Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I would welcome the opportunity to attend a visit to communities in the Member’s riding given that we are investing so heavily in his riding that we have the opportunity to share that information and to also discuss other issues that the Member has been raising over the last while and have a chance to talk to the leadership. So I would certainly accept the invitation and make arrangements to travel with the Member to his riding. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I can certainly commit to that. I think there is still a lot of time to do a proper consultation. We have done a lot of work in that area. There is a lot of discussion that has been happening with the different people in the community. It is our policy to make sure everybody is involved, including the MLAs. We will provide that information. We will make sure we have an actual date so that the Member is aware of it. We will make sure that there is no slippage on this project. Thank you.

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...

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...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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I haven’t seen what the Member is talking about, but the Member has told me three times now that there is a problem. I think the day after it was brought to our attention we had our people go out to the area that is of concern. There are some issues that have to be dealt with there. I believe we have a plan to remedy the situation, I just don’t have it with me today. I certainly can commit to providing that information to the Member about the project in my riding.

We certainly can commit to doing that. I think as a government we’re convinced that chipseal is a good way to protect the surface of the road. It’s also a safety mechanism in terms of dust suppressant. We don’t know what it’s going to cost to do it in the Delta. We need to find that out. We don’t know if it’s going to stand up in terms of having it built in that area of the NWT. Those things are going to be taken into consideration. We can’t commit that we’ll do it all this year but we can certainly do the planning, the costing, and try to include it in next year’s budget. We’ll commit to do...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think it is a great idea.

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Mr. Speaker, the Member has raised the issue of the Dempster for quite a few years now. We have been working hard to address some of the issues in terms of reconstruction that was required for that portion of the road in the North. It is something that has been quite challenging as finances have been difficult to acquire over the last while. We have managed to set a budget of I think about $8 million now annually to move a little quicker and getting more on that road. That has been our focus to respond to some of the concerns out...

Mr. Speaker, we have put a lot of energy in bridges and upgrading our highways outside of the Deh Cho Bridge. The Deh Cho Bridge, of course, has received most of the attention, but we did a lot of work on the Bear River Bridge, for example, right to the point of where we’re ready to do construction. However, we failed to attract federal investment and the project was priced out of our budgeting ability.

We have, to date, I think, built 39 bridges, mostly in the Member’s riding, so we have put a lot of attention, and, of course, not all of it is recognized and given credit for, but we are...

Right now we still continue to work on some of the Mackenzie Valley bridges through the Building Canada funding. I think we are going to have to see the Deh Cho Bridge come to a conclusion and regroup to see and revisit the concept of P3 to see if that’s still something that the Members of this House would support. Failing that, I guess we would have to wait for the federal government to provide money to build the bridges.