Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Government of the Northwest Territories has proposed a $299 million construction project that we all know is the Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk Highway Project. What is the Government of the Northwest Territories proposal on commitment on spending division? In other words, we had a 75/25 plan spoken about before. Is that the same proposal being forwarded to the federal government?
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. David Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. When we get a response back from the federal government, we’ll be sure to share it with Members. As soon as we get word back from the federal government. Our ask was 75/25 and that’s the ask that went to the federal government.
In order to ask for the $299 million, the Government of the Northwest Territories must have a plan. Knowing that no project has been under budget, or even at budget, what is the territorial government’s plan to assess if there are overruns? That’s not a hypothetical. We need a plan in order to proceed.
We have a contingency. We don’t get into any project with the belief that it’s going to go over budget, so for the Member to ask questions about the what ifs, what if you go over budget, that is a hypothetical question.
Knowing and understanding the project is not hypothetical. It’s part of the risk of any project.
What is the upper limit of what the territorial taxpayers can afford even if we follow the 75/25 split? Is the potential of $75 million on the taxpayer the upper limit of what they can pay for this project and will that be clear before any highway project is initiated?
We’re going to get word back from the federal government on the approvals for the funding agreement hopefully sometime this week. Members of this House, when the project is going to be approved, will approve this project and they’ll have all the information available to them so that they can make a decision whether or not they support the project moving forward. That should happen, hopefully, very soon.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final supplementary, Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Part of the process of getting into bed with a project, and becoming a partner in it, and understanding the project is knowing where your upper limit is. I’m asking the government what our upper limit is on this particular project, because once it’s started, it’s too late to stop. We need to help identify these things. That’s all part of the process of our original ask, which is defining the project as almost a $300 million initiative. Clearly, the taxpayers, the citizens need to know what the government’s upper limit is, what is the cut-off point we cannot proceed with this project. It’s a simple number. It’s a simple ask. People want to know where the cut-off is.
As I mentioned numerous times in response to questions today about the Inuvik-Tuk highway, there are risks associated with the project. Those were shared with committee two weeks ago. As we move forward, we will be providing Members with updates. It is this Assembly that is going to ultimately make the decision on whether the project moves forward or not. All this information is going to be available to both Members and the public.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
