Tom Beaulieu

The very initial discussions that we had was dredging is commonly done on a five/six year basis. A lot of dredging has to occur for the whole Mackenzie River right away. So not only the Hay River Harbour but there are some spots along the Mackenzie River. So, likely it would be multi-year dredging. But it’s really early to get into it because we need to figure out who’s going to pay for the equipment if the federal government will participate. If we participate, do we come forward with money here in the House? I suppose that’s part of the process. So those questions have to be answered and a...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Today we celebrate the 5th Annual Minister’s Culture and Heritage Circle. In Minister Lafferty’s absence, I would like to recognize the recipients of this year’s awards. In the Youth category: the 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Am NWT Youth Ambassadors. Of the 32 youth ambassadors from across the NWT, there are four here today representing the group: Stacie Bengts of Yellowknife, Ryan Tourangeau of Fort Smith, Jacob Peffer of Inuvik, Karl Gardlund of Yellowknife. In the Elder category: Jeanna Graham from the Hay River Reserve. Individual category: Berna Beaulieu from Behchoko...

We can, as the GNWT, bring them to the table and ask them to come to the table. But again, it would be their call on whether or not they wish to attend such a meeting. But we can, as the GNWT, invite them to come. Thank you.

Yes, it is. Once the planning study is done and the peer review has indicated that this is going to go into a capital plan, then the people that are putting the project together will consult with the community. Thank you.

I can have that discussion with the department again. We felt like there was no real value in continuing to do a retrospective analysis. We are busy. There are a lot of projects on the go, and the department felt that with the retrospective lessons learned and the Deh Cho Bridge lessons learned, the Levelton Report before we took over and the Auditor General’s report at the point we took over were sufficient for us to move forward, was sufficient to provide information.

The Member is correct that doesn’t cover the financial and the political perspective of what occurred with the bridge, and I’m...

We do have that information on our DOT website. We felt that individuals who wish to determine what the issues were could find that information in a lot of different places. We looked at a retrospective analysis as a tool for ourselves when we move forward. It appeared that the main issues that people in the House felt that there was something wrong with the Deh Cho Bridge. What we were saying is the issue was that the contractor changed midstream, that the project authority changed in midstream. That is what seemed to be the issue.

As far as the department goes, we felt we did a very good job...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I don’t have the information here in the House with me on how far along the department is in producing a discussion paper for the Assembly. I will talk to Public Works today to find out if I can get an update for the Members in the House and provide that early next week. Thank you.

I don’t know specifically which lessons were learned from the very inception of the Deh Cho Bridge, but we do have lessons learned. They are on the website. We have made several presentations. The department of highways and marine division of Department of Transportation made a presentation on the Deh Cho Bridge Lessons Learned. That is on the website. Retrospective Lessons Learned on the Deh Cho Bridge, again prepared by the Department of Transportation, is on our website. The Auditor General’s report is also on the website. We charted out the recommendations of the Auditor General’s report...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I don’t believe I said that the community or the public did not deserve a retrospective analysis. I indicated that we had done some work with the Auditor General in looking at the bridge at the point when we took the bridge over from another project authority and changed the contractor. We also had a report done by independent people, the Levelton Report that was done from the time the bridge started until we took over the bridge, and DOT had done a couple of reports on lessons learned. I felt that that was sufficient for us to move forward using that bridge as lessons...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, we can provide that information before the end of session.