Tom Beaulieu

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.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to present the 2015-2016 Main Estimates for the Department of Transportation. These estimates propose an operating budget of $119.5 million for 2015-2016, a decrease of $6.7 million, or 5.3 percent, from the 2014-2015 Main Estimates. Although, this includes budget reductions of almost $1.2 million, the reductions proposed have been selected to minimize the impact on the transportation system while maintaining safety and service levels that communities and industry rely on.

The department operates the NWT public transportation system to provide for the safe...

I know that the department is up to speed on occupational health and safety of the employees of the public service. If this is something that can be done and something that employees in Human Resources will benefit from, thus benefitting all public servants in the GNWT, then I will speak to the senior management to get their feeling on whether or not they feel it would be beneficial to the staff there to take this course. Thank you.

I am not familiar with the national standard of Canada for psychological health and safety in the workplace. However, the Department of Human Resources I’m sure is up to speed on all of those types of reports or standards that have been released. Again, I can ask the department to bring me up to speed and, if need be, bring the Members up to speed as well. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Transportation is updating its Multi-Modal Transportation Strategy that will guide further development of our integrated air, road, rail and marine systems over the next 25 years. Engaging stakeholders and the public so we understand their priorities and needs has been a critical part of the process. Later this afternoon I will table the NWT Transportation Strategy 2015-2040 Stakeholder Engagement Report summarizing what the Department of Transportation heard during the initial phase of public engagement held in the fall of 2014. The strategy will be regularly...

Mahsi cho, Mr. Speaker. I wish to table the following document, entitled “NWT Transportation Strategy, 2015-2040 – Public and Stakeholder Engagement Report, February 2015.”

It’s quite possible that the department is up to speed on that report. Myself, I’m not. If we are not and if the Department of Human Resources is not familiar with the report, I will ensure the deputy is able to transmit that to the department so members who are working with the public service are well aware of this standard. Thank you.