Thank you very much. I am sure the residents of the area would appreciate a cost-benefit analysis of a bridge versus an airport at Arctic Red.
I would also like to put another plug in for the development and construction of the Mackenzie Highway from Wrigley through to Inuvik and possibly through to Tuktoyaktuk. I know that is in the current transportation strategy and that there are many benefits for residents of the communities along the proposed highway. There will be benefits of employment, creation of employment, and the jobs that go with maintaining and constructing a highway. I think it would open up the tourism aspects and the oil and gas potential along that route. There is a great deal of exploration that has gone on and my feeling and knowledge is that there are many areas waiting to be developed once companies have access to less expensive transportation linkages. So, I think the benefits, once studies are done, would be quantifiable and a tremendous boost to the economy of the north.
I know there is a road to Inuvik that ties in with the winter roads, but if you had a loop like you have here in terms of the Simpson and Alberta linkage, you would probably see a huge increase in the numbers of vehicles and visitors which come to our area. I would just like to make those comments.
I would like to support the Minister in terms of maintenance contracts. We have to use local groups and contractors. We have to get away from the multi-million dollar contracts. We have to break them down or encourage local companies to join forces to enable them to bid and do the work required on some of these highways for construction or upgrading. The same with brushing, continually we need to keep the brush down on the sides of the roads. There are community groups that can do this work without a great deal of expense. If we are going to spend the money, I encourage the department to negotiate and continue the program of negotiating with local groups.
I do have a question in terms of highways. When the federal government announced their billion dollar highway initiative, the Dempster Highway was not included in their national highway system. How do highways get a national rating?