Kevin A. Menicoche

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I want to assure to the Member that the money that was designated for the Bear River Bridge did not get reallocated somewhere else. Well, the money in the bridge program stayed in the bridge program for our roads north up the Mackenzie Valley, Mr. Speaker. Of the $25 million from the Bear River Bridge, that had to be reallocated to three other bridges on our Mackenzie Valley winter road system, Mr. Speaker, and that’s where the allocations got reallocated to. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Once again, the Bear River Bridge is a priority in this...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As such, it’s a priority in the CSIF strategy document for our government to build that bridge and it still is a priority for us to construct the Bear River Bridge. However, financing right now due to increasing inflationary pressures have put it out of reach of our current budget and that’s what we’re looking at right now, Mr. Speaker. Thanks.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Our Chipseal Program is something that we monitor. There is a five-year cycle for it; it takes about five years for the chipseal…It does deteriorate. We do have an annual budget to address this on Highway No. 3. that’s about $650,000 to $700,000. The first sections that were done on Highway No. 3 were about five years ago and we’re addressing those right now, Mr. Speaker. Mahsi.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The department takes great pride in all its projects. We complete them to the best of our ability and we will continue to do so. We pride the contractors that work for our department as well. The Member did mention that climate change is affecting the highway and we do maintain that, as well, Mr. Speaker. There are many, many ice lenses that were discovered during construction and we continue to repair those and mitigate them as conditions dictate. Mahsi.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The developments in Nunavut are all part of the joint venture plans. It’s something that government is outside the process. It’s their initiative and if that’s what they would like to plan for and proceed with, they can do that. But as for ourselves, we have been working closely with the Tlicho chiefs and we have established the steering committee to look at the Tlicho road studies and we have been to the communities to advise them and discuss this project. There is a draft consultation plan, which we have yet to go over one more time and that’s the...

Mr. Speaker…(English not provided)

Mr. Speaker, the roads to the Tlicho area are very important and we have been working very hard with the Tlicho Government to that respect. We have set up a Tlicho Road Studies Committee and we have been meeting early in the summer and we do have another meeting planned for the last week in August. Mahsi.

Thank you very much there, Mr. Speaker. Our department continues to work with the joint venture study and our most recent meeting we had was in July. We met with the joint venture to look at their study. Their option is the seasonal over-land route, which is realigning the road off the lakes and streams so they can add more days for transporting their freight up to the mines. That’s the short-term solution that’s being offered and we are working closely with them, Mr. Speaker. Thanks.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I rise to express my well wishes to four couples in my riding who were married recently and to a dear friend who will marry this weekend. In Fort Liard, Mr. Speaker, I have Mr. Marc Schmitz married to Ms. Alana Harris, Mr. Jonathon Buckley who married Ms. Stacey McLeod; and in Fort Simpson, Mr. Michael Canney married to Ms. Lyn Wharton, as well as last weekend Mr. Colin Munroe to Miss Leah Keats. This coming weekend, a close friend of mine, Miss Lisa Lafferty to be married to a Michael Tetso. I wish to congratulate these families, every happiness and wish them...

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I’ll be pleased to add that to the agenda at our upcoming meeting. Mahsi.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. The Tlicho road studies and the $460,000 contribution from the federal government, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. It’s a study to assess the routes to the Tlicho communities. I think the important message here, Mr. Speaker, is that Tlicho communities will be getting seasonal roads in the long term, Mr. Speaker, and with or without the mines running through them, without the mine road running through there, and it will be a priority of our government, improving the access to all Tlicho communities and we will begin talking about it in the business...