Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, before the Christmas break in the December sitting of this House, I asked a question to the Minister of Transportation as to whether or not he would consider undertaking pooling the transportation infrastructure between Tuk and Inuvik as a way of improving the economic conditions in my region. Mr. Speaker, shortly after I got home after the House adjourned, my community received two dogteams from Economic Development. I spent a few days convincing people that I did not think the request had any relation to what we received from the government.
Yesterday, I received a response from the Minister of Transportation as to possibly doing something with this request I had put forward to him. Mr. Speaker, the Minister indicated that it's $160 million, a rough estimate, to build a road between Inuvik and Tuk. Mr. Speaker, I'm beginning to wonder who was serious here, whether it was the person who was questioning me about the dogteams or whether it was the Minister, because I really think that these figures put forward are discouraging figures, rather than encouraging. I believe, as many people in my community believe, that Economic Development projects could be undertaken which could be productive in the sense that we would undertake constructing this road or at least starting on construction of this road. We cannot do it alone, Mr. Speaker. We need assistance from Economic Development and the Minister of Transportation, in particular, for the process of the road to proceed.
Mr. Speaker, as well in the letter I received, the Minister stated that it is a federal responsibility. Mr. Speaker, I have noticed that in the past couple of months this government has taken on a lot of federal responsibilities that they were not really entitled to, I think. I would like to address my question to the Minister of Transportation. Would he seriously consider again undertaking this project as a way of improving the economic development situation, both in my community and in Inuvik? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.