Norman Yakeleya

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it is due to budget constraints and certainly budget reductions in the department that is unable to use this machine at the Mackenzie ice crossing at Tsiigehtchic.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Member from Nunakput is also…I come from a region that faces challenges like this. I will be happy to look at that specific issue and work with the Member in terms of how we can serve the people of Paulatuk on this issue.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, certainly, once we have arranged our discussions and some final discussions with the Deh Cho Bridge Corporation, our staff, this government on this side here, then we would produce the concession agreement for the Members here. I cannot say right now as to when those timelines would be stated as we still need to meet with the bridge corporation and work on some of those issues that would see a conclusion to this concession agreement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Member for Mackenzie Delta for the question. Mr. Speaker, I had driven last year on the Dempster Highway. I know what the Minister is talking about first hand in terms of the conditions on the Dempster Highway. Mr. Speaker, our department’s first priority, of course, to all residents who are travelling our highway, is safety. Safety is number one in our books in terms of our transportation system. I would say that we didn’t do any work on the Dempster Highway in terms of putting calcium coating on the surface of the Dempster and the reconstruction of...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I certainly would rely on the Member’s support when we started looking at these types of a strategy. However, Mr. Speaker, I need to remind the Members, and remind the people in the Northwest Territories, that we need to continue investing down the Mackenzie Valley in terms of all our infrastructure and sometime we need to go back to the very basics of looking at the regions that do not have any type of all-weather road into the communities. However, I will keep that in mind when we come to that discussion when we have our regular meetings with committee in...

Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I also say, you know, we can have bad roads and existing roads, but some regions have no roads. So I’d like to look at that also in terms of how we do our investments of highway strategies in the Northwest Territories. Certainly, we’ll continue to improve what we have in the Northwest Territories in terms of a highway. There will be some areas that we need to do some reconstruction. We need to do some dust control. We need to do some further maintenance on some of the paved roads. Certainly, providing that we get the support from the House here and working with...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the members of the public that the department does due diligence in terms of inspecting all of our facilities, all our highways. For example, yesterday, because of the low water in the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence, we were unable to operate our ferry because there are things that are beyond the department’s control. Ultimately, I am responsible, as the Minister of Transportation, and I certainly treat our operations as very professional and in that we have read good reports. This culvert was inspected. We’re looking at future...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I had indicated earlier in my questions to other Members, that safety is a priority for the department and through the department’s maintenance and operation lifecycles that inspections are made on all our facilities in the Northwest Territories throughout; well-checked, well-operated…(inaudible)…in terms of all of our facilities and existing infrastructures. Yes, these inspections were carried out in accordance with our department’s safety policy.

Mr. Speaker, I’m going to gladly take up the Member’s offer. I’m planning, actually, to see if I can drive all the highways in the Northwest Territories. I also plan to sit down with the Member and have a discussion about the future work that may happen in Pine Point. I look forward to working with committee on advancing some of the infrastructure needs with this government here. Certainly, the committee Members would be most important to my department in these types of discussions we have on infrastructure.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to assure the Member for Tu Nedhe that my officials will continue monitoring all the infrastructure of highways, marinas, airport facilities in the North, and that Highway No. 6 is one of the areas that we are paying close attention to. The challenge, of course, is to find the funding to improve our existing highways and respond to the demands of all our needs in the Northwest Territories. I look forward to discussing transportation funding priorities with the committees when we have that time.