Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to ask several questions about the department here. The first has to do with the safety of the winter roads in terms of the region I represent, Sahtu region.

The winter roads have seen an increase in traffic and activity. We also have seen a number of projects happen that would improve and enhance the quality of our roads. I would like to see if there are going to be continued road safety signs; realigning the roads from the curbs, from the hills; and what this department proposes to do with the amount of traffic. We saw last year in Sahtu heavy equipment passing...

Is our DPW building included in this decrepitude? It’s also in desperate need of replacement. These are the Minister’s words, how he describes buildings in some of our small communities. That’s a good word to use for some of our facilities in our communities. I want to thank the Minister for explaining to me what the government is looking at in terms of this project being on the books.

I also want to echo Mr. Jacobson that some of our own buildings, even in our small communities, don’t seem to get much high priority in terms of fixing up our facilities here. I understand about Inuvik, and I...

Mr. Chair, the unsolicited discussions that you’ve termed this way, the discussions with these people…. Have there been serious discussions with the private people saying, “We know the amount; can we sit down and have some further discussions to come to an agreement we can live by in terms of providing this type of service to the government?” Has that been discussed further in terms of seriously looking at the request you have in here in PWS?

Mr. Chair, just before I close, I had somewhat of a brief discussion last summer with a representative from the Department of Indian Affairs, when they were doing the assessments at mile 70. Two people from my community came with me. There was a rough estimate of what it will cost to clean up the CANOL Trail. The trick is how do you get into the CANOL Trail.

That’s what my people want — to have some involvement. We talk about having some cleanup. What are we talking about? What is it that people are involved in? Brush cutting? Cleaning up the wire? How do you pick up the old, old vehicles, old...

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Doi T’oh Canyon territorial park, I would like to ask the Minister his plans for infrastructure on that.

I heard the Minister of ITI talk about some of the challenges with the federal government in terms of land ownership, cleaning up that park. That proposed park certainly has some interest by the people in the Tu Nedhe district in terms of ownership through our land claims. However, we don’t want to take over a garbage dump, as the trail is being known as, because of the contaminated soil, drums. Everything needs to be cleaned up before we take over that park.

In...

I appreciate the Minister’s response of not losing sight — it might be a little foggy right now — of how you get this bridge in place. but, Mr. Chairman, I am looking at it in terms of the amount of investment that could and should continue to go into the Sahtu region.

I have these bridges in place. We know the bridges are being built in the Sahtu region, because we drive by them and we see them. We certainly appreciate them. When the bridge isn’t put at Tulita to connect to Norman Wells, we know the amount of time for the local contractors, the local businesses…. Each day they lose thousands...

There are lots of bridges, and people are very happy that the Blackwater bridge is being looked at. But I’m saying this bridge has been sitting there for about two years. It’s been sitting there. How long does it take an engineer to say, “We want to build approaches on both ends to complete it”? I don’t want to get into too much detail on the Oscar Creek Bridge in terms of the work that needs to get done there, but by God, you have to have that work done in the next couple of months. It’s been sitting there for two years.

Blackwater is not even on the banks of the Blackwater River, yet now let...

We certainly look forward to the department’s initiatives with the community; safety initiatives they could also implement from the community in terms of what safety initiatives could be undertaken. The community has some fairly good ideas about what should be done and what can be done. Some of the signs on the Mackenzie Valley road up in my region are on trees. Sometimes those signs fall down for whatever reason. We want to look at some of those signs in terms of safety measures.

The deputy minister alluded to the bridge program, and we certainly appreciate the bridge program coming to our...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I certainly have some thoughts about this motion. I thought about the highways in all the Mackenzie Valley in the north, and I’m going to not support this motion.

I think this motion should look at other highways. I also mentioned before that the Dempster Highway up in Inuvik certainly needs some work, especially with dust control. I have seen it. That’s a whole region that has been in the dust for a long time in terms of the use of that highway. I certainly understand Mr. Menicoche’s concerns about this situation. I’ve been made aware of it.

However, for myself, I look...

Just before the question, Mr. Chair, I guess I’m looking at, in terms of this motion here, the fairness. There are some processes, certain ways of getting to the capital. You have to wait for the usual process of going through a business plan and getting the support. There are several projects that seem to have gone out of the usual process to get into the capital budget. I don’t mind. That’s the way things are dealt with in here. We have certain projects in Yellowknife here that got on the books, and they’re spending money here and certainly in the Inuvik region also.

I’ve been to Inuvik; I’ve...