Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee on Finance recognized that, because of fiscal restraint in the government as a whole, this particular department has been hit the hardest; at least that's my view. Nevertheless, Mr. Chairman, I would like to encourage the department to continue to provide the services they are providing.
With regard to highway maintenance, I think it's very critical that they maintain the same level of service as they have in the past. Mr. Chairman, I don't have the statistics with me in regard to the amount of traffic between Rae Edzo and Yellowknife, but it's phenomenal, especially with all the freight being transported up here and from Yellowknife to other communities. I know the maintenance of that highway has sometimes not been up to par. I raised that concern, Mr. Chairman, during the fall session in November. To date, Mr. Chairman, the maintenance, in my view, hasn't been that bad but I'm kind of worried now that spring and summer are coming.
I would encourage the Minister and his department to keep in mind the safety of the general public who travel on those roads. I know that sometimes in the spring, it gets really wet and slippery and sometimes the highway people don't maintain the road as appropriately as they should.
Mr. Chairman, although the department is limited in its financial resources, I would strongly urge them to devolve certain programs and services to communities. For instance, the maintenance of certain sections of the highway and also the maintenance of winter roads, et cetera. I know the department is pretty tight with their money now but I think that effort still has to continue. A lot of goodwill has gone into negotiating a number of contracts before this. My constituents have held a number of contracts with this department and I hope that the department will continue with that high level of negotiations.
Mr. Chairman, I'm not too sure this has to do with this department, but I want to talk about dock facilities. I think Transportation looks after community docks. I know that various communities have these docks and some are large, especially in the eastern Arctic. Some of the communities' docking facilities aren't up to par and the aircraft tied to these docks aren't very safe. Some are eroding to the point where a number of spikes could puncture the platoons of aircraft. I would encourage the department, again, to work closely with those communities that want to either refurbish their docking facilities or even get new ones.
Mr. Chairman, while I'm on the issue of negotiated contracts, one of the questions I wanted to ask this Minister concerns privatizing, say for instance, engineering services, in his department. I wonder if the department has considered privatizing that. I know of a number of firms that would be interested in providing this service. We have that kind of service available in my area.
Mr. Chairman, I wanted to touch on planning. Earlier, the Minister alluded to the success of the west in either upgrading or getting new airport facilities. I agree with the Minister that the west has had its fair share. But, the Minister must not forget that there are two communities without airports and one of them, the Minister indicated this afternoon, is Rae Edzo. Currently, Mr. Chairman, there is a study of the socio-economic impact on the community and region. Once that study is complete, I'm sure the community will definitely be sharing it with the Department of Transportation so they can include it in their planning. I hope, Mr. Chairman, when that time comes, that the Minister and the department will take that study very seriously.
As you know, Mr. Chairman, Rae-Edzo is the hub of the North Slave region. By not having this particular facility, it's making it more difficult for my constituents in the North Slave region.
Mr. Chairman, those are the comments that I wanted to make at this point in time. I will be making further statements later on when we go line by line. Thank you.