Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, our government has always been saying that we should be improving our economy in the territories. If we are going to be making improvements in the economy, then I think that the improvements in public industry and transportation infrastructure is the key to economic development in the
territories, particularly in the disadvantaged communities. Mr. Chairman, the government conducted three reports pertaining to that. The interdependence of transportation and economic development were made very clear in the three government studies and reports. One of them was in the Special Committee on Northern Economy's final report called "Building our Economic Future." The other one was done by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism Report called "Building on Strengths" and the last one is called "A Community Based Approach" and the Department of Transportation's own N.W.T. transportation strategy. Now those reports surely tell our government that we have got to have this basic transportation structure in place, if we are going to benefit and improve our economy as a whole. Now to me it appears that our government and the Minister responsible for Transportation, do not keep this in mind when they are doing these types of things in the capital program. These disadvantaged communities need to be listened to. Without the proper infrastructure in place in the area of transportation, those communities will not get anywhere. Their local economy will not grow and they will be way behind. We need to have transportation infrastructure in place or else the whole territories will not grow. This is why I have been emphasizing the need to put more money in these areas in terms of roads, airport facilities and highways. I hope the Minister responsible will read those reports I mentioned so that he has a better understanding as to the importance of a transportation infrastructure if we are going to improve our economy in the Northwest Territories.
Mr. Chairman, I am not going to get into long general comments pertaining to Transportation. I wanted to say this so that the Minister could have a better understanding of the importance of transportation infrastructure in the Northwest Territories. Thank you.