Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier I spoke about some of the issues surrounding the GNWT's Marine Transportation Services division, and I have questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. I am not going to ask the Minister about the $1.3 million in outstanding property taxes because I have already asked him about that in this House. I have asked the Minister of MACA, I have asked the Minister of Finance, and I have got a resounding "tough luck" from all of them. We will start off with some easy questions, and this is just for the information of residents who have been asking. How many people can we expect hired in Hay River by the Marine Transportation Services this year? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Our projections for the work force coming this year are roughly around 145 employees, and I can actually update the House a little bit. So far, to date, our work force is probably about halfway to where it needs to be to get up to full operation, but, up to date, 34 millers have been hired, as well.
As I also mentioned, when people are looking for employment, they have to send their resumes to Newfoundland because there is a crew company that we have contracted there, apparently. What are we paying this crew company to do that we cannot do locally?
As all Members know in this House, we bought the assets of NTCL in late December to bring the shipping season. The most important critical thing for us this year was to concentrate and get supplies to all of the communities that rely on the marine transportation industry. We have had to outsource the work force hiring, and that was to the company in Newfoundland the Member is referring to, ORSI. They subsequently had people sending resumes to Newfoundland, but, since then, I can update this House that they have a staff member sitting in Hay River that will receive resumes, and you can just go down to the shipyard and drop off your resume.
That is good to hear. I will move on to another topic related to the division. There are companies that are chomping at the bit to come up here and clean up Old Town, take the scrap metal, take the barges that have been sitting there for seven years. These are metal recycling companies. When are we going to get Old Town cleaned up? When can this process start because people are ready to go right now?
I know there are a lot of exciting things coming forward with the marine transportation thing now in the hands of the Government of Northwest Territories, and we are proceeding on a number of these fronts. Like I said, we are concentrating on getting the shipping season out in front of us and getting stuff to the communities, which is the most important thing.
We are working alongside with my colleague beside me, the Minister of ENR, on a phase 2 environmental assessment of all of the properties that are in Hay River and identifying any hazardous material that is on these potential properties. We will do an assessment, and we are hoping to have this assessment done by later this fall. In the short term, part of the cleanup, there are a number of barrels on site there, and we are working on cleaning those up right now. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have another question. This is actually a pretty serious topic in Hay River. I have heard from various businesses that there are concerns about MTS' rates for deck cargo. For the last four or five years, I believe, NTCL was raising their rates, and last year alone, they increased it by 10 per cent. People are concerned that, if MTS is aligning their prices with NTCL's, they are not only pricing themselves out of the market but people are going to go through other places in Hay River to get their goods. This is a serious concern, so what is the department doing to ensure that MTS' shipping rates for deck cargo are competitive? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have set the rates this year based on the 2015 NTCL rates, along with CPI. That is what has given us this rate. We have to do this first year of operations to determine what it will cost us to run this operation and what is going to be the ongoing funding to make this thing sustainable. At the end of this coming season, we will be able to have a look at what the rates are, and, if there is an opportunity to pass on the cost-of-living relief to residents of the NWT, we will do so. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
