Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The winter roads have closed in the past at different times. The whole road doesn't deteriorate at the same rate. There are northern and southern areas with different climatic regions. Some of the roads in the system go through major lakes and rivers that overflow north of Wrigley quite often and there are major problems in that area. In some areas, like Nahanni Butte and Jean Marie, there are no major rivers to cross and there are no problems with overflow. It doesn't take much work to keep those roads open.

What I'm asking the Minister is if his department has looked at each highway system specifically to determine, historically, how much additional work has gone into each section. I think the decision was made by the department to try to save money, but I would like his department to consider looking at the roads separately to see how much money was spent in each area in the past. I think some of these road systems didn't require much additional money to keep open until they start to thaw.

People in the communities know that once the roads start to thaw, not to use them any more. But shutting down a perfectly good road on March 15th, which you can use for another two weeks, is not reasonable at this time. Thank you.