Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the highway section from kilometre 243 to kilometre 335 Highway No. 3, that the Honourable Member is concerned about, between Rae and Yellowknife.

I just want to say that last Friday when I drove on that highway and coming back again on Sunday, I noticed that the transportation workers were working very hard trying to get the road in good shape before it freezes, so that they will have a good road surface throughout the winter. The people that work on this road, I stopped and talked to them, and they were saying that they are trying to maintain the road as best as they can, under the circumstances, so I would, first of all like to commend the workers, that work on that stretch of highway for doing a good job. As for answering the Honourable Member's question, Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that pre designed planning is now being finalized for the reconstruction for this section of road between Rae and Yellowknife. I know that this section is one of the most heavily travelled in the Northwest Territories. It is programmed for reconstruction to bring it up to the same standard as we have on the rest of the route from Yellowknife to the Alberta border. The existing conditions have been documented and identified. Alternate arrangements for construction are being undertaken at this present time. So there is a lot of work being done in pre-planning, Mr. Speaker. A lot of work still has to get into it in the pre-planning stage, because this particular part of the country is bedrock and granite, which the road passes over. The cost per kilometre is estimated to be two and half to about three times as expensive as the reconstruction of the highway south of Edzo. I am told that the cost is about $300,000 per kilometre to reconstruct the road between Edzo and Providence. You could use your mathematics to determine that it is going to cost quite a bit per kilometre to rebuild the road between here and Rae.

As we all know, the financial situation that we are in is driving this whole government. To bring it up and try to meet the budget deficit as we are all trying to do here, we are all committed to do, it is going to be impossible to move it up sooner than what the honourable Member is asking. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.