Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Transportation. I want to ask the Minister of Transportation questions on the Inuvik-Tuk highway.
Are we on schedule, on budget and on time to complete the highway as said in the House in previous years?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister of Transportation, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are on schedule, on budget and we expect to complete the highway the date indicated when we started the highway. Thank you.
I ask this question because I would dearly love to see the Mackenzie Valley Highway right after this project. The lessons we are learning on the Inuvik-Tuk highway, it would be good to transfer those lessons to the Mackenzie Valley Highway from Norman Wells going to Wrigley for a portion.
Are the recommendations that we are learning on the Inuvik-Tuk highway going to be solidified in the Mackenzie Valley Highway?
We are encouraging individuals who will be involved in the eventual construction of the Mackenzie Valley Highway to have discussion with the project company that is building the Inuvik-Tuk highway. We think there are lessons to be learned, especially in the type of equipment that’s purchased, as one example. We are hoping we are able to transfer a lot of knowledge from the construction of the Inuvik-Tuk highway down to any other major highway that we hope to construct in the future. Thank you.
Is the Minister receiving any type of signals from the federal government in respect to the proposal that is now in the office of the federal government?
Yes, we are. We’ve also had face-to-face discussions during NWT Days with the federal Minister of Transportation, Minister responsible for Infrastructure, which it is under his bailiwick.
We’re at a point now where we are looking at the business case that we’ve produced. The federal government has asked us for a business case. We’re able to produce a business case. It’s 300 pages long so it takes a lot of work to present this business case to the federal government, and it’s done. We are now looking at that to ensure that all the information that’s required from the federal government is in this business case. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Three hundred pages long, if we read one page a day I think we should get to it.
I want to ask the Minister, in the business case of the Mackenzie Valley Highway, as with the Inuvik-Tuk highway, are there pre-training types of employment opportunities for the Mackenzie Valley Highway in the business case with the Department of Transportation?
I think that’s one of the lessons that we will learn from the Inuvik-Tuk highway, what type of training should occur. Certainly any impacts on the economy, the economic impacts are part of the business case. So, training individuals, employment, on the site employment to the region and overall economic impacts of such a huge infrastructure project are certainly in the business case. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Hawkins.
