Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question is in response to the Minister of Transportation, Highway System Improvements statement. I would like to thank the Minister for taking a drive down the Dempster Highway from Inuvik to Eagle Plains. I think he picked the time when the highway was probably in the best condition. He should have been there two weeks earlier when it rained for two weeks, in which we had potholes galore. I would like to thank the transportation staff and the people that maintained the Dempster Highway because I believe with their hard work and effort they did bring the highway up to a suitable standard.
My concern is that we have to find new means of improving the road conditions not only on the Dempster Highway, but the Liard Highway. The highway systems are presently gravelled surface. I would like to ask the Minister in light of his trip to Ottawa to meet with the Canadian Transport Minister and also in consideration of National Highway Strategy, would he also consider meeting with the Research Council of Canada to find possible new methods and new means of resurfacing the highway systems which are presently being constructed with gravel and the ones that are presently not being paved or where chipseal is being used, if we can find an alternative source to maintain the surface of those highway systems so that we do have a better highway system so when it does rain for ten days or two weeks that it does not turn into a washboard and that we have potholes all over the place. Will the Minister, consider if this is a possibility of something that he can look at with his department, federal counterparts and also the federal Minister of Transportation?