David Ramsay

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Further to my Return to Written Question 6-17(4), I wish to table the following document, entitled Mackenzie Valley Winter Road.

Mr. Speaker, it would have been a year worth of tolls on the bridge. It would have been a year’s worth of interest paid on that money which would have well exceeded the $7.6 million the Member talks about. That bridge is open. Again, it’s serving the public of the Northwest Territories doing what it was supposed to do and intended to do. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The public in the Northwest Territories, the transportation companies, everybody has access to the Deh Cho Bridge. It has been open since November 30th. That is a great benefit to the residents here in the Northwest Territories. We got the bridge open on November 30th of 2012. Had we chosen a different path as the Member suggests, we would still be in court, the bridge wouldn’t be open and we’d still be asking ourselves many questions. Thank you.

I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Territorial Parks Act, be read for the second time.

This bill amends the Territorial Parks Act to provide the superintendent with authority to issue orders respecting fines in territorial parks, provide that registered owners of motor vehicles are liable for contraventions involving their vehicles, and add a power to make regulations respecting the setting, use and extinguishment of fires in parks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Inuvik Twin Lakes, that Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Territorial Parks Act, be read for the first time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek consent to proceed with second reading of Bill 2, An Act to Amend the Territorial Parks Act.

Mr. Speaker, it is monitored. It is reported and tabled in this House. As to how they validate the numbers, I’d have to go back to the department and try to get a better understanding of exactly how they monitor and whether or not they follow each and every employee away from work and find out where they go and whether or not they have a NWT driver’s licence or health care card. That I’m not 100 percent sure of, but I will find out. Thank you.

We have invited Minister Lebel north. Hopefully, he has some time this summer to journey to the Northwest Territories. Failing that, we’re trying to line up some more meetings in Ottawa with Minister Lebel and other Ministers. Certainly, if we can make a plan here before next fall and the timing is right, if the Member would like to accompany me to a meeting to talk about dredging and a program to dredge the port of Hay River with Minister Lebel, we can certainly look at that. We do need millions and millions of dollars to accomplish this. It’s not something that’s in the financial means of...

All we have allotted in this year’s budget would be $60,000. It would cost $3 million or $4 million to take a good run at a program to start with in the port of Hay River. It’s something that currently is the responsibility of the federal government. Again, we need to continue that dialogue. I know we’ve met in the past with Minister Lebel, and more recently with the parliamentary secretary, Mr. Steven Fletcher. We have to continue to impress upon the federal government the importance of dredging here in the Northwest Territories and, specifically for the Member’s point today, the port of Hay...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I represent the riding of Kam Lake in this Legislative Assembly and it’s a great riding full of great people, but it certainly has two great schools and one of those schools is well represented here in the gallery today, and that’s N.J. Macpherson. I just wanted to thank all the students, staff and parents that are up there for coming out here today to support Anti-Bullying Day.