Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in regards to the highway between Rae and Yellowknife, I drive it quite often myself, my constituency being in Fort Simpson. I know that the road has got a lot of curves in it, and I know the safety concern is there, but if you drive according to the speed limit, you should not have any problem. The condition of the road, that the workers keep it in, and they are doing the best that they can, is excellent. The only problem that I see is the northern section of the road. It is narrower and has more curves in it as you indicated.

Mr. Speaker, the department has approached all the industries that are involved in using the road, the trucking firms, within the last month, and have made it clear to them the concern that we have as a department in regards to the safety. We also have talked to the different law enforcement officers, the RCMP, our own bylaw officers in the communities, and the highway patrol. So, everyone is on alert that we are very concerned about the amount of traffic that we anticipate this winter on the highway between Rae and Yellowknife.

The department has been making these initiatives. I think these are very good initiatives to take. In regards to lowering the speed limit, we could do that. In fact, as an example, we have done it in other parts of the North. As you know, or perhaps you do not know, in my constituency around Fort Simpson this year, there is some logging activity going on. There are logging trucks that are going close to Fort Simpson down to the BC border. As a result of that, the department has lowered the speed limit from 90 to 80. Because of the similar types of conditions on the Liard Highway, where it is a little bit narrower and there are more curves in the road, when these big trucks are barrelling down on you, you want to go into the ditch sometimes. Because of that we have lowered the speed limit, and we could consider that similar type of decision as well. We will look at that. Thank you.