Do you have a record, or do you know if there's any retirees that are going to be retiring from highways soon in the riding? And how do you deal with that? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I am sure the department knows at the HR department level, but I wouldn't know who's close to retirement or, you know, what our succession planning is for replacing retiring employees other than advertising for a new position when a position is vacant. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I will go back to the Member from Deh Cho.
How many apprentices do you have on -- do you know if you have on staff for highways department? Like, for mechanics, or do you have that information. Thank you.
I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't have the details of the positions. I can get that for the Member, but like I don't have the detail of how many mechanics in the Deh Cho region or how many equipment operators in the Deh Cho region or how many shop laborers are in the Deh Cho region. I can get that information for her if she likes.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Deh Cho.
Okay, thank you. That's it. I don't have any further, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to build upon some questions that a few colleagues were asking.
The Minister said in response to questions about the winter roads item increasing by about 40 percent increase year over year that it was just a contract. Can the Minister give us maybe a better understanding of the reasons or the things that changed year over year that caused the contract to go up by 40 percent in one year? It just seems like a large increase well beyond inflation, so I am trying to understand why the increase is so drastic. Thanks.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess without getting into the fine details, which I don't have offhand, a lot of it is related to contract negotiations with the contractor and then also the -- you know, the request of the maintenance of the road or other requests on the contract change and the changing of the contracts and also, you know, just the increase of inflation with the fuel prices and insurances and so on and so on. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. I mean, that's -- the answer doesn't give us a lot of specifics. Would the Minister be able to come back with some more details so we can better understand it. I mean, so on and so on and so on, fuel prices, that doesn't give me specifics to look to in terms of what about the contract change. Because I -- I mean, it's the same activity going on. So it can be hard to, when you look at that, understand why we're spending so much more. And yeah, if the Minister -- I recognize they may not have the information on hand, but I'd appreciate follow up just to giving us more specifics as to what about delivering of the same service changed so significantly to cause such an increase year over year. Thanks.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the so on, so on, and so on, is the operations with the contractor and the negotiations for the contractor to operate in an area that's not -- you know, it's an area of isolation, you know, geographically difficult to operate in the area, cold temperatures, the price of fuel is increased in a -- a bit, the price of working on equipment, the price of replacing equipment, the price of, you know, labourers and finding skilled workers, the price of just in general operating the whole operations of a negotiated contract with a contractor in the area. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member for Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is the Minister saying he won't follow up with us, is that the answer?
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Sorry, I should have added that in. Yes, and I will follow up. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay. I will go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. No, I am just trying to understand the specifics. And I understand that things increase. I understand that labour costs increase. But if the Minister can give us details, even if it does have to be -- you know, some documents have to be kept confidential, and I understand that. But remember we do have mechanisms to allow for that just so Members can better understand.
I am just noting that, you know, this seems to be a trend which has been occurring. There was a lot of questions asked yesterday about our contract for medical travel where there was a significant increase, and it's hard to understand well, what about the service has changed that has caused such an increase. And I am seeing it happen again on a different contract, and it's -- for me, when I start to see a trend like that, particularly -- I mean, if the contract costs had gone up by, you know, let's say, somewhere between 2 and 5 percent, I mean that helps me understand inflation of wages, inflation of fuel costs, things like that. But when we're talking a 40 percent increase in one year, that's a lot more than inflation. And so the medical travel contracts, while I recognize it's not on this page, was a similar situation where the contract costs almost doubled between one contract and another. And so it leaves me wondering, you know, do we have an issue with how we're negotiating contracts. Why is it that this is happening. I mean, if we get more specifics, it can help me understand it. But, I mean, every -- if across the board we're having contract costs go up at this level, you know, the government doesn't have endless money. We've got lots of programs that we want to spend money on, I think programs that are probably better aligned with our priorities, like putting people into homes and -- you know, I could go on, Mr. Chair. But that's what I am trying to get at here, is just the issue of contracts increasing and not being able to get, at least at first try, very good explanations as to what's going on. Thank you.
