Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have some questions for the Minister of Infrastructure. It might be better suited to the Minister of ENR, but I've been assured by his staff that the Minister of Infrastructure can answer at least part of these questions. It's about the highway closure on Highway 35 in Alberta. Now, there's a concern that Highway 35 leads out of Alberta, and there's really not a lot of Alberta infrastructure north of that highway, but for us in the territory, that highway is very important. There is some concern that maybe Alberta isn't putting the resources in there they could be to put that fire out so that we can open that highway up. Would the Minister of Infrastructure be able to give us an update on what the Government of Alberta is doing in order to put that fire out so that we can open the highway up? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Infrastructure.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As we talked about this yesterday in the House, and I think this is timely to have this question anyway to inform everyone what's going on. The Alberta government has reassured us that they are in full response of this fire. They have their own incident management team managing the fires in Alberta. They are well aware of the situation that's going on there, and I think the whole country is quite concerned about what is going on down there. I have talked to an ENR minister in his department to get an update on all activities on what's going on, and the Department of ENR has a resource-sharing agreement with the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, and we have mutual sharing aid agreements across this country. The Government of the Northwest Territories has exported to Fort McMurray, because that's where the Alberta government has asked them to send them, but we have exported an information officer. We have exported one complete Fire Boss group consisting of an air attack officer and four air tankers and a Bird Dog plane. ENR is also committed at this time to offer four crews, which would be up to 20 firefighters, which are going to be available starting Monday, June 3rd, with the expectation that, every two weeks, we would be rotating out the firefighters.
It doesn't sound like we're directly dealing with the fire, but we're sending resources down there where they're needed so Alberta can put resources toward the Steam River fire. Is the GNWT coordinating with the Government of Alberta to implement a plan to begin allowing motorists to travel along that highway by night with a convoy, or at least to let essential goods down that highway?
Again, to update the House, as of yesterday, the Alberta government, it's their fire. It's their jurisdiction, and they're in charge of things. They are escorting essential goods through this section of highway for the residents of the Northwest Territories as long as it's safe to do so, and as of yesterday, we're doing that. We are also communicating all these messages, as I said yesterday, publicly through Twitter, our online road map system, messaging boards and such, so the travelling public knows what's going on. There will be questions, I suspect, about Highway No. 7 through the Fort Liard region. That route is certainly open. I've had a few people phone me, and the Member made the statement today, it's double the mileage, but at this point right now, if you want to drive back and forth to either BC or Alberta, you're going to have to use Highway No. 7. That is the only available route at this point.
In addition to the highway being out, the railroad is closed, and not necessarily from the Steam River fire but from the High Level fire. As we learned yesterday, the rail bridge at Steam River was consumed by fire, apparently. Does the Minister know how long it would take CN to repair its railways after they have access to it? Because, if they have to rebuild the bridge, there might be other sections, and I'm just wondering how far behind this could put us in terms of the marine resupply.
Yes, the Member is right. I got a picture sent to me today of the trestle actually burning to the ground there. Actually, the fire was so hot that it warped the railroad, so there's going to be significant work that is going to have to go into this, and we're in constant contact with CN, and keep updated on how they're going to address this situation.
As far as the fuel goes, we've already got hold of the fuel supplier, and they have activated their fuel response team. They reassure us that they've got a trucking solution already put into place to get the fuel to Hay River to try to meet our barge schedule and maintain it as close as possible. We don't foresee that as being a concern at this point right now. As it is going to have to be trucked in the short term, the fuel supplier told us and reassured us that they are going to do that, and they expect to have trucks rolling as soon as tomorrow. As I've said, at this point right now, essential goods and fuel will be escorted through the fire situation at this point unless it gets too dangerous, and we're also looking at a long-term trucking solution to be able to meet our sailing schedule and work with CN.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Hay River North.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know, I think, rail is probably the cheapest way to ship goods, so there's probably an increased cost associated with trucking the fuel, I guess, around the Liard Highway. I know last year we discussed trucking fuel to Inuvik, and it was about an additional $600,000. Does the Minister know what the cost implications would be for trucking as opposed to using rail?
Last year when we had those discussions, that was to meet the emergency need, what it would have been to truck it around. It was a hypothetical question, I guess, if we trucked our fuel and staged it out of Inuvik. This situation with delivery of fuel to the Hay River port, I'm going to have to check with our procurement people and see where the delivery of fuel is actually supposed to be. It may be that this extra cost might be burdened by the Government of the Northwest Territories. It might actually be on the supplier of the fuel. I'll have to get that information and get that back to the Member. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
