Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are for the Minister of Transportation. The Minister of Transportation is aware of the condition of roads leading to and from recreational properties along the Ingraham Trail. These leases have been in existence for almost three decades. The roads from the properties to the trail traverse federal Crown lands. In many cases the roads accessing these lots have fallen into disrepair. Since they aren’t an official part of the territorial road system, the GNWT doesn’t maintain them, at least not all of them. I realize this is a complicated situation of jurisdictions, but for the record, could the Minister state the territorial policy regarding maintenance of these roads?
Thank you, Mr. Bromley. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We only maintain roads that are included in the NWT highway regulations. Those are the only roads that the Department of Transportation maintains.
I know that includes some exceptions to the general rule. For example, into Prelude East and so on that are clearly Crown land. The reality is here, however, territorial citizens and residents have cabins with long-term leases. After devolution we will adopt responsibility for these lands and land routes, bringing forward the issue of incorporating the roads into the official road system and beginning to maintain them. Obviously, a modicum of support now would go a long ways to avoiding further deterioration in roads we will inherit. Can the Minister tell us that he will begin dialogues with residents to proactively deal with this emerging issue?
As we move forward with devolution, that will ultimately be a discussion that we will have to have, but certainly as it stands today, those roads that the Member talks about in his riding aren’t roads the Department of Transportation maintains. Is there a way that we can try to bridge that gap between now and when devolution does come in? There’s a possibility we could sit down with the Member and residents to discuss how that will happen, but we’re going to have to find some dollars between now and then to make that happen.
I appreciate the Minister’s commitment there. These are modest dollars, I’ll note right away. Although federal leases to property improvements on these lots are taxable land improvements relative to services provided, the tax revenues are a windfall to the GNWT. Once these leaseholders become territorial tenants surrounded by territorial lands, we can reasonably expect they will be seeking an increased degree of territorial services given the taxes they pay.
In preparation for devolution, has the Department of Transportation begun working with other departments such as MACA to consider the new costs and infrastructure requirements that will arise from the adoption of new lands and taxpayers?
The issue the Member talks about in his riding is not an issue that is only taking place in and around Yellowknife; it’s also an issue in other locations throughout the Northwest Territories. It’s an item that we have to pay attention to as we move towards devolution, and we do, certainly, discuss that item with MACA. We need to come up with a way to move this whole thing forward. We certainly intend to do that by working with MACA. Of course, the landscape is going to change post-devolution and we understand that, and we need to ensure that we are coordinating our approaches to deal with that as it all moves forward.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Bromley.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks for the comments from the Minister. These leaseholders are a hardy bunch with a record of considerable work to maintain these access roads. Unfortunately, they lack the heavy duty equipment and volume of materials rarely needed but critical to replace, say, a culvert or deal with the consequences of major weather events.
Does the Minister think investing a few hours with a caterpillar or a few loads of gravel would go a long ways towards supporting our residents and preventing greater costs down the road?
As I mentioned, if you do it for one, you’ve got to do it for everybody. There are a number of kilometres of highway or road in the Northwest Territories where folks understand that the Department of Transportation does not have responsibility for maintaining those roadways. It’s an issue that as we move devolution forward, we will have to pay attention to, and certainly, like I said earlier, the landscape is going change and we’re aware of that.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Ms. Bisaro.
