EdinburghNLP/nunavut-hansard-plusplus huggingface dataset:
Minister Taptuna, would you like to make your opening comments?
Bill 01 – Appropriation (Capital) Act, 2009-2010 – Economic Development and Transportation – Consideration in Committee
I thank the members for being here. Unnusakkut, Mr. Chairman.
I am pleased to be here today to present the Department of Economic Development and Transportation’s 2009-2010 capital plan to the Committee of the Whole.
The department’s proposed capital expenditures for the 2009-2010 fiscal year is a total of $5.83 million.
Safe and reliable transportation is crucial for the development of an economy for Nunavut and it also requires a large capital investment.
In this regard, the department is proposing $5.6 million, or 95 percent of our total capital plan, to be dedicated to transportation related projects.
All but $90,000 of this total capital commitment will be carried out in community specific projects, while the small remainder is going towards office improvements so that my department can better serve the public.
As a department, we are responsible for maintaining the runways and related infrastructure that go towards providing safe operating conditions.
In 2009-2010, $2.25 million is being proposed to continue the construction of a new airport for Arctic Bay.
The earthworks and electrical portions of this project have been completed; this fiscal year will see the completion of the air terminal building and the installation of navigational aids.
This project is scheduled to be completed in 2010, with a total cost of the project being approximately $25 million.
The department’s investment in the Community Access Road Program is once again $500,000 for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.
This program has been very well received by the communities and we are very pleased to be able to continue extending access to the land outside our municipal boundaries.
The 39.7-kilometre Arctic Bay/Nanisivik Highway continues to be used as an access between the community and the airport, and will be needed until the Arctic Bay Airport is complete.
In the capital plan, we have allocated $83,000 to ensure that the road remains in a safe operational state over the course of the year.
The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, in collaboration with my department, completed a small craft harbours report in 2006.
Our lobbying efforts to date have resulted in the federal government announcing a total of $25 million for the Pangnirtung Harbour. With the $500,000 we have budgeted towards small craft harbours, we will continue to undertake preparatory work needed for these facilities as we continue to lobby the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to begin construction of harbours in other communities.
In order to convince the federal government to provide us with adequate funding to build up our harbours, we need to show that we have done our homework by coming up with acceptable engineered plans that include a cost-benefit analysis and an accurate cost estimate involved in actually building the infrastructure that is right for the community in mind. This pre-planning requires proper and adequate funding.
Mr. Chairman, these are the major projects we will be undertaking in the 2009-10 fiscal year.
There are also other projects classified as minor capital and small capital proposed in this budget.
The minor capital consists of heavy equipment for airport maintenance. Specific equipment will be purchasing under this heading includes snow-blowers for Clyde River and Iqaluit, a plow truck for Cambridge Bay, and a grader for Chesterfield Inlet. The total budget for minor capital is $1.7 million.
The small capital expenditures are all for projects under $250,000.
We have allocated $800,000 in total under this budget. With this funding, we will be purchasing airport pickup trucks for six communities and a wheeled loader for Arviat. In addition, $100,000 of this funding will be used for improvements to visitors’ centres throughout the territory and a further $90,000 will be used for leasehold improvement in our regional offices in Kugluktuk and Pond Inlet.
Mr. Chairman, this is what we have planned for our capital budget. In addition to the work I have outlined above, we will be undertaking planning and engineering work on several large transportation projects such as the Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit airport developments that we hope to fund under the Building Canada Fund.
We will be working closely with the Department of Community and Government Services and the Department of Finance to get these projects ready for consideration by the federal government during the course of the year.
I believe this plan makes good use of our limited resources and is well focused on our department’s mandate. I will continue to work hard with my department to ensure that capital expenditures by my department have a lasting value on the economic and social future of our territory.
Nakurmiik, Mr. Chairman, and I will be glad to answer any questions from my fellow members.
Chairman (Mr. Ningeongan): Thank you, Minister Taptuna.
Chairman (interpretation): Sergeant-at-Arms, could you escort the witnesses in, please?
(interpretation ends) For the record, Minister Taptuna, please introduce your witnesses.
On my immediate right is Deputy Minister Rosemary Keenainak and on my left here is Methuselah Kunuk, Assistant Deputy Minister of Transportation.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Minister Taptuna. (interpretation ends) Does any member from the Regular Members’ Caucus have any opening comments?
Mr. Komoartok (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. (interpretation ends) I am pleased to provide opening comments on behalf of the Regular Members’ Caucus as the Committee of the Whole begins its consideration of the Department of Economic Development and Transportation’s proposed 2009-2010 capital estimates.
Members note that the department’s proposed capital budget for 2009-2010 is $5,833,000.
