Wally Schumann

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If we are talking about the Whati road, that is built in with the P3 project. They are responsible for that road for the next 25 years. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Economic Advisory Committee is going to be meeting on November 2nd and, probably sometime maybe in late November, that's when we'll be able to share it with committee or with Regular Members. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like I have said, that is something we can look at considering doing. I would be interested to see what the general public thinks about us doing that. I have talked to lots of people about this section of highway; they are not scared to come up to me and talk to me about this section of highway right across the Northwest Territories, not just Yellowknife, Hay River, general public travelling back and forth, and it is something we can consider doing. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize Charles Thornton, Ph.D., P.E., from Easton, Maryland; Larry Grimms from Haymarket, Virginia; Darrell Beaulieu, president and CEO of Denendeh Investments; Margaret Gorman, chief operating officer, Denendeh Investments; and Dave Ramsay, director of Denendeh Investments. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following two documents entitled "Tabled Document 456-18(2), NWT Oil and Gas Annual Report 2016" and "Tabled Document 457-18(2), Northwest Territories Geological Survey Strategic Plan 2017-2022." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are always committed to improving our communications, as I said in this House on a number of occasions, to update residents and tourists in particular on this section of road in the wintertime, which is, as I've mentioned in the House, how the numbers are increasing in the use of this road, winter operators and general public who also use this highway. We will continue to work on our communications plan.

We have our digital signage that's out at the entrance of Highway No. 4; that will be placed there again once the season gets going. We have Twitter. We use radio. We use our website to give...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We continue to do extensive safety and structural improvements on Highway No. 4. As most Members of this House know, we have invested roughly $2 million per year on ongoing reconstruction of this section of road.

To update Members, this year we have completed road widening, structural strengthening, drainage improvements, resurfacing. Application of chipseal and guard rail installation were needed on kilometre 46 to 49. We have also, like I said, done impressive amounts of chipseal, of overlay, this year from kilometre 7 to 22, along with our ongoing patching of potholes...

I'm not aware of this concern. The bridge is built within normal sloping operating grades and, I suspect anyone who has a Class 1 driver's licence operating should have the skills to navigate the slope of that bridge.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As part of our bridge monitoring inspection regime, we've been closely monitoring the side slopes on the approaches and the embankment movements of the Deh Cho Bridge. Some longitudinal cracks have appeared and we've been observing them on the bridge approaches, and as a proactive and preventive measure of our ongoing part of our maintenance program, we're working to stabilize these approaches and embankments to stop future cracking of the longitudinal cracks that are appearing.

As to the contractor that's on-site, they are called GeoStabilization International. This was...

Mr. Speaker, our government has committed in its mandate to supporting exploration and the mining sector. It is the lifeblood of our economy. Our people and businesses are innovative, self-sufficient, and resilient, and want to do their part to contribute to a strong Northwest Territories. We need the kind of well-paying, long-term jobs that come with sustainable economic development, and our government is working towards economic self-determination for all NWT residents.

Our strategic approach to unlocking the potential of responsible mining and exploration in the NWT is defined in our Mineral...