Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my comments are primarily concerning the highway between Yellowknife and Fort Providence and the Ingraham Trail. Because of the BHP diamond mine and the other mining activities up north, we are beginning to have a lot of big trucks travelling on those roads. Now, I understand that there is going to be a study done to see what is the best avenue to take for improving that road between Yellowknife and Fort Rae. Last year, I believe there was $600,000 in that neighbourhood and perhaps more, that was not used somewhere around Providence because the road had not deteriorated as quickly as was originally thought. That $600,000 wound up being used in another jurisdiction or constituency, I guess. It was not used for the same road.

Mr. Chairman, I think that money could have went to financing that study and we would not have had to wait for another year. We could have had that study being worked on right now. We have heard complaints from Mr. Rabesca on the traffic on the road between here and Rae and I travelled on that road two weekends ago and the traffic by the big trucks is quite heavy. I have never experienced that many vehicles on that road and I have lived here all my life. They have slowed down, but now it takes an hour and a half to get from here to Fort Rae.

Mr. Chairman, we all want a solution, but we do not want to increase our travelling time by an extra 50 percent. I think the sooner we can get the road straightened out a little bit and widened, the better off we are, therefore, I am dismayed that the money that was not needed for that Highway 3 was not used for that study. Similarly, Mr. Chairman, those large trucks that were carrying large loads have to continue up on the Ingraham Trail once they pass Yellowknife. That road is in worse shape than between Fort Rae and Yellowknife. I know that the speed limit is now at 70 kilometres per hour. That is a sufficient speed. The problem is keeping those big vehicles to stay on their side of the road.

Mr. Chairman, the name of that road is Ingraham Trail. That is what it is. It is a trail, not a highway. It was not made for that type of traffic. That road has to be widened as well and I believe that this government has to find a way to widen that road because if we do not do that, I am afraid someone is going to be severely injured or perhaps even killed sometime in the future.

We have trucks that are going through there approximately every 15 minutes or so, or maybe even less time in between. It is just not safe for residents of the trail. At one time I had questioned the Premier on the possibility of re-introducing the vision, the "road to riches" that Prime Minister Diefenbaker had instituted many years ago during his tenure as the Prime Minister of Canada. Unfortunately, that road was when the Ingraham Trail started and it petered out after Mr. Diefenbaker's government lost the following election. The Premier had indicated that he would be willing to look at the possibility of a partnership between the federal government, territorial government and industry and whomever else that is interested, so that they can continue on that road and widen Ingraham Trail. I would be interested in hearing from the Minister on this particular subject when he has a chance to speak. Thank you.