Tom Beaulieu

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m going to have the deputy minister or the director respond on the variance and the net fiscal benefit information and the Vote 1 revenues.

For the Detah road, we have all of the money in place now to reconstruct the Detah road completely.

We have some money in capital that we’ve spent and then the rest of it we’ve put in year one of the Building Canada Plan. This year when we did our first bundle, that’s work that’s going to be done under Building Canada Plan. The entire amount to finish that road, 100 percent, is in year one, so we’re pleased with that.

The Niven...

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.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Business between the government and the proprietors out at Airport Road is a relationship that probably shouldn’t be brought to the floor of the Legislative Assembly. I will check on that information and can advise the Member as to what the results of that are. Thank you.

If the proposal that the Member speaks of, the Canyon Creek proposal, that is to bring the very first access to gravel for the beginning of the Mackenzie Valley Highway coming from the north south, so if that does get funded – it is a substantive proposal – that would certainly be work enough in the Sahtu for a position to be in the Sahtu. However, at this time there is a little bit of planning money that’s been approved to start looking at that, and that’s a positive sign, but at this time we don’t have approval for the whole proposal. It would be kind of hypothetical for me to commit to...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. The department has reviewed the possibility of placing a regional office in the Sahtu. However, at this time, at the point of the last review it was determined that considering that there were not a lot of positions at airports that it was most feasible economically to keep that under the regional office in Inuvik and that there was no all-season road/highway activity in Norman Wells. The winter road season was only, well, as long as winter is, a couple of months, three months in some seasons, so we thought that it would be better to continue out of Simpson at this time...

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Today with me to my immediate right is Russell Neudorf, deputy minister, Department of Transportation; to my far right, Jim Martin, director of corporate services; to my left, Daniel Auger, assistant deputy minister, Department of Transportation. Daniel will be retiring in May so this will be his last appearance for the main estimates.