Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to address a concern that has been brought to my attention by a number of my constituents. It is a matter that has concerned me for quite some time. It concerns the safety of the traveling public on our highways in the Northwest Territories, Mr. Speaker.
Over the past 30 years, I have had the opportunity to travel over most of our highways a number of times. One of the questions that keeps coming up to me as I am driving -- when I am 100 miles from somewhere and have not met a vehicle in an hour -- is: what would happen if I came across an accident and somebody was seriously injured? There are no signs along our highways that tell the traveling public who to phone, who to get a hold of. It gives me a great deal of concern.
It was strongly brought to my attention last winter when traveling back to Hay River. About halfway between Fort Rae and Fort Providence, I came across an accident. Luckily, there was a big truck that came along that had a phone so we could contact someone, but the fact remains that two and a half hours after I got there was when the ambulance and the RCMP showed up. This, Mr. Speaker, is unacceptable. I know that the distances are great and it would be very expensive and probably impossible to put phone lines in and have contact throughout our Territory. That does not take away from the fact that it is incumbent upon us to do everything we can to protect the traveling public.
Far too often, Mr. Speaker, we tend to put in laws such as reducing speed to try and put the onus on somebody else if they break a law. I would suggest that accidents on the highway do not always happen because somebody has broken a law. To some of us, this may not be a very important issue. However, I would suggest that if we have a member of our family or a dear friend of ours that is involved in a serious accident, and it is found out later that it took two and a half hours for help to get there, I think all of a sudden it would be very important to us.
So I think it is an issue I would like to continue to address. I would hope that this government will do everything possible to make sure that on our highways, we do everything possible to increase the awareness of this important issue. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
-- Applause