Thank you, Mr. Chairman. On the Department of Transportation, I just have a few comments I want to make.

In this department's budget, the one concern I have is highway maintenance. In this proposed budget for highway maintenance operation, there is a major cutback. It's about $1.58 million less than the 1994-95 revised forecast. The main estimates for 1995-96 are that much less and I have a major concern about it because of the impact this will have on the existing highway maintenance in the north. It's going to be quite drastic. I don't know if the department or the Minister have really anticipated the types of impacts it might have with that kind of drastic cut.

I also want to say that the total program summary for this department is down $1.082 million from the 1994-95 revised forecast. So if I put those two together, the $1.58 million in the highway maintenance, there is $498,000 of the highway maintenance program that went elsewhere in the department. That's the way I figured this. If the whole analysis is true, then that's what happened.

The way I see it, highway maintenance has been cut back to finance another part of this department. I have a problem with that because, first of all, the winter roads are presently going to be shut down on March 15th. I have winter roads into Nahanni Butte, Trout Lake and Jean Marie River. I travelled all those roads with my own vehicle prior to this session. These roads are a little rough and bumpy, but they're in good shape this year. Every community I went to has a major concern with the roads being shut down on March 15th.

I guess in an average year, March 15th would be okay to shut the winter road system down. But some years, we have a longer cold period and this winter road could be used longer than March 15th. The winter road system will be shut down two weeks from now. It's an investment. This government, over the years, has spent a lot of money developing this winter road system and every year we spend money opening it up. It's good for the community, it drops the cost of a lot of things which come to the community. This is the only way that the communities can get resupply of a lot of the necessities to run the communities, such as fuel for generators. These roads are a necessity. The cost would be enormous if we had to fly it all in, and it is enormous during the times when these winter roads are shut down.

I know the Minister told me about this. He sent messages out and there are signs posted along with the winter road system saying that on March 15th it will be shut down. I just wanted to indicate to the Minister and his department that there is a major concern out there about this and I'm requesting that, if possible, these roads remain open at the driver's risk as long as they can operate. Once they're open, it is very little to maintain. The only time you maintain it is if there is a winter storm, blowing snow or something like that. Other than that, it remains frozen for quite a long period of time.

My other concern is the level of standards of the highway if the maintenance system is going to drop by $1.580 million in this current year. The classification of roads will be dropped by one or two points, perhaps, and I don't know what that means in terms of the level of maintenance that will be required. In the summertime, I know the highway system is very well kept in my area and the people who work on it take very good care it. The highway department staff and the contract workers take pride in their work and try to outdo each other in seeing who can maintain the road the best. I would like to thank the department for the past level of support that has been given to people who work in the maintenance programs in my constituency. A lot of people who travel through my constituency comment on the quality of the highway.

But if we are going to cut back the level of funding to this program, I'm concerned about the safety of the travellers on the road. There should be a level of standards for that highway. I don't know if that's going to go out the window. We've put an enormous amount of money into building these roads into a good system. If you get lax on the maintenance, the highway may deteriorate to the point where you may have to invest additional large sums of money in the future to build it up to its current level of excellence.

I'm told in the summer if it rains, they won't touch the roads. People who live by highways know that if it rains, the highways tend to get rough and, in some cases, there is something called the washboard effect. If it rains more and this system is not maintained, it will deteriorate into a very unsafe highway system. I mentioned earlier today that a lot of tourists travel through that part of the country and, through word of mouth, the word is out that we have an excellent highway system and excellent tourist facilities along the highway. We have developed this package to a good level. I don't know what deterioration in the level of highway maintenance will mean. I don't know if the department and the Minister have thought this through.

We are trying to develop a sustainable economy there and elsewhere in the north, and the possible deterioration of the highway system might be detrimental to the economy and the safety of the people in the long run. I am very concerned about that. I don't really want to see it deteriorate any further.

A bridge was supposed to be built at Poplar River and I appreciate that the department is carrying on with that. As we know, a logging industry is developing in my area. They've done some logging in the Wrigley and Fort Liard areas and fairly large trucks are starting to roll down the highway now. If the highways are allowed to deteriorate and with heavy trucks pounding on it on a steady basis, there is a danger that we will have to invest huge sums of money in the future to keep the road the way it is.

The bridge at Poplar River is important too because presently there is a temporary bridge. We passed a motion in the fall to approve a new bridge at Poplar River as the old bridge was washed out in 1988 with the big rains we had. We have a temporary bridge right now and a new bridge will hopefully be built strong enough so it will maintain heavy loads in the future.

Another area I have a concern about are the Arctic A airports. The department is presently negotiating that the responsibility of the airport in Fort Simpson be turned over to this government. I am concerned about it. It is unknown what the level of services we will be experiencing in the future will be like. I have a concern about that, as well.

Finally, I made mention that plans should be under way to try to improve the highway from Fort Simpson to the airport. We should bring it up to a better level; perhaps even chip sealing it or paving it at some point in the future.

These are my general concerns about this department, Mr. Chairman. Mahsi.