Tom Beaulieu

Thank you. The department is prepared to look at the cost of maintaining the stretch of highway from the ferry on the north side of the river to the old ice crossing. Right now the only program that we have available is a capital program, the Access Roads Program, and that would be something that would go to make sure that road doesn’t deteriorate and that would probably be summer work. But one of the main things where work is needed was to clear the snow. So we’re going to work with the community to, first of all, determine the cost of that because it’s not in any program, and then determine...

Thank you. The Department of Transportation has tried to find positions for individuals that were working on the ferry and the ice crossing. So at this point, the individuals that normally built the ice crossing will be given opportunities to assist on the Dempster ice crossing if they wish to do so. There were 13 employees on the ferry, most of them being casual employees, but three affected full-time employees. One retired. One of those positions was maintained by the department and another one had moved to run a different ferry, at Fort Simpson, actually. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we are aware that the Canadian Coast Guard is currently working on a place, so we will continue to engage them at that level.

Thank you. From what I understand, the Inuvik-Tuk highway is funded heavily by the federal government. The intention there is not solely for the extraction of materials. That highway is not going to be in and specifically designed for the resource developers to use. It is there to put a highway in to the Arctic Ocean.

So for sure resource developers will be using it, but it’s funded… Again, the majority of that road is funded by the federal government. They put the money in there. That’s why the road is being built, but it’s not really tied into the resource extraction in that area. Thank you.

Thank you. Although I haven’t gotten into the details, how I think it should work is if industry is bringing a lot of resources into the Territories, then the government should be there to support industry to allow industry easy access to resources so they’re able to pay for the resources that are taken off the land. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize two Pages from Lutselk'e: Nathan Catholique and Ethan Rambough.

Thank you. The Department of Transportation has certain load limits and certain speed limits on roads when there is hauling going on and so on. Those are designed to ensure that the roads do not fall apart and deteriorate quicker than is normally expected. So with the speed limits, the amount of weight that is carried on the tires that the truck is using and so on is all calculated so that the roads last a certain period of time. With those calculations, the Department of Transportation is not concerned that this piece of infrastructure will deteriorate any faster than what we anticipate...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A joint venture group has been building the secondary winter road on the Ingraham Trail to handle the increased traffic. However, the department understands that they will not be constructing that road, or unlikely that they will be constructing that road. The department’s first priority is safety and we will be looking at stepping up some of the highway patrols there and putting some people on there for security for 24 hours a day during the winter road season. However, the road is being rebuilt and I’m not sure that the increased traffic is going to do damage to the...

Mr. Speaker, improving the delivery of programs and services, especially to residents of smaller, remote communities, is an important goal for our government. Later this fiscal year the Department of Transportation will be providing residents with the option to access driver and motor vehicle services from the comfort of their homes, workplaces or from anywhere else with an Internet connection. Services will be available from any computer, smartphone or tablet with an Internet connection, and with expanding cellular coverage across the territory, that’s just about anywhere.

It has taken over...

Mr. Speaker, I’m not sure we spent a lot of time on tying in other professions going into the community. One of the main things that we’ve discovered, certainly, are that when the RCMP moves into a community, they often come with a spouse that is also a professional, whether a social worker or often a nurse, so we utilize that employee as well at that time. The problem with that is that the RCMP stay two years, or three years if they ask to stay the additional year. Often the partners of the other professionals that are coming into community also end up being short term. Thank you.