Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’ve been here a couple of years and I hear about highways, highways and highways, even chipsealing highways and investment to the highways. Mr. Speaker, sometimes it’s really good to dream, if only we had a highway in the Sahtu.
I want to ask the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Speaker, if he could let me know when he’s going to table the economic analysis of the Mackenzie Valley Highway.
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Michael McLeod.
Mr. Speaker, the economic analysis has gone through its first draft. We’ve had opportunity to peruse it and there is still some review that’s going to have to take place. I don’t believe that it will be ready for this session, so I’m sure we’ll be able to table it at the winter session. Thank you
Mr. Speaker, I was hoping the Minister would give us the green light to table the economic analysis. In light of his kind response to the tabling, I would ask the Minister if he would give me some of the brief highlights as to what the economic analysis is saying about the Mackenzie Valley Highway.
Mr. Speaker, the Member is asking if I’m going to table it and I’ve responded by stating that I would not be able to do that until the next session. I may be able to share the document with him in advance of that and make it public.
Mr. Speaker, in a nutshell, the review has come back and shows that investment into the Mackenzie Valley Highway, the $1.8 billion or $2 billion required will have a positive return and there are some really good opportunities as a result of having a highway built down the Mackenzie Valley and that’s reflected in the document. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I look forward to sitting with the Minister and sharing the document, hopefully on the winter road somewhere, that we can have a discussion on the dreams here.
I want to ask the Minister in terms of his comments on the good opportunity and positive returns, how this type of message gets to Ottawa in terms of would we have this information here. How can we further impress upon the federal government that this is a good investment in the Northwest Territories, a good investment for Canada and how do we get Ottawa to move on this? What else can the Minister provide this House as to get the attention of Ottawa?
Mr. Speaker, I think Ottawa has been very well versed as to our desire to see the Mackenzie Valley road project move forward. We’ve made a number of contacts over the years and more recently had some face-to-face discussion with a number of different Ministers. The Premier has also raised it as well as other Ministers.
Mr. Speaker, our plan right now is to take the economic analysis, package that up with more detailed information that we’re going to require, which is going to be reflected in what we are calling a project description report which will be done over the next while. That’s our focus at this time.
The portion from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk is being compiled, information is being compiled as we speak, and we are currently working to have a plan in place to do the remaining sections so that we can have a complete document that would build our business case. We’ll have a firm base study, we’ll have analysis and we’ll also have the economic analysis that could be part of the package which we would be able to present to the federal government and hopefully attract some investment for this new road that we all desire. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. Your final supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I take the view and the analogy of Ottawa just like a donkey, you know, in terms of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. You know the trail, you’ve studied the trail. It’s like putting the donkey in front of the trail and trying to make it go -- you’ve got to tug it, yell at it, push it, but it still won’t go even though all the benefits are over there. So I guess, in terms of this Mackenzie Valley Highway -- because so far now we have a goat road into the Sahtu region -- I want to ask the Minister regarding his discussions with his colleagues and also with the federal Minister in terms of sections of the Mackenzie Valley Highway. For example, like Wrigley to Norman Wells, I know he talked somewhat of the Inuvik and Tuk roadwork. Can we look at something like that to put in front of the federal Minister?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Mr. McLeod.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t know if I’ll use his analogy for any of our discussions. I think the federal government has recognized that this is an important piece of infrastructure for the Northwest Territories and they have been continually investing over the last long term with all the different programs that have come forward. It has enabled us to improve a lot of the portions of the winter roads, for example, and great improvements in the Member’s riding. It has allowed us to build 34 bridges and most of them are in the Member’s riding, and it has allowed us to do a lot of improvement which has expanded the season, it has improved the safety features on the road, and they are intended to continue to do so.
Mr. Speaker, we are trying to work so that we can create a partnership, provide a document that will have a lot of the answers that the federal government may be asking, and really building a solid business case that will attract some serious consideration. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. McLeod. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