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess the -- you know, not trying to avoid answering the question, I guess, just to be clear. It's -- sometimes it's different demands on the contract, different demands on the winter road or ice road, different demands of the contractor, sometimes changes to the route because we have to haul, you know, 25-foot-wide trailers up to Colville Lake for a school. So there's different scenarios where we're having to build up the road because of certain conditions. So yeah, for the most part, I think, you know, I appreciate the comments made by the Member and looking -- you know, I will commit to getting more detail for the Member in regards to the contracts. But just so the Member's aware, it's, yeah, sometimes it's driven up by the demands for the contractor and what we're actually trying to achieve. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go back to the Member from Frame Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. And no, I appreciate that. And I am just looking for those details so I can better understand the issue and try and see if there is a trend happening here or if there's something going on that we should take a closer look at at committee and -- because, yeah, if our contracts are going to start doubling year over year -- I am not suggesting that this is going to happen every year, but certainly we've identified a couple cases where it's happened and, yeah, I think that if costs are going to be ballooning that badly -- I was going to say we're going to run out of money. I mean, we're already in debt so we kind of have run out of money. But, you know, it's just going to compound the issues that we're facing even more, so. That's why I am trying to dig into it here. So I appreciate the Minister committing to follow up. Thanks, Mr. Chair. That's it for this page.
Okay, thank you. I got Member from Deh Cho for one question.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. When we're talking -- speaking about contracts, has there been any contracts that were -- like, does the department do sole sourcing contracts? And if so, why and when? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. There are times where we have to do sole sourcing contracts in regards to, you know, certain items, emergencies or whatever like that. But usually, for the most part, we fall under the standard offer agreement for contracts, the SOAs. So we more so utilize those and have available contractors out there with pricing already established.
Okay, thank you. Was there a follow-up, Member from Deh Cho?
Has the government done -- I mean, has the department done any sole sourcing contracts with anybody this year in any of the regions? Thank you.
Okay. I will go to the Minister.
For sole sourcing, we have done a few sole source contracts. The amounts I don't know off the top of my head.
Thank you. Back to the Member from the De Cho.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister provide that information to us?
Thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, we can get that information to the Member. Thank you.
I will go back to the Member from the Deh Cho.
No further questions, Mr. Chair. Thank you.
I will go back to the Member from Monfwi.
Okay. With reference to winter road, because I know Tlicho name came up quite a few times, so I just wanted to ask that if the Minister can, you know, get back to us or, you know -- because I know he probably doesn't have that number over there, but how much is being spent to each regions, you know, building the winter roads. And I would like to know how much is being spent to Tlicho, Tlicho region for the winter road, so -- but, I mean, I know that's what you're going to say, you don't have the information so, you know, I will -- I will follow up with an email unless you have that number over there. Do you have that number?
I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. So I do have the numbers for the Tlicho -- yeah, the Tlicho winter road. I don't have the other details for all the other winter roads. But we can provide all the documents for the winter road areas so that she can see them and compare them if she likes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I will go with the Member from Monfwi.
This one is regarding the regional operation too. So road licensing and safety, and like I said, I would like to see some of the positions transferred to the region. But since it's a regional operation and this is a territorial issue, you know, with the driver's license restrictions, if the Minister can tell us how this thing works because we're close to Yellowknife, and all the Tlicho communities -- especially in Behchoko, we're close to Yellowknife, and we're on the main highway. Why do we still have this restriction status? How can we get the restriction status removed because -- for class 7, it's understandable. I am not talking about class 7. But I am talking about class 5, 1, 3, you know, 4. It is restricted when they take the classes in Behchoko or in any of the Tlicho regions. Even for the tests, it's class 5 restricted. And they can't travel. So when the restriction does happen or shows up on their -- they can -- they cannot drive 200 kilometers out of their communities. So what can we do to remove this driver's license restriction status? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Minister.
Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. So I am obviously not the pro on the technicalities of this. But from my understanding, you know, she's correct, in some of the communities you can take that restricted license, but you can also take a non-restricted license and the driver examiner goes into the community of Behchoko, I think, once a week to go do driving exams and driving tests. So there's opportunities there for people to have unrestricted licenses. And you have to do the full unrestricted licensing test and examination. So it all depends on the area and what communities you're in. If you're in a community that's fully restricted, then obviously you're going to have the restricted license.
Okay, thank you. I will go to the Member from Monfwi.
