and breakup. Those costs in warehousing that will be saved, the feeling is it will be a wash. Certainly, the toll that transportation companies are going to have to pay, it will be up to the companies whether or not and how they pass that onto businesses that they do business with.
There are endless examples and I won’t go through them here, but the point is that the average consumer doesn’t believe it’s going to be a wash. I appreciate the Minister feeling very confident in his belief that many of these trucking companies and businesses will eat these costs. I haven’t heard anybody who actually believes that.
What type of public consultation can the Minister of Transportation do to show people where there will be savings and where there will be potential costs on the individual consumer? That’s ultimately the issue.
This is a question that’s come up numerous times in this House over the past nine years. I’d be more than happy to get the Member and committee the information that the department has gathered over the years. It is our belief that over the course of the bridge and the collection of the tolls, that businesses will not be disadvantaged in the long-term because of paying the tolls.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hear the Minister and I’m not disagreeing with him, but I don’t think he’s hearing me. The issue is it’s not about what I believe, it’s what the public believes and perceives. The public is willing to pay their fair share. I’ve never heard any argument against that. The fear is that those costs will be unfairly passed on and unfairly distributed to the everyday consumer. All I’m asking is: What type of public consultation can the Minister provide some information in a form that makes sense to the general public so we can see and understand this?
The Deh Cho Bridge Project has been a project underway for the past several years. There have been a number of questions asked in the House related directly to the line of questioning the Member has. I would certainly be more than happy to get the Member and committee the dates and times where public consultation has taken place on this.
The bridge is set to open here in a few weeks. The tolling has been in place. The tolling system has been in place and the tolls have been well known now for a number of years, and we intend to open the bridge here in the next few weeks.
