Michael McLeod

Mr. Chairman, the Yellowknife Airport development plan includes allowance for commercial development on the airport site more on the new bypass area. We have worked with the city for many years to avoid any type of disruption and we continue to look at air or related businesses that have some kind of function with the air industry and to do with the airport, and we will continue to try to focus in that area.

The Member has raised a question about the MOU. That is something this department follows. It was an agreement signed by our government and the people of the Sahtu. We have targets and track the amount of investment that goes to the aboriginal governments. Or I should say the Sahtu-based businesses. Right now in the Sahtu for the last year we expended 70 percent to those companies.

Mr. Speaker, depending on timelines and when the Member would like the information, we certainly commit to doing that. I am not sure if we have all the information to the point where we can predict that there is going to be a cost overrun, but we would certainly be willing and commit to sharing that information with the Member. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I’m assuming he’s talking about the Deh Cho Bridge. Our staff from the North Slave region are not participating on that project and they are not distracted in any form. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Member is correct; it has been fairly quiet. There hasn’t been a whole lot of discussion in the last several months. I think our opinion is that it is as a result of the economic downturn and I think as things pick up down the road we will resume discussions to see if this thing is workable. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, this was reviewed. We had staff take a look and provide us some recommendations. To date, it hasn’t been something that we feel that will have a lot of buy in. We are not convinced that it’s something that we would be successful in moving forward. Therefore, we’re not completely eliminating it, but we’re not going to be spending a lot of energy on something that we don’t think we’ll have put in place.

Mr. Chairman, the Member is correct; there is a whole lot of chipsealing going on and we would like to extend that into the Member’s riding in the Mackenzie Delta. We are well committed to doing the financial analysis. The Member has raised it before. We will look at the cost factor and look at the analysis of what it would take in terms of investment for chipsealing or Easy Street in the area of Fort McPherson. We are going to do that this summer, if that makes sense, and if we can demonstrate that there is some viability, then we will move to the next stage of trying to test an area in the...

Mr. Speaker, a lot of Members are asking me to state whether the project is going to be on time and on schedule with no cost overruns. That is something that I can’t guarantee. In this case, the project is on schedule and within budget. We don’t expect to see any cost overruns that we can recognize at this point. We will keep the Member informed. We will certainly do a review of that project as we move forward also. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, we are finalizing a lot of discussion with the development corporation of the area. There are a number of areas that we’re working on for gravel production and roadway construction and quarry site development. We will be bringing something to Cabinet for consideration. Also, to the question of can dollars be carried over, the answer to that is yes.

I agree, bridges are good, although fairly expensive. There has been some investigation on the Peel area, there is some technical research that has been done, we just need to be able to look at for the long term how we can accommodate that request. Thank you.