Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I agree with the Member. The contractors in the Sahtu that build the winter roads do a good job, a good job of maintaining it. Some years, depending on the volumes of snowfall largely determines some of the conditions. There is heavy snowfall at times, so the grading that is scheduled inside the contracts can’t keep up. On the other hand, sometimes there is a minimal amount of snowfall and that causes some of the road to be rough. We have to work with the conditions, do an estimate on what we think the standard is. We pretty well know. For example, last year people weren...

If it was viewed by the government that lease payments were not being made, then it becomes a problem lease. Then any of the departments would then go to the Finance department and have the Finance department’s collection division deal with it. So as soon as it’s identified as a problem lease, we would then move the file to Finance for collections.

I cannot confirm here whether or not the company that the Member refers to has lease arrears with the Department of Transportation. Thank you.

Thank you. The positions that are in Norman Wells are positions at the airport and airport operations. We could go back to the department, look at the airport operations. Right now, as the Member indicated, the individuals in Norman Wells report to the Inuvik office. So, if we looked at the reporting relationship from the airport in Norman Wells reporting to the airport division here in Yellowknife, if that’s the simple change that could be made without losing any efficiencies, we’ll look at that. Thank you.

We had received one proposal for sure going from Norman Wells south and also we have to discuss another proposal in Tulita going south again. Then there’s also another proposal for Fort Good Hope also heading south, so sort of on the Good Hope… With the exception of the Good Hope line, everything else would be on the Mackenzie Valley alignment. If we do fund those, it would be a substantial amount of summer work for sure, but right now we’re not in a position to fund any of those proposals. We’re looking at them and we’re talking with the federal government about the possibility of maybe...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. [Translation] We’re going to talk… [Translation ends]

Mr. Speaker, the second winter of construction on the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway Project is in full swing with our contractor working 24 hours a day, seven days a week from both Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk. Our contract partner, EGT Northwind, is focused on constructing new embankment and installing needed structures during the 20-week construction season, while continuing to train and employ Inuvik and northern residents on the largest new highway construction project underway in northern Canada.

Engineers with the...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The inconsistency, as the Member referred to it, of the work that’s been done on Highway No. 6, Highway No. 5, Highway No. 7, Highway No. 1, is we are following the flow of the money. We had some BCP money that expired. We had some and those highways didn’t have some money. But Highway No. 6, we think we have the money now to complete it to chipseal state. Highway No. 5, we have to deal with the federal government, Parks Canada, because Highway No. 5 runs through Wood Buffalo National Park. So we’ve been having discussions with the federal people about their...

Yes, I do, Mr. Chairman.

As I indicated, as soon as it’s identified that this is a problem lease, having issues with collecting lease payments, then any department, Transportation in this case, would then have the Department of Finance start collection procedures. As immediately as it’s identified as a problem we would then go for collections.

Usually it’s not an issue; people pay their leases. If a company was to fall into arrears, then as soon as the department identifies that as an arrears problem, then we would contact the company immediately and start taking action to recover our lease payments. Thank you.