Its capital budget was $13,545,000 in 2007-08 and $9,470,000 in 2008-09.
The department’s proposed 2009-2010 capital budget is focused primarily on transportation related projects.
Members note that although funding and start dates have not been confirmed, the department’s five-year capital plan includes a number of potential projects that fall under the economic development mandate of the department.
These include investments in meat and seafood processing plants, a Kivalliq regional visitors’ centre, and the Manitoba-Nunavut road project.
While members recognize that federal investments will be essential for realizing a number of the department’s longer-term projects, the department is encouraged to not lose sight of its economic development responsibilities.
Mr. Chairman, the recent federal budget contained funding to accelerate the construction of Pangnirtung’s small craft harbour.
The Department of Economic Development and Transportation’s proposed 2009-2010 capital estimates include $500,000 in funding for the GN’s contribution towards the construction of small craft harbours in Nunavut communities.
Given the potential that small craft harbours have to enhance the territory’s economic development and self-sufficiency, members strongly support efforts to obtain federal investments in this area.
Members also look forward to being kept informed of progress in relation to the potential development of an Iqaluit deep sea port.
In September of 2008, the Minister of Economic Development and Transportation announced that funding would be made available through the department’s Small Community Initiatives Program to provide for the construction of floating docks in eight Nunavut communities.
Members look forward to reviewing the success of this initiative during their upcoming scrutiny of the department’s proposed 2009-2010 main estimates.
Members also encourage the department to review the experience of other Canadian jurisdictions that have significant experience in developing and maintaining marine infrastructure.
Mr. Chairman, members note with approval that the department continues to include funding in its annual capital estimates for the development of community access roads.
The budgeted amount in 2009-2010 is $500,000.
This funding can be accessed by communities through the department’s Community Transportation Initiatives Policy.
Members encourage the minister to table an annual report in the Legislative Assembly concerning the department’s expenditures in this area, including a detailed list of which communities received funding.
Mr. Chairman, in the fall of 2006, the Legislative Assembly passed a formal motion that called on the government to work with the Northern Air Transport Association to bring forward an action plan to improve the availability of affordable, reliable air service to Nunavut’s smaller, underserved communities.
This is a particular concern to members who represent our most remote communities.
Members look forward to the tabling in the Legislative Assembly of an updated Nunavut Transportation Strategy.
Members are supportive of initiatives that will achieve necessary airport improvements across the territory.
Members recall that the government’s 2003 Nunavut Air Services Study outlined several infrastructure priorities that are necessary for improving the level of service from airlines.
Current runway lengths and their composition reduce the level of service that airlines can provide and can also increase the cost of providing services.
Members are supportive of efforts to obtain federal investment for improvements in our airport infrastructure, including the Iqaluit International Airport.
Mr. Chairman, on August 10, 2007, the federal government announced a number of major sovereignty investments in the High Arctic, including a docking and refuelling facility in Nanisivik.
The Department of Economic Development and Transportation is budgeting $2.25 million in 2009-2010 to substantially complete the new Arctic Bay Airport. $83,000 is also being budgeted for ongoing maintenance of the road between Arctic Bay and Nanisivik.
Members urge the GN to work closely with the federal government and the local community to coordinate initiatives related to infrastructure development and use in the High Arctic.
Mr. Chairman, two major projects with which the GN has been involved are the Bathurst Inlet Port and Road Project and the Manitoba-Nunavut road.
Previous years’ capital budgets of this department have included funding to support these initiatives.
Members recognize that the Manitoba-Nunavut Road Project is a nation building initiative that will require a significant commitment from Ottawa in order to achieve substantial progress.
Members encourage the minister to continue efforts to work in partnership with the Government of Manitoba and local Nunavut stakeholders, such as the Kivalliq Inuit Association.
Members have been informed that the GN has recently collaborated in cost sharing a business case study in relation to this project.
Members encourage the minister to table this document in the Legislative Assembly.
Members also encourage the minister to provide regular updates to the House on the GN’s involvement with major infrastructure projects in the Kitikmeot.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my opening comments on the proposed 2009-2010 Capital Estimates of the Department of Economic Development and Transportation. (interpretation) Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman (interpretation): Thank you, Mr. Komoartok. (interpretation ends) Before we proceed, I would like to remind members of the following: according to Rule 77(1), you have 10 minutes to speak, and according to Rule 77(2), subject to the discretion of the Chair, a member may speak more than once to a matter under discussion but not until every member wishing to speak has spoken.
My comments are in the airport sections of the minister’s opening comments.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to speak mainly for the Nunavut area as a whole.
Nunavummiut, Mr. Chairman, depend heavily on air transportation 12 months out of a year. We don’t have any highways between communities and we don’t have any other means to travel between communities, except by snow machines in the winter, for business or for pleasure.
