Wally Schumann

No, I am not willing to commit to do that. As I've said in this House, I believe we have a good system in place. Is it perfect? No. We will continually work to improve it for residents in the Northwest Territories and businesses in the NWT.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, I committed to getting back to the House on that communication that we would have, particularly with the contractors of the winter road, and I have not got that to date. I will follow up and get back to the Member.

Infrastructure is investing roughly $8 million from 2015 to 2019 on the Ingraham Trail. A lot of work has already been done in the years leading up to now, which was chip sealing, embankment work, installing culverts, and such. There is a multi-year contract on road widening and structural engineering and drainage improvements, as well as surfacing, an ongoing challenge on that road. As far as guardrails and such go, there is some guardrail installation that is actually going to take place in the 2017-2019 calendar years. Which sections those exactly are, I couldn't give the Member that exact...

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. There are always lessons learned in every season. This one in particular, I guess I would say that the lesson learned from this is we're going to have very close ties with the community on a day-to-day basis as spring comes to the region, being that it's the only ice road left up there; we're not going to Inuvik anymore. We'll have better communications around how we're planning on closing of the ice road.

I don't know which plans would have been put into place once the roads was closed. That would be up to the local people. It's unfortunate the road closed in a quickened manner. That happened because of safety reasons, but now with the new purchase of the barge company, maybe we can use them.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the following document entitled "Economic Opportunities Strategy: Progress Report 2015-2016." Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. No, that's not how this works. We're always open to all types of feedback, good or bad, and we'll try to improve the system as we move forward.

I will have to check with the department to see where we are with a number of these things. Like I said, with the painting and the repairs and stuff going on and the site preparation, I cannot commit to this House if it is going to be ready or not for graduation this weekend. We will see what the department comes back with about how things are going on the ground.

No, I will not commit to do a comprehensive review across the Northwest Territories. As I have told the Member before in this House, I have been part of both sides of this equation, and I believe that the process in place is a fair and equitable one for all businesses in the Northwest Territories. Yes, maybe we have to tweak a few things to make everything better. It does not matter if it is from health care to education to procurement, but I am willing to sit down and have those conversations. However at this point, I am not willing to do a territorial-wide review.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As of the latest information I had, we are still going through some refit stuff. There is actually some painting going on both of the ferries in the Member's riding. There is ongoing work and also site preparation to launch the ferries. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.