Michael McLeod

Thank you. The cost for the new plate and the manufacture and associated paperwork is $10, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. If Quebec drives over the cliff I would encourage the Member not to follow them. Mr. Speaker, the Member raises examples from other jurisdictions then wants to bow out when I retaliate and show him that he is wrong in his answers. Mr. Speaker, the reality is we’re doing as well or better than other jurisdictions and we should recognize that.

That is a good question. Mr. Speaker, the company that we had a contract with for many, many years out of Edmonton gave us notification several years ago that they would not be producing new plates for us, we would have to find a new company and the equipment they were utilizing was to the point in the lifecycle that it needed to be replaced. At any rate, even if we maintained the old plate, the cost would have been probably either the same as what we’re charging now, $10, or more.

We’ve gone to new material. We are no longer using steel for our plates. We are using aluminum. We’ve moved away...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the intent of designing a new plate and having the general public perhaps have limited input as we went forward was to retain the shape, of course, of the polar bear and at the same time increase the safety of the plate and allow the RCMP to be able to view the plate under limited light situations. Our intent is to have all plates in the Northwest Territories replaced over the next 18 months. So as you come forward to renew your plates and have a new plate issued, we think we will be able to capture all the plates that need to be replaced by December 2011...

There are roughly 30,000 plates that will be issued over the next 18 months and all the revenue that’s collected is intended to pay for the actual cost of producing that plate and that’s where the dollars will go. This is not intended to generate any additional revenue except for cost recovery. Thank you.

I thought I had answered that question. Mr. Speaker, the intent is to have everybody replace the old plate with the new design, the new colours and the new plates we wanted to have on all the travelling public, all the vehicles on the road on our highway systems that are registered in the NWT replaced by 2011. So if the person is required to re-register the vehicle, they would have to get a new plate. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to provide information on the new and improved NWT licence plate that will be available to the public starting July 1st of this year.

The Department of Transportation has been working closely with groups across the NWT, and has consulted with the RCMP, Municipal Enforcement and the Royal Canadian Legion, NWT Tourism, commercial carriers, manufacturers and other Canadian jurisdictions to update our licence plate and bring it up to current design standards.

Our shift to a new licence plate began when the discussions with the manufacturer of our current plate...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I am trying to remember if the Member asked this once or twice before. Mr. Speaker, I could actually go to our staff and get some firm dates of when we are anticipating the contract to start. The contract went out for tender last year, I believe. We have a contractor that was awarded the contract, except timing of the season and weather do not permit or was not favourable to move that forward, so we expect that would happen as soon as the weather warms up and the conditions are favourable; early in the summer season or late spring I would anticipate. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t have a date for the Member. There is a review team that is looking at the different proposed sites. Depending where the hospital will be located, it may require further relocation. For example, if the site where the ENR facilities are at currently, if that is the area that is going to be chosen, then it will require either a co-location or movement of some of the facilities off that base site. That hasn’t been decided yet.

I think we expect to have some reports fairly quickly in the next couple of weeks. We are waiting for that information. We would need to have it in a...

I’m familiar with where the Paradise...

---Laughter

...the problem is and I will certainly stop and take a look at it. In fact, the next time I’m in the area I will go there with some of our officials and take a look at it personally.