Michael McLeod

Mr. Speaker, I’m just wondering if we’re looking at the same picture. The Member did send a picture to my office and there was some water, but there was lots of ice on both sides of the channel. So I guess that I have to ensure that we’re looking at the same image that he’s talking about.

Mr. Speaker, he’s correct; there was a date set for closure. Notice has been given for Saturday. But there has been some consideration, since the weather has warmed up, and we expect that we can squeeze a few more days out of the operations there and we will do our best to continue operations. Mr. Speaker, we...

The bridge project is still on budget and it’s still on schedule. We anticipate that there are going to be some delays as the review of the design required some changes. That’s being done. We expect that to be completed and final revisions by December or January and any further changes to the contracts will be out by March. So we expect that there will be a delay of at least a half a year or more, probably that it will be one year. That shouldn’t reflect in any additional costs.

The cost that is of concern is the first payment that is going to become due in December of 2010 and that’s going to...

Mr. Speaker, our contract with the Deh Cho Bridge, or our agreement is with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation. They provide all the oversight in terms of construction, design and onsite management. We do have staff people who are dedicated to this project and working very closely. We do provide a review of all invoicing. We do provide a review of all changes that are made and things of that nature, so we are quite involved. We have a person strictly dedicated to this project. Thank you.

Other jurisdictions have engaged in the process. Right now there’s only, I think, five companies that are considered to be certified. We are looking at the consequences of what it would mean to all the different departments involved and communities and their different contractors and different sizes of contractors. So it’s something being considered right now and we’ll be looking at it very seriously. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the answer is yes, we are considering it at this point.

Mr. Chairman, we have had correspondence back and forth on this issue. The Member has raised concern regarding the condition of this operator’s shelter in one of his communities and we have indicated to him that we’d be making some minor upgrades to ensure that the building continues to be useful and viable. This project is in our plans, in our five-year capital needs, and is scheduled to begin in 2011. So we’re very reluctant to invest a whole lot of money as this building is going to be replaced very quickly. Thank you.

I’m glad that several Members have raised the issue and concern regarding the amount of funding in the Access Road Program during our presentation. Yesterday it was raised by a number of Members also. So I certainly will have a discussion with our officials in the Department of Transportation and also people in Finance for consideration for the next budget that comes forth. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the payment is going to be the subsidy that is going to be provided to the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, $2 million and a portion of the operations that we currently operate right now through the ferry service and the ice bridge construction, minus the operation of the toll that we are going to be holding back. We expect that to be around $300,000. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That’s a difficult question to answer, as I sit as a member of that committee and so does the Member that’s asking the question. Certainly I think this is a very worthy discussion that needs to take place and I certainly would be pleased to be part of that discussion with the Rural and Remote committee. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I believe I said the payment was due in December for $2.5 million.