Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Transportation today. In the springtime I was asking him questions about the transportation and trucking industry and some of the differences that we have in jurisdictions. He’d indicated to me that they were in the process of doing a review. I’m just wondering: Where is that review of those regulations in comparison to other jurisdictions currently?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Member for bringing the concerns to the House. Last year and again earlier this year, we were looking at harmonizing our regulations with other jurisdictions, especially in Western Canada. The Member had brought up the issue of tri-drive vehicles. We’ve got a two-year pilot project that’s underway, including a company from Hay River that’s taking part in that exercise. We also are looking at the Class 3 driver’s licence and allowing people with a Class 5 licence to tow or drive a commercial vehicle that’s towing a trailer up to 4,500 kilograms. So we are making some positive changes and we really want to be at the forefront. Concerns the Members bring to this House come from businesses and companies doing work here in the NWT. So we take the thoughts and ideas the Members bring to the floor of the House very seriously. Thank you.
Thank you. I’d also like to remind the Minister of another issue of the trailers and registering one plate tied to the trailer so it stays with the trailer. That’s another issue that’s out there.
But I’ll ask the Minister, conveniently we had a Minister from Yukon Transportation here and I’m just wondering if he’s been having other meetings with other Ministers from other jurisdictions to figure out the differences in our regulations and trying to compare them.
Thank you. At the FPT table, it’s more high level. Certainly at the officials’ level, discussion is continuing on regulations and how we can best serve the people of the Northwest Territories and companies that are doing business here in the NWT.
Getting back to the issue of licence plates on the front of vehicles on commercial vehicles over 4,500 kilograms, it has always been the practice and the law here in the Northwest Territories that plates be in the front so that officers don’t have to go underneath the trailer to see what the plate is. That’s always been the practice and we did take a look at what it would cost to have plates on the front and the back. We just felt that it was too big of a task and too expensive to go through that process. So again, for commercial vehicles over 4,500 kilograms, plates are required to be at the front of the vehicle.
Also, I should mention, now that we’ve got the tolling system in place at the Deh Cho Bridge it’s very important that the plate in the front is visible and able to be taken a photo of by the camera equipment. Thank you.
Thank you. The Minister seems to be leading right into all of my questions here. He’s answering the first one mentioned the tri-drive program and that they’re experimenting with that for two years. I’m just wondering if there has been a lot of uptake and if he has any initial indications of how the program is working and any feedback that we’re getting from the tri-drive experimental project.
Thank you. We have five tridem drive tractor units that have been registered to three companies in the NWT; one in Inuvik, one out of Edmonton and also one out of the Member’s constituency in Hay River. They have submitted reports to the Department of Transportation.
Again, this is being done on a two-year trial basis to see what impact these heavier loads potentially will have on our infrastructure, our road infrastructure, especially on the chipseal portions of our highways. We’ll be glad to share the findings of these reports with the Member and other Members if they’d like to see the findings of those reports. But we’re almost a year into that two-year program. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Minister also alluded to the tolls on the Deh Cho Bridge. I’m wondering if we have any kind of audit or any kind of information on that tolling system. Have we collected more than expected, are we still having difficulties registering some of these companies? Just a quick update on the tolls on the bridge for trucking.
Thank you. I do know folks that have been issued a ticket for not paying the toll aren’t too happy with the $1,700 ticket they do receive. We have been collecting revenue. It’s an effort to pay for the infrastructure we have in place across the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence. I can get the detailed information on the collection of tolls, what we’ve collected to date and what the projections are for the Member, the standing committee and Members of this House. I don’t have that detailed information with me today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Member for Range Lake, Mr. Dolynny.