The serious case could be the medical transportation for smaller communities in Nunavut, especially the small communities with restricted certification for short takeoff and landing (STOL) type of aircraft.
Every Nunavummiuq should be entitled to speedy transportation for their community to the nearest medical centre regardless of the aircraft or location.
If you’re either living in the High Arctic, the Kitikmeot, the Kivalliq or the Baffin, you should have the same privilege as any other person who must go to a major medical centre.
Later in this review of economic development, mainly the transportation portion of it, I will be asking the minister if every community in Nunavut has the capability of landing any twin engines.
It would be good if they could land Learjets for medical transportation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank the minister for his openness and communication between my office and his office over the last couple of months.
I just wanted to recognize that transportation is one of the biggest issues that are facing us and obviously every community.
It’s nice to know that the minister is willing to work on attending meetings. We had the High Arctic Council meeting as well that he’s been involved in and asked for my input on some other issues as well. So I want to take the opportunity to thank him.
Considering that my riding has taken a big chunk of the capital, I really appreciate it as well.
It would be nice to have our airport up and running.
I will have questions once questions are being taken.
Next is Mr. Schell.
My question is if you have an update on the Manitoba-Nunavut Road Project.
Chairman: Mr. Schell, I would like to remind you that we’ve asked for general comments at this time.
However, if Minister Taptuna wishes to respond to the question that Mr. Schell asked.
The Manitoba-Nunavut Road Project is a departmental priority and of course, it has the potential to benefit Kivalliq communities and the territory as a whole. The department will not expect the construction of the Manitoba-Nunavut Road Project to begin before 2012. It’s going take them that amount of time to do all of the necessary studies of both the national and territorial regulatory requirements.
Chairman: Thank you, Minister Taptuna.
Mr. Ningark, general comments?
Mr. Aupaluktuq: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I also appreciate that I know for a fact that we will get into great details of O&M. This is just a general comment that I would like to advise the Department of ED&T to keep in mind the hugely increasing factors of population growth as well as the economic boom.
There’s going to be a much major need as well for increasing buildings.
One example as a general comment that I would like to share to keep that in mind is to emphasize and I’m sure my colleagues from Rankin Inlet, both ministers, will agree that coming in for one of our sessions last month, the airport was just greatly populated. People were going west, east, north, and south. A lot of people are travelling for business and medical purposes.
It’s just basically a general comment as well that for the next budgeting that you would take into consideration the immediate need of the ever increasing expansion in population and economic growth in the regions as well as in all of Nunavut.
Chairman: Thank you, Mr. Aupaluktuq.
We will now proceed to the page-by-page review of the departmental estimates, starting with page K-4 of the capital estimates.
My first question to the minister is: last September, the minister announced that funding would be provided through the department’s Small Community Initiative Program to provide for the construction of floating docks in eight communities.
Could the minister give us a status on the projects?
I think that question is more related to operations and maintenance.
I guess I’ll reword the question. One of the concerns that I had from Grise Fiord was that they are actually receiving and would have construction of these floating docks. They’re feeling that with the waves and the ocean, it’s going to destroy the floating dock because they do not have a proper breakwater, which I believe the building of a breakwater would be in the capital estimates.
Were there studies done on each community to make sure that those docks would last?
About a month back, we made a commitment as a department to actually look at the floating docks. It was well understood that these floating docks would be durable enough for the conditions that we have here up north.
We did make a commitment to look at some of the sites either down in Newfoundland or in northern Quebec where they have established docks, whether they’re floating or not.
We had made a commitment to take a look at that to see if we can come up with a better alternative than floating docks.
I know the member is well aware of that and I thank him, I received the answer I was actually wanting.
Again, those meetings, to my understanding, were in camera and we’re not able to discuss those. Now that it’s been discussed here, we’re able to inform our constituents about it.
I’m trying to be very careful in terms of making sure again with the comments earlier during oral questions about confidentiality and not breaching that.
So thank you for that answer.
I’m just curious about what the status is of the GN in terms of, as you mentioned, the Arctic Bay Airport that will be done in 2010.
It’s my understanding that once the Arctic Bay Airport is opened, the Nanisivik road itself will be downgraded to an access road. That’s in a letter that I received from his office.
Could he just confirm that that’s exactly what will happen?
That’s correct; it states in the letter that it is going to be downgraded to an access road.
I thank Minister Taptuna for the answer.
We have learned from our meetings with CGS that access roads within the community are covered within the budget of CGS and access roads outside of the limits of the hamlet are actually provided through ED&T.
Will the Hamlet of Arctic Bay receive any extra funding to maintain that road once it’s downgraded to an access road?
