Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today I spoke about the condition of Highway No. 7. That’s the highway that runs from B.C. over to Fort Simpson, and of course the proximity community is Fort Liard. I’d like to ask the Minister of Transportation, can you please provide me an update about the status of the repairs to Highway No. 7 for this construction year? Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Menicoche. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We recently visited the communities in the Member’s riding and the concerns he’s raising today were brought forward by a number of residents of Nahendeh. Of course, the condition of Highway No. 7 has been a concern for this government and all the people that travel it. It’s a piece of infrastructure that we inherited some time ago from the federal government. It was constructed during the Hire North days and the construction code for roads were a little different than they are today.
We recognize that it needs some attention. It is a concern. It’s an aging piece of infrastructure at this point and we’ve made some serious commitment in terms of investment for that road. We’ve committed money on a three-year basis. We’ve, this year, done some work on gravel resurfacing and that work is completed. We’ve also done a considerable amount of gravel crushing, quarry development for Highway No. 7, and that work is also done. There is other work that is ongoing that needs to be done. We also have undertaken to do a further function review and engineering assessment for that road so we can develop a long-term strategy. We’re also doing strength testing on different portions of the road to help us guide what we need to do. There’s a contract that’s been awarded to one of the local companies in the Member’s riding. That work is ongoing.
So there are about six different areas that we can report on. I certainly would be glad to provide a more detailed report, if the Member would require. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The Minister did raise something and I would like to thank him, yes, for being responsive and coming to Fort Liard immediately after I had a constituency meeting, to hear those concerns from residents. Can the Minister explain how will he ensure that the repairs to the highway are undertaken and completed so that next summer the highway is not labelled as “War Zone Road,” Mr. Speaker? Thank you.
I have no control on what the Member is going to label his road...
---Laughter
The reality is, Mr. Speaker, this road is going to require probably a complete reconstruction. We’ve been really focused on trying to develop a plan that will do that. However, the challenge is that there has been excessive rainfall in that area. It has contributed to eroding, it has contributed to culvert failures, flooding, things of that nature and it has forced us to redirect our efforts from reconstruction on a portion of the road that has been targeted, to trying to deal with some of the crisis situations that are developing and it’s taken away from our investment that had hoped we would see in terms of reconstruction. But that’s something that’s going to happen in the long-term and it’s going to need a number of governments to continue to dedicate resources to change that situation. Thank you.
Thank you very much. I think that’s a strategy, I think there’s got to be federal involvement. Can I ask the Minister when is his next opportunity that he would be meeting with his federal counterpart or federal-provincial meeting of Transportation Ministers, because I think that’s the point that it’s important to raise the condition of Highway No. 7, especially in light that we want Canadians and tourists to visit our new Nahanni National Park Reserve and get them there and make it easier for them, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Thank you. I just returned from a federal/provincial/territorial conference in Halifax and we did discuss a number of issues related to Transportation, including a strategic plan for all of Canada, including the Northwest Territories. We have a number of our officials that are leading the research and development of planning in this area and we certainly have all agreed that the future is going to be a lot different from the environment that we’ve dealt with in the past and our infrastructure is going to have to adapt to that. We had agreement from the new federal infrastructure Minister to have a meeting during this session. However, I’ve had to ask for a deferral on that to when this session is not sitting and he’s agreed. We’ve also got commitment from Leona Aglukkaq to sit in on a meeting with us, and we’re looking forward to doing that sometime in November as soon as session is done here. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Final supplementary, Mr. Menicoche.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Residents of Fort Liard often travel to Fort Nelson, like how Fort Simpson travels to Hay River for their shopping. Is there any way that the Minister can dedicate some resources to fixing the kilometre zero to kilometre 38, which is to Fort Liard, to a reasonable standard for next year? Up to and including chipseal.
The strategy that we have used to determine which roads need attention has been developed by our engineers. We certainly can ask them if they want to relocate some investment. However, that would be asking us to move away from areas that we think have issues with safety and vision and they may have some difficulty doing that without increased funding in this area. We would have to be relocating dollars that are targeted for specific areas. We can certainly discuss that and see what possibilities there are, but I would say it’s unlikely.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Kam Lake, Mr. Ramsay.
