Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I wish to speak today again on the highway between Yellowknife and Rae which has been the subject of much discussion and many comments in this Legislature. Under the current strategy, the highway between these two communities, will not be completed for another ten years, although we have started a good program this year to commence part of the construction.
We simply need this road completed as soon as possible. There have been more than 14 deaths on this highway in its history. It is a narrow, winding road, one that is slippery and extremely dangerous at certain times. For a road that carries 62 percent of all vehicle traffic in the north, 62 percent, Mr. Speaker, such road conditions are a tremendous hazard.
We need to press by whatever means we can to complete this road, be it that we look at the federal government to re-institute a program such as the Highways or Roads to Resources, which at one time existed. After all, what we have got to look at is that the federal government does get a tremendous amount of royalties from the resources of the Northwest Territories and specifically from our diamond mines now. The road is the access route for much of the traffic to these particular mines, so I think the federal government should have a responsibility in dealing with this issue.
Possibly, our government's current economic strategy may identify money for this particular thrust and the road infrastructure that we need, but we need to be able to concentrate on this fairly quickly. Public safety, including residential, industrial and tourism traffic is all at stake in this. I want to, again, emphasize that we, as a Legislative Assembly, should address this question, Mr. Speaker, and push wherever we can to get this completed. Thank you.
--Applause