Michael McLeod

The campaign is very important to the department or we wouldn’t be doing it. There are a number of strategies and tactics that we have committed to provide. We need to get the information out into the public. Some of it we’ve already started. I certainly can provide a detailed information package to the Member.

We are, as I indicated, providing information to each community in the Northwest Territories. We have a window sticker campaign that is ongoing right now. We have news releases that are being developed on the new distracted driving law when and after the legislation takes effect. We have...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With that clarification, I think that’s what we were looking for.

Mr. Chairman, I believe there were a number of motions for amendment.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, also, to all the Members that made comments. This issue of distracted driving has certainly come forward as an emerging issue. When it was raised here several years ago there has been a lot of research done in here with distracted driving. We’ve had many organizations -- the NWT Association of Communities, we had the RCMP, people from SADD, the city -- come forward and bring some information that would support the need for new legislation. We also, of course, had many of the MLAs raise the issue and bring examples and also concerns by residents of the North...

Yes, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chairman, on my left I have Mr. Russell Neudorf, deputy minister of the Department of Transportation, and on my right I have Ms. Kelly McLaughlin, legislative counsel with the Department of Justice.

Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to present Bill 15, An Act to Amend the Deh Cho Bridge Act, which proposes amendments to update the act to reflect changes and advancements in the Deh Cho Bridge project. The Deh Cho Bridge will provide all-day, year-round access across the Mackenzie River, replacing the operations of the Merv Hardie Ferry and the Mackenzie River ice crossing, and this bill makes three main amendments to support these future operations.

First, all reference to the Deh Cho Bridge Fund is being removed. This special fund is no longer needed, now that the Government of the Northwest...

The answer is yes and yes and yes. I understand the Member’s sense of urgency wanting to have this advertised and documented. We have the plans to do so. We had wanted to have the legislation passed first, prior to getting this out in the public. We have started, and I’m sure the Member will be happy to see, further information being provided.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Member is correct; we had indicated that we would take on a number of initiatives to encourage people to leave their phone alone while they’re driving. It’s our goal to reduce the number of collisions in the Northwest Territories attributed to driver distraction. We have a number of objectives that we’ve set, and that is to have a large percentage of people acknowledging that distracted driving, driving with a phone or other electronic devices can cause harm, and that’s something they shouldn’t do.

We have also an objective to reduce the traffic collisions, by a...

Mr. Chairman, there was a reprint and I don’t believe that was the same document that was just referenced. If we could have Mr. Ian Rennie talk to the issue.