Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Transportation. In follow-up to my Member's statement earlier, I'd like to ask the Minister: can the Minister explain why the chartered community of Tsiigehtchic was asked to hire a contractor to deal with the overflow that has been dealt with under the highway maintenance contract in the past? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Transportation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'd have to get the exact particulars from the Member of which incident he's talking about and the location. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Maybe the Minister wasn't paying attention earlier during my Member's statement, but I was referring to Georgetown near Tsiigehtchic. Mr. Speaker, for many years this has been an issue. Will the Minister please answer that question again?
I guess I can go into a little story about this situation. There was a place built there in 2000, where the Member is referring to, just off the access of the Dempster Highway. This was built in an area where a lot of drainage was a problem. The Department of Housing got involved; the Department of Transportation got involved. We moved the particular residents out of this area at the two departments' expense and relocated them. Another individual has now since moved into that location, knowing that all the particular problems were there. Along the course of that timeline, a couple of culverts were put in at the departments' expense to help alleviate the problem, which was off the access of the right-of-way, which is not even on our right-of-way, but we went ahead and did that to help with the drainage situation.
As far as the overflow going, it doesn't impede the safety of the highway or the travelling public to be able to travel up and down the highway. I believe at some point that it did, and we went in there and spent almost $5,000 on a contractor to clear the slush and snow out of the area to make sure this highway was of a safe usage. We will continue to monitor the situation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. That is quite a story.
---Laughter
Actually, just to add to the Minister's story, people have been living there for as far as I can remember, which is early 1980s, even into the 1970s, Mr. Speaker. With climate change, like everything else, things change. Will the Minister agree to get a contractor to divert the water at kilometre 142, as he is doing between Tsiigehtchic and Inuvik?
I will have a look at the situation. We will get back to the Member, but if it is not impeding the safe usage of the highway, we will not be looking at doing anything.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Mackenzie Delta.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the overflow may not be running directly on to the highway at the moment, but it is running along the highway, which is flooding out all of the belongings of the people who are staying at this location. A lot of their stuff that they have there is under water at the moment. Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister: what steps has the department taken to permanently deal with the overflow issues in these problem spots? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As the Department of Transportation, we continue to monitor all our embankments on the highway system and make sure we have safe travelling public, proper drainage on the highway system, and we will continue to do that. I can update the Member after session if he wants to have a bigger discussion around this issue.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
