Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Listening to my colleague Mr. Bromley bring it up before, and in my Member’s statement regarding the news that we had from the Prime Minister today, my questions are asked to the Department of Transportation. What are the chances of seeing if we could get extra funding this year to start from the Tuk side to kilometre 22 on extra funding to bring it up to 90 kilometre standards to get work in the community of Tuk and to bring outside people in the riding from Inuvik, such as Sachs Harbour and Paulatuk, to get jobs in the community? What are the chances of that?
Thank you, Mr. Jacobson. The honourable Minister responsible for Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are a number of things that we would like to continue doing and working on. Source 77 road is, of course, always on our agenda. We also want to do more work on the Environmental Impact Review Board submission. We’ve earmarked some dollars internally to address that and we want to continue those discussions. We also need to start our discussions with the Inuvialuit on some of the gravel sources that we’re going to need, and use of the land, and purchase of the land. There are a lot of things we’d like to do. We want to keep the momentum going on this project. Of course, the final decision will be resting with the 17th Legislative Assembly to decide whether this all-season road goes ahead or not. Thank you.
The federal government gave us $150 million for this project to open up the highway system sea to sea to sea. I think the question that I’m asking is pretty straightforward. Do we have money in the government transportation to see if we could keep the roadwork able to start this winter for 90 kilometres standards between 177 in Tuk? The review board and that is doing the rest of the highway, but do we have funding in place that we could start?
First of all, the money identified in the federal government’s announcement is to start next year. The decision whether construction can start will be done and made by the 17th Assembly. We as a department and all our officials along with other departments are working towards doing all the legwork that’s required, all the discussions that need to happen prior to the election, and during the election the work will continue. We want to have the information available for the Members as they return or the Members that are part of the 17th Assembly.
I’ve also asked Minister Aglukkaq to have a meeting. We don’t have a whole lot of time, but I’d still like to have the opportunity to sit down face to face, whether it’s in the territories or in Ottawa, to discuss the terms of the funding. That hasn’t been sorted out completely. Our officials are having those discussions, but we would really like to have a better handle on how the money is going to be flowed, to who and how much. There are lots of things that have to happen and they all have to be paid for from internal sources within our departments. Whether I can commit to the Member that the work will happen this year on the request he’s just made is difficult. We are trying to fund a number of initiatives on this project with a very limited source of funding.
Mr. Speaker, with the project, all of the regulatory processes are in place for 177. With the money starting, I mean, with the 17th Legislative Assembly over a four-year term, I won’t say the numbers, but it’s doable, and I hope to be here to push it through. At the end of the day, from 177 to Tuk, we have no work in the community this winter. All we’re going to have is the ice road. The ice road work that is yearly, $600,000 a year. The government has to try to stimulate the economy up north.
All I’m asking for is if we’re sure of the federal government’s commitment for the $150 million, would the Minister commit monies to go forward this winter to start work in the 177.
I hear the Member loud and clear. The reality is there are a number of initiatives that we have to embark on to get the information that is required to help the 17th Assembly make the decision on a going-forward basis. We want to ensure that they have the best information in front of them as possible. If I was to commit to finishing some of the work on source 177, then in all probability we wouldn’t have the money to do the environmental impact report, which is close to a million dollars.
I can commit to the Member that we’ll look very closely. The money that’s required will have to come from internal sources, and at this point we don’t know if it will be available for contingent work in that area.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final, short supplementary, Mr. Jacobson.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Moving on to the meeting with the federal government, will the mayors of Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik be invited, and the parties that are involved with this project be invited to the meeting?
Mr. Speaker, we have been pushing for a meeting since the announcement of these dollars was made, and up to now it’s been challenging to get all the schedules to coordinate. We’ve indicated we would like to have the mayors from Tuk and from Inuvik join us, and we again today reinforced that we still would like to have a meeting, and we’re hoping to have positive feedback on that.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
