David Ramsay

Mr. Speaker, later today at the appropriate time, I will table a public discussion paper, entitled A Vision for Energy in the Northwest Territories: Developing the 2013 Northwest Territories Energy Plan. This paper is the first component of a multi-step process that will lead to the development of the 2013 Energy Plan. Residents, business, municipal governments, Aboriginal organizations and community groups are all invited to read this document and submit their comments to the government. The paper lays out five key questions on which the Government of the Northwest Territories is asking the...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Safety, of course, is the number one concern by the Department of Transportation. When we open the Deh Cho Bridge, it will open this month, and I will have an announcement next week to that regard.

We take safety into consideration. There are a number of engineers. We have project managers. We are not going to open the Deh Cho Bridge if it’s safe for traffic to cross that bridge.

There are a number of things that will be temporary. We have an electrical contract that we’ve let and hope to get that work done as soon as the weather permits in the spring.

The Member is...

Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to work with the Member and get him the year-end status report from Blackstone. To the letter that the Member cited, we have responded, as well, to those folks who stayed at Blackstone. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am aware of that complaint. We do get a lot of compliments on Blackstone as well, so I wanted to put that out there.

Just last week we approved the meager capital budget for ITI. It did include some money for Blackstone Park, replacement of the kitchen shelter facility at Blackstone as well as a contractor residence at Blackstone. It’s a beautiful park. We do need to find additional capital dollars every year and fight for those capital dollars to go into our parks and campgrounds around the NWT. Thank you.

ITI will continue to work with other departments in government to ensure that the social impacts of development in the Sahtu are addressed. We’ve done that. We’ve been leading the discussions with other departments. Undoubtedly, it is going to have an impact on other areas of our government’s operations, so it’s important that we stay on the same page, that we’re communicating with other departments on what’s happening there. We’ve done that this past year with what’s happening there this winter. Those discussions will continue to take place.

As I mentioned earlier, the $500 million was...

That $500 million socio-economic money was tied to the Mackenzie Gas Project. When we were in Norman Wells in September, there was some discussion about asking the federal government that what-ifs with what’s going on in the Sahtu. Could the federal government look at supplying some socio-economic money to the Sahtu given what’s happening there? That is a good question, Mr. Speaker. My belief is that things will continue to progress in the Sahtu. That money was tied to a pipeline and I still believe firmly that both Mackenzie gas in the Beaufort-Delta and gas that’s going to be produced from...

Thank you. That contract, that would be money that is included in the overall project cost. It wouldn’t be new money and it certainly would be included, and that is related to electrical type of work on the bridge itself. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we would anticipate that there wouldn’t be any incidents this coming winter on the structure. It’s located in close proximity to the community of Fort Providence. If you had an accident on the highway system between, say, Edzo and Fort Providence somewhere near Chan Lake, you’re a lot closer to help on the Deh Cho Bridge itself. So we don’t see that as a big issue. We don’t see that as an impediment to opening the bridge this month. The bridge will open and it will be safe to traverse. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, for that detail, I’ll get that from the department and the region. We’ll get that to the Member as well. I will let the Member know exactly what we plan to do there before next park season. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, before the parks close up each and every year, there is an inventory taken of necessary repairs that are required not just at Blackstone but at other territorial parks around the territory. We do our best with maintenance staff and contractors to ensure what can be fixed, with the budget that we have, is fixed and repaired before next park season begins. Thank you.