Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I would like to clarify an answer I gave to a question from the Member for Yellowknife Centre, on Monday, September 28, 1992.

Mr. Speaker, in my answer I indicated to the Member that the Department of Transportation plans to complete the reconstruction of highway number three from Fort Providence all the way to Yellowknife within the next five years.

I am afraid in my enthusiasm for this project my statement was overly optimistic. By the end of the next five years, the five year period, the department's reconstruction and paving program will have reached Rae-Edzo, and a start will have been made to the final section to Yellowknife.

Although it is true that the heaviest traffic on highway three is between Yellowknife and Fort Rae, the road between Fort Providence and Edzo, as the Member for Deh Cho attested to in the House last week, is structurally very weak and in much poorer condition.

The department has scheduled its reconstruction program to attend to the worst sections of the highway first.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.