Once a road is downgraded to an access road, the hamlet can apply for some funding from ED&T within the budgeted amount of $500,000.
Mr. Elliott: Thank you, Mr. Chairman and I thank you.
I guess where I’m going with my line of questioning is I noticed in the substantiation forms that it will cost roughly $100,000 each year to maintain the road and the road will be downgraded in 2010 to an access road once the Arctic Bay Airport is done.
I tabled in the House the Nanisivik Naval Facility Project, which technically isn’t up and running until 2014 but construction and whatnot will actually start in 2012, so there’s a two-year period in between.
Could the minister make a commitment to speak with the Department of National Defence about possibly working towards sharing costs for maintaining that road?
I’m thinking of cost savings, instead of $200,000 for the two years it’s not being used, of maybe $4 million, or $5 million, or $12 million to resurface the road and build the road up.
There is the possibility that we will be talking with DND.
At the beginning of January, I have already made it pretty public that they’re willing to fund some of the O&M, or operations and maintenance, of the road from Nanisivik to Arctic Bay.
My next question is actually directed towards the $2.25 million that will be put into the airport redevelopment.
Is that specifically for the construction of the terminal building?
Yes, for the air terminal and the CARS operational set-up there, that is correct, Mr. Chairman.
If I understand you correctly, there will be no work done in terms of resurfacing the airport at all.
The heavy equipment was in there in the summer because we had similar issues as some of the other MLAs in terms of the dust coming up from the roads and whatnot.
So there will be no work with the heavy equipment on the actual surface and the apron, it’s specifically construction.
Once the apron and the strip are finished, that should be final and hopefully by 2010, everything will be complete.
All safety factors, risk management, safety management, and permitting issues will be completed by that time.
This should be my final question.
I guess it’s no secret that I was concerned very much about the overspending in the project and how expensive it actually got with some of the problems with the permafrost and whatnot.
With the new allocation of money, could the minister give us assurances that it will not go over budget?
I can assure the member that we are working carefully with CGS to monitor the cost of the contract and staying within the budgeted amounts.
I’m going back to my response to the opening comments of the minister.
I recognize that Medicare is a fundamental right of every Canadian and I also recognize that any airport in the country is subject to the regulations of air transportation.
I also understand that there will be some communities with restricted runways that can only land a certain type of aircraft, which are short take off and landing, and every patient that is ill depends on a speedy transportation between their community and the next closest medical centre.
I’m wondering if the minister has any plans to upgrade or lengthen the runways that are restricted only to small aircraft for the reasons I stated now and before.
I know that there are some communities with restrictions on the type of aircraft that they bring in. Good examples are Pangnirtung, Grise Fiord, and some of the smaller communities with short runways.
Of course, these restrict the type of aircraft that we bring into these communities and of course, we’re looking at any other type of option.
But due to the limited funding within our organization and of course, within the government programs we have here, it’s going to be a long while before we do get Learjet services into every community.
Mr. Ningark: I guess my final question on the point is whether the minister will seriously look at lengthening the runways that are too small to accommodate faster multi-engine aircraft for the sake of people that need Medicare and that need to be transported to the closest medical centre.
Under the new strategy, the action items include assessing all of the entities, all of the land for the airstrips, and checking to see how we can fit some of these things into actually getting better types of aircraft into these communities.
I think we should make a priority to upgrade the small runways.
I didn’t hear a question, but, Minister Taptuna, if you want to respond to that.
Of course, we will be looking into that and we are assessing and evaluating all of the airstrips in Nunavut and consideration will be taken into account for that.
My question is regarding airport mobile equipment, in particular pickup trucks.
You have indicated that you will be replacing six pickup trucks in the communities.
Can the minister explain what criteria is used before they decide if a community needs a pickup truck?
I’ll have my assistant deputy minister answer that question.
We do have inspections of airports on an annual basis. We look at the equipment and we determine when they have to be replaced.
We don’t really have a particular criterion how they should be replaced, but the ones that require more maintenance and things like that, we try to replace them.
It’s kind of hot. Usually, it seems that and you said the fact that it depends on how much money they’re spending on maintenance and I’ll use the community of Sanikiluaq for example.
I know over the past four years, I think the engine on the airport vehicle in Sanikiluaq has been replaced twice, they’ve had problems with the transmission a few times and maybe even changed it a couple of times.
How long is it before we see a truck replacement for the community of Sanikiluaq?
Mr. Rumbolt, I think we might have to get back to you on that because I was not aware there were that many engines replaced in that vehicle.
I’ll be asking on operations and maintenance.
I appreciate that we are in the 2009-2010 capital expenditures. This is going to tie in with my general comments as I mentioned earlier.