Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In 2010 Ruskin picked up the defunct contract on the Deh Cho Bridge and took the price from $167 million to $182 million. In less than a year we needed an additional $10 million that pushed the contract to $192 million. In the spring of 2012, the McLeod government went even further by demanding $10 million that brought the project up to $202 million.
The question is to the Minister of Transportation. What value and services did the taxpayer of the Northwest Territories receive over and above the original 2010 signed contract with the GNWT and Ruskin? In essence, did we get anything more than a bumper sticker that said open 2012 instead of 2013? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The public in the Northwest Territories, the transportation companies, everybody has access to the Deh Cho Bridge. It has been open since November 30th. That is a great benefit to the residents here in the Northwest Territories. We got the bridge open on November 30th of 2012. Had we chosen a different path as the Member suggests, we would still be in court, the bridge wouldn’t be open and we’d still be asking ourselves many questions. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, what were the costs and savings realized when this government drove the contract from $192 million to $202 million? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, that horse left the barn about six years ago. There have been a number of questions that have been asked over the years. I don’t believe it does us much good to be beating a dead horse. The bridge is open. If the Member wants specifics on what exactly that $10 million was used for, that money was used to get the contract complete by November 30th so that the bridge could be put into service and that’s exactly what we did. The government was intent on getting that bridge put into service on November 30th. There was a cost to do that. That is what we did, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, in the Minister’s mind, that horse may have been gone six years ago, but I can tell you it’s before the taxpayer for the next 35 years, if not longer.
Why didn’t the Minister of Transportation mention that we saved approximately $2.4 million on the operation and maintenance of the ferry and the ice road services? If I have to answer my own questions in this House, I’m going to ask the Minister what was left over with the $7.6 million needed to open up the bridge a year earlier. What were the benefits of opening it up a year earlier other than spending $7.6 million uselessly? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, it would have been a year worth of tolls on the bridge. It would have been a year’s worth of interest paid on that money which would have well exceeded the $7.6 million the Member talks about. That bridge is open. Again, it’s serving the public of the Northwest Territories doing what it was supposed to do and intended to do. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Paying the interest on the loan is actually a bit of a misnomer. We would have had to pay that fee anyway. Where did the money really go and what benefit did the territorial citizens receive? The Minister is correct about the tolls being a wash when it comes to the money, but the tolls themselves wouldn’t have added up to $7.6 million of slush money to open up this particular bridge.
Where are the facts of where the money went to and what was the received benefit by opening it up a year early? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the benefits are that we’re not waiting, there is access to the North Slave region 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is convenience. It’s good for transportation companies. It will be great for university students coming back from university in May. They won’t have to face leaving their vehicles in Hay River and fly to Yellowknife and then fly back to Hay River to pick up their vehicles.
It went into the contract. There were extra costs associated with accelerating the contract in order to get the bridge open by November 30th, and if the Member wants to find exactly where that $7.6 million went, we’d be happy to share that information with him. I believe we have shared that information with him and committee at a previous meeting. I’d be more than happy to pick up that presentation that was provided to his committee.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Inuvik Boot Lake, Mr. Moses.
