Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have a follow-up to my Member's statement, some questions for the Minister of Transportation. As I mentioned in my Member's statement, Mr. Speaker, many of my constituents and people of the Beaufort Delta rely on the ferry services leading up to the opening of the ice road. Mr. Speaker, my first question to the Minister is what is the government's backup plan to stabilize costs and maintain fuel supply if ferry service is suspended or reduced? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Minister of Transportation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The department has been looking at this very operation as a possible budget reduction, just because of the significant cost of it, and part of this conversation has been talking LNG and propane suppliers and the grocery suppliers of the Beaufort Delta region. From the conversations taking place at present, there is a significant chance that the closure of this ferry would not interrupt the services of either the LNG or propane delivery or the food delivery to the Beaufort Delta region. The department has had a number of conversations with these people, and we continue to talk to them, and there seems to be a reason that we can do this without significant challenges to the Beaufort Delta. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, what led up to the ferry operating until the ice bridge was open was in fact, LNG in Inuvik. Mr. Speaker, there is worry that the community would run out of LNG. I haven't seen any infrastructure in the community that proves that they will be ready and have proper storage facilities in place, Mr. Speaker. I'd also like to ask the Minister what is the estimated cost of building a bridge at the Peel River and Mackenzie River crossings and how does that compare to maintaining existing ferry services? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To address the bridge cost to start with, that would be a significant cost; I couldn't tell the Member exactly what that would be. We would have to take on a planning study and look into what the infrastructure would cost for that, and even if we did do that, that would be a significant amount of money as we know what the previous bridges in the Northwest Territories have cost. We'd have to go back to Infrastructure Canada to assist with that, and under the fiscal pressures that this government is seeing it's probably something that would have to be rolled out in a 20-year study of our needs of infrastructure.
Getting back to the increased storage capacity of the suppliers in the region, one of the things during the conversation that took place with a number of proponents up there was the Ikhil gas well has been used during these times as of recently, and this helps offset the need for LNG and propane at the same time. But that's why we're having this conversation early on, as this is proposed as a budget reduction coming up in the next budget cycle, is that we want the proponents to have the reserve appropriate in LNG as needed with what's needed with the short time that that ferry would be closed.
I guess the one other point that I'd want to make about it that during the operation of the winter ferry; that the Dempster has been closed 40 per cent of the time so it only leaves about 20 some days at the max that that operation has been open.
Mr. Speaker, I'm sure the department has kept track of all the closures on the highway, but you know I live right on the crossing at the Mackenzie River and the amount of vehicles that I see on a daily basis, Mr. Speaker, just doesn't line up. You know, we have truckers constantly on that highway and people coming from Fort McPherson to Inuvik travelling to Whitehorse, Mr. Speaker.
My next question I'd like to ask the Minister is: will the Minister ensure my constituents in the Beaufort Delta communities that ferry service will continue until the ice road is in operation?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The one thing I can convey to the Member is that even though we are looking at doing this as a budget reduction for the next fiscal year, this year coming up that we will continue to have the winter ferry operation for this fiscal year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, that wasn't so hard there, Minister. On behalf of my constituents I'd like to thank the department for following through on keeping the operations ongoing. